<p>my essay was in response to Dr. King's statement about laws and social justice...
I wrote about gay marriage laws being unjust.. and my experience seeing firsthand the injustice of these laws living in San Francisco and seeing how gay marriage uplifted the human spirit of the city (City Hall, where it all happened, is about 3 blocks from my school, I mentioned this in my essay and talked about how I saw people being happy firsthand)... I don't know how much they'll appreciate such a strong and unpopular(?) stand being taken in my app essay.
Oh, btw, I also mentioned my left-liberal tendencies in my paragraph about what books I read (since they're dominated by magazines like The Nation adn books by chomsky and zinn)
is my stuff not academic enough? i wasnt at all sure what they expected, but in retrospect, I wish i had been more serious.
Whatd all of you write about?</p>
<p>I figured a lot of people would write about the subject of gay marriage in response to that prompt, from both sides of the argument, actually. And considering most top colleges are dominated by left-wing students and faculty, whether one likes it or not, I hardly think they'll be surprised you read The Nation and Noam Chomsky. I think that admissions officers are trained not to take any point of view personally, if that is what worries you. They just demand that whatever you say be well-argued and well-written. </p>
<p>I also wrote from the Martin Luther King Jr. prompt, about the way in which I responded to an event at my school...it was a bit personal, but essentially, I outlined the way in which my community basically allowed someone to be demeaned and the injustice of it, and how I wrote a letter about it...it was part story, part meditation. I was pleased with it because it spoke to who I was, without any direct description. I stuck to the old adage of "show, not tell." I also really worked hard on editing it, maybe harder than I've ever worked on editing. I took about a month. </p>
<p>I had two inspirational forces behind my essay, aside from the prompt and my topic itself. First, I love the style of the author Jhumpa Lahiri, very elegant and and crisp, so I tried to emulate her level of refinement. Second, I told the story in my essay out of chronological order, which was inspired by Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Miss Emily." So I guess I should light candles for the two of them in gratitude for helping me get in--reading is definitely a gift that keeps on giving : ) Good luck and hope to see you next year in Chicago!</p>
<p>My essay about the books or media was on a different plane. I chose not to elaborate on books I read, but to provide a close reading of a movie I had just seen. I wrote about the Sexism that surprised me in seeing "Mary Poppins" and how I never realized it until now but wondered whether seeing that movie over and over as a young child could have affected me. Not that I am sexist at all, I am female but wondered whether it could affect anyone.</p>
<p>a pretty trite topic, and i doubt you made any unique, original, or interesting observations in the essay.</p>
<p>Judging from TheCity's essay summary, I'd have to say that liberal is the new conservative. I mean, seriously, legislative discrimination against a minority is one of the most hackneyed social justice topics you could've chosen.</p>
<p>I agree with double-R on this one.</p>
<p>I'm almost curious--how did you manage to construe Mary Poppins as a sexist story? It's set in an age when women couldn't open bank accounts--it's absolutely revisionistic to say that it's "sexist."</p>
<p>Not completely sexist but in some senses it is. I don't remember the essay completely. It may have been trite but I don't think it is right to judge that I had no "original" thought. But whatever, what is done is done and I don't really want to hear any more about it.</p>
<p>wow maybe I don't want to go to uchi you all sound like jerks. I mean come on, it isn't like she put your name on the essay, live and let live.... jeesh! I, for one, wish Lauren luck!</p>
<p>thank you catsmeow. I am intelligent and creative and just maybe I had a different, interesting view that you cannot immeadiately write it off.<br>
I am sort of getting the same thought of people being uber competitive.</p>
<p>"wow maybe I don't want to go to uchi you all sound like jerks. I mean come on, it isn't like she put your name on the essay, live and let live.... jeesh! I, for one, wish Lauren luck!"</p>
<p>Good, because we don't want someone with terrible reading comprehension skills liek you diluting the overall intelligence at UChicago. RejectedRyan and I, as far as I can tell, were talking about TheCity's topic.</p>
<p>I am not intelligent now? What is with this, my essay may not seem to be the "deepest" on the surface but that doesn't mean anything. I do NOT have "terrible reading comprehension" and my intelligence is far from diluting any group of people. Sorry that I posted but nothing deserves such harsh treatment.
I wish you all good luck but I just want everyone to be civil to each other. We may all end up at UChicago and then wouldn't you rather not have already made enemies.
I don't really want everyone to be cut throat at a school and I just hope that not everyone is.</p>
<p>I don't know whether you were calling me those things but I don't think you should be calling anyone that.</p>
<p>wow, sorry. I don't exactly read these forums thoroughly and regardless of who you were referring to, you were entirely too harsh. This is only an internet forum, calm down and please, do not try to destroy the image of a university as wonderful as UCHI. I would hate for CCers to associate the school with someone as caustically negative as yourself. I hate to remind you, but you are not a UCHI student yet and have no right to speak for the school. I wonder how your future professors would feel about your self righteous elitism. If you truly have the misconception that the university of chicago's "quirky intelligence" is indicative of a kind of elitist mentality, you are sorely mistaken as this is not the image they seek to portray. Maybe it is you that we don't want as our classmate next year.</p>
<p>snap.................</p>
<p>well it's true</p>
<p>Self-righteous elitism.</p>
<p>I love how contemporary students are so fragile that any objective criticism is construed as some appalling character flaw like causticity or hubris. Give me a break.</p>
<p>That's all you can say to defend yourself... that my remark wasn't offensive enough. Right.</p>
<p>I wrote about the termed "positive discrimination." I wrote about how in trying to uplift women status we are actually weakening them by giving them the easy way. (btw, i am male) Women in my country are still thought of as second to men. a lot of effort goes in to help uplift their status in the country but in the wrong way. We need to focus on equity rather than equality.
It really does not matter now though, my essay that is, as I have already been accepted ED.</p>
<p>"That's all you can say to defend yourself... that my remark wasn't offensive enough. Right."</p>
<p>I guess all I have to do to repudiate that post is re-post what I've said, as you apparently didn't read the whole two sentences which it comprised:</p>
<p>"I love how contemporary students are so fragile that any objective criticism is construed as some appalling character flaw like causticity or hubris. Give me a break."</p>
<p>I understand your criticism Brinestorm and accept it as constructive. I do occasionally take things a bit too personally. RejectedRyan just was a bit too harsh in my perspective but I guess whatever is done is done.</p>