Chicago's 2007-2008 Essays: a banner year?

[xiggi]

<p>By now, we have learned that the University of Chicago loves to display its iconoclastic image to the world. On a personal basis, while I do really like -read admire- the school, I find their application hugely negative. Inasmuch as I could enjoy the challenge of “different” essays, I find this year’s selection to be just plain silly and dumb, not to use more colorful adjectives. </p>

<p>And, I am not the only one at our house. My sister was looking forward to Chicago’s application material. The verdict: ten bucks of glossy material are already in the GLAD bag and a remark that the school would be the last she’d apply if she had to live with people who do well on those essays! I agree as I would have done the same! </p>

<p>By the way, if you have the chance, read the letter that came with the application. The strange grammar and punctuation provokes some effect that I believe were not intended. </p>

<p>What a SHAME. </p>

<p>2007-2008 Essays
The University of Chicago has long been renowned for its provocative essay questions. We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between.
Each year we email the students who had been admitted the last year and ask them for essay topics. We receive several hundred responses, many of which were eloquent, intriguing, or downright wacky. </p>

<p>As you can see by the attributions, the questions below were inspired by submissions by your peers. </p>

<p>Essay Option 1
“Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” – Miles Davis (1926-91)
Inspired by Jack Reeves, a graduate of Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield, CT </p>

<p>Essay Option 2
In his book Having Everything Right: Essays of Place, Kim Stafford describes the Kwakiutl tribe of British Columbia assigning place-names based on the natural characteristics of a location, the events that took place there, or the feelings that the site instilled. “Where Salmon Gather,” “Sound of Dripping Water,” and “Where Dzo’noq!wa Cried Out Oh,” were among the names the Kwakiutl people assigned to their surroundings. He’lade, translating to “Place Having Everything Right,” was of particular meaning, as it was the name universally given to exceptional locations. What is your he’lade?
Inspired by Ian Gavlick, a graduate of Hockinson High School, Vancouver, WA </p>

<p>Essay Option 3
You are hosting a brunch of historical, literary, or other disreputable persons (think: Mad Hatter’s Tea Party). What is your menu? Who are your guests? In answering this question, imagine a scenario: We want some exposition, serious or silly, we would accept some dialogue, and we are willing to trust you to respond in such a way that your brain power, your imagination, your sense of taste, and your capacity to tell a story reveal something true about you.
Inspired by Alan Tievsky, a graduate of Oakton High School, Vienna, VA </p>

<p>Essay Option 4
The Cartesian coordinate system is a popular method of representing real numbers and is the bane of eighth graders everywhere. Since its introduction by Descartes in 1637, this means of visually characterizing mathematical values has swept the globe, earning a significant role in branches of mathematics such as algebra, geometry, and calculus. Describe yourself as a point or series of points on this axial arrangement. If you are a function, what are you? In which quadrants do you lie? Are x and y enough for you, or do you warrant some love from the z-axis? Be sure to include your domain, range, derivative, and asymptotes, should any apply. Your possibilities are positively and negatively unbounded.
Inspired by Joshua Nalven, a graduate of West Orange High School, West Orange, NJ </p>

<p>Essay Option 5
Take as a model the students who inspired Options 2 and 4 as you pose and respond to an uncommon prompt of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, sensible woman or man, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk and have fun.</p>

[marite]

<p>I did not like last year’s writing prompts, either. There’s way too much expository stuff before the question is posed. It seems as if the students who posed the question are trying to show off their knowedge instead of actually considering the types of essays that would help applicants best show what they are like and what they might bring to UofC.</p>

[celloguy]

<p>Argh! What’s not to love about those prompts? My creative juices are flooding the floor already and I’m not even applying.</p>

[xiggi]

<p>With your indulgence, here the past yera’s prompts:</p>

<p>2006-2007 Essays
Our extended essay options spring from a variety of inspirations. Traditionally, we email admitted students in April to ask them to contribute topics. This year, we were inspired by two such submissions, the second and fourth options. Our first offering honors a great American poet who taught at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1949. And we offer the words of a Zen master in hopes that your contemplation will lead you to a response.
Essay Option 1
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.</p>

<p>—"Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes </p>

<p>Perhaps you recognize this poem. If you do, then your mind has probably moved on to the question the next line poses: “I wonder if it’s that simple?” Saying who we are is never simple (read the entire poem if you need evidence of that). Write a truthful page about yourself for us, an audience you do not know—a very tall order. Hughes begins: “I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem./I went to school there, then Durham, then here/to this college on the hill above Harlem./I am the only colored student in my class.” That is, each of us is of a certain age and of a particular family background. We have lived somewhere and been schooled. We are each what we feel and see and hear. Begin there and see what happens. </p>

<p>Essay Option 2
University of Chicago alumna and renowned author/critic Susan Sontag said, “The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.” We all have heard serious questions, absurd questions, and seriously absurd questions, some of which cannot be answered without obliterating the very question. Destroy a question with your answer.
Inspired by Aleksandra Ciric, Oyster Bay High School, Oyster Bay, New York </p>

<p>Essay Option 3
means “mind that does not stick.”
—Zen Master Shoitsu (1202-80) </p>

<p>Essay Option 4
Superstring theory has revolutionized speculation about the physical world by suggesting that strings play a pivotal role in the universe. Strings, however, always have explained or enriched our lives, from Theseus’s escape route from the Labyrinth, to kittens playing with balls of yarn, to the single hair that held the sword above Damocles, to the basic awfulness of string cheese, to the Old Norse tradition that one’s life is a thread woven into a tapestry of fate, to the beautiful sounds of the finely tuned string of a violin, to the children’s game of cat’s cradle, to the concept of stringing someone along. Use the power of string to explain the biggest or the smallest phenomenon.
Inspired by Adam Sobolweski, Pittsford Mendon High School, Pittsford, New York </p>

<p>Essay Option 5
Take as a model the students who inspired Options 2 and 4 as you pose and respond to an uncommon prompt of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, sensible woman or man, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk and have fun.
2005-2006 Essays
Essay Option 1
Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness . . . and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard.
Based on a suggestion by Katherine Gold of Cherry Hill High School East, Cherry Hill, NJ </p>

<p>Essay Option 2
People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language— the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you’re startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation.
Based on a suggestion by Kimberly Traube of La Jolla Country Day School, La Jolla, CA </p>

<p>Essay Option 3
“Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust,” wrote the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” We want to hear your thoughts on justice as it relates to this “human personality” that Dr. King mentions.
Inspired by ongoing campus conversations about social justice </p>

<p>Essay Option 4
In a book entitled The Mind’s I, by Douglas Hofstadter, philosopher Daniel C. Dennett posed the following problem: Suppose you are an astronaut stranded on Mars whose spaceship has broken down beyond repair. In your disabled craft there is a Teleclone Mark IV teleporter that can swiftly and painlessly dismantle your body, producing a molecule-by-molecule blueprint to be beamed to Earth. There, a Teleclone receiver stocked with the requisite atoms will produce, from the beamed instructions, you—complete with all your memories, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. If you activate the Teleclone Mark IV, which astronaut are you—the one dismantled on Mars or the one produced from a blueprint on Earth? Suppose further that an improved Teleclone Mark V is developed that can obtain its blueprint without destroying the original. Are you then two astronauts at once? If not, which one are you?
To celebrate twenty years of uncommon essay questions, we brought back this favorite from 1984. </p>

<p>Essay Option 5
Take as a model the students who inspired Options 1 and 2 as you pose and respond to an uncommon prompt of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, sensible woman or man, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk and have fun.</p>

[xiggi]

<p>2004-2005 Essays
Essay Option 1
“One of the very nicest things about life,” as Luciano Pavarotti once said, “is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” Pavarotti, in all of his well-fed wisdom, suggests that eating and meals are a separate kind of activity—often a break from the work and play of life. Yet food and meals sustain our lives in many ways every day. Tell us about an ordinary food or meal that may seem mundane to the rest of the world but holds special meaning for you. Think about how the food is prepared, packaged, or served and by whom. Do you eat it in a distinctive manner? At a special time? In a certain place or with select company? Most importantly, explain how this everyday food sustains or satisfies you in a way that another food or meal could not.
Inspired by Sameera Kumar, a graduate of Huntington High School, Huntington, WV</p>

<p>Essay Option 2
If you could balance on a tightrope, over what landscape would you walk? (No net.)
Inspired by Emma Ross, a graduate of West Windsor–Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro, NJ</p>

<p>Essay Option 3
In his autobiography A Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela writes, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” Tell us about an unchanging place to which you have returned. In what way has the place never changed? How does its constancy reveal changes in you?
Inspired by Anna Zawadzka, a graduate of Curie Metropolitan High School, Chicago, IL</p>

<p>Essay Option 4
Albert Einstein once said, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Propose your own original theory to explain one of the 16 mysteries below. Your theory does not need to be testable or even probable; however, it should provide some laws, principles, and/or causes to explain the facts, phenomena, or existence of one of these mysteries. You can make your theory artistic, scientific, conspiracy-driven, quantum, fanciful, or otherwise ingenious—but be sure it is your own and gives us an impression of how you think about the world. Love Non-Dairy Creamer Sleep and Dreams Gray
Crop Circles The Platypus The Beginning of Everything Art
Time Travel Language The End of Everything The Roanoke Colony
Numbers Mona Lisa’s Smile The College Rankings in U.S. News and World Report Consciousness </p>

<p>Inspired by Akash Goel, a graduate of Saint Bede Academy, Peru, IL</p>

<p>Essay Option 5
Take as a model the students who inspired Options 1-4 as you pose and respond to an uncommon prompt of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, sensible woman or man, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk and have fun.
2003-2004 Essays
Essay Option 1
Storytelling is an integral part of the formation of our identities. The stories that our parents and our communities tell us about themselves and the world form our first map of the universe. At some point, we begin to tell our own stories to ourselves and to others. Tell us a story you tell. Your story does not have to be either true or a story you would think to tell anyone but yourself; but the story must be your own, and its telling should have significance to you. Your story should also be significant to a listener who might tell a story about you.
Inspired by Susannah Nadler, a graduate of The Spence School, New York, NY </p>

<p>Essay Option 2
How do you feel about Wednesday?
Inspired by Maximilian Pascual Ortega, a graduate of Maine Township High School South, Park Ridge, IL </p>

<p>Essay Option 3
The Sudanese author Tayeb Salih wrote, “Turning to left and right, I found I was halfway between north and south. I was unable to continue, unable to return.” If he is unable to choose, the character faces the threat of being frozen in place or torn between two states. Describe a halfway point in your life—a moment between your own kind of “north” and “south.” Tell us about your choice, your inability to choose, or perhaps your folly in thinking there was ever a choice to be made.
Inspired by Rafi Mottahedeh, a graduate of Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA </p>

<p>Essay Option 4
In his book Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll imagines a fantastic, nonsensical world for Alice after she walks through a misty mirror. Physicist Stephen Hawking has speculated that a black hole, not a looking glass, might someday take us to many parallel universes. Three years ago, The Matrix mixed a bit of science with Carroll’s fiction to create Thomas Anderson, a contemporary Alice who discovers that the “real” world is in fact a computer-generated dream. Explore the idea of a parallel world through the eyes of a philosopher, an artist, a theologian, a psychologist, or a scientist, or from any perspective you choose. How would you find this alternate reality? Who or what would take you there (by choice or by accident)? Would you or could you be a different person in each world?
Inspired by Jin Wei Cham, a graduate of Raffles Junior College, Singapore </p>

<p>Essay Option 5
In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose an untraditional or uncommon question of your own. The answer to your question should display your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, sensible woman or man, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago. Remember, this is about “adventurous inquiry.” Be sure that you actually use a question of your own.</p>

[JHS]

<p>What’s the big deal? I think this is pretty much their normal pattern: One Zen koan, one straightforward personal (gussied up), one fanciful and non-personal but inviting erudition, one personal expressed in math/science terms, and an escape hatch to do whatever you want. From year to year, some of the elements get mixed around, e.g., the Zen koan may be more fanciful, and the non-personal/erudition one may be more serious. Basically, they’re giving you a choice of an essay about yourself or an essay not about yourself, inviting math/science kids to show off their knowledge, breadth, and self-awareness by writing about themselves in math analogies, giving creative kids an opportunity to show they are creative but also scholarly, providing two choices that are so open-ended as to not be constraining, and making certain that you can’t easily adapt your common app essay to the Chicago application (thus creating some barrier to casual applications).</p>

<p>Your sister (and those like her) could probably write a dynamite Chicago essay critiquing the prompts and explaining why they were turning her off. My sense is that the Chicago admissions people would love that . . . as long as there was some qualification attached to the statement about not wanting to go to school with people who did well on those essays. But you know what? Chicago is full of people who would do well on those essays.</p>

<p>You want to see something really nerdy, creative, and funny? Look at the list for the 2006 Chicago Scavenger Hunt: <a href=“http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/list2006.pdf”>http://scavhunt1.uchicago.edu/lists/list2006.pdf&lt;/a&gt; </p>

[marite]

<p>So if an applicant chooses to write on string theory, the adcom get to read the paper or does it get sent to the math dept? And should the essay not only display knowledge of string theory but also be written in language even more accessible than Brian Greene’s?</p>

<p>Moot point. My kid did not apply to U of C.</p>

[lderochi]

<p>Marite, nor will mine (though they keep sending stuff). I agree with your earlier point. The questions themselves aren’t what I find silly, but the pre-question exposition is ridiculous. Prompt 2 in this year’s application is particularly pretentious. I’m pretty much with XigSis on this – I would probably find the student authors of these questions more annoying than interesting. </p>

<p>And like Xiggi I also admire the school itself. But on admissions, they just try to hard.</p>

[idad]

<p>The UChicago essay my son wrote was perhaps one of his finest pieces of writing to that date. I remember asking him what sparked such a good essay and he said the way the prompt was written and the knowledge that those who chose to answer them were going to be very confident and good writers. </p>

<p>I personally love the Chicago essays, they are uncommon and are unusually discerning. They also help in making Chicago a tad more self-selecting, those who can enjoy the essay challenge are more likely to be happy in the Chicago environment.</p>

<p>The essays must work since Chicago has, according to a recent admissions statement, the third highest verbal SAT scores in the country, and does not use test scores much in admission decisions. A recent post by an admissions officer listed the following:</p>

<p>"I’d actually say that test scores are the least important factor. GPA would probably be the second least important factor…</p>

<p>Most important: transcript. What classes have you chosen to take (the most rigorous ones?) and, how well have you done in them?</p>

<p>Second most important: essays. We work very hard on our essay questions and are looking for creative thinkers and strong writers."</p>

[ADREW5449]

<p>My favorite example of a college essay:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/articles/051128sh_shouts[/url]”>http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/articles/051128sh_shouts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[marite]

<p>

Essay Option 5: Take as a model the students who inspired Options 2 & 4.

<br>
Considering that I agree with Lderochi that 2 is particularly pretentious and 4 is not far behind, I’m glad that S did not have to grapple with either</p>

[xiggi]

<p>“Second most important: essays. We work very hard on our essay questions and are looking for creative thinkers and strong writers.”</p>

<p>I echo Lderochi: Chicago just tries too darn hard to be different, starting with the lable “the UNcommon application.” I respect the desire of the school to seek different -or unusual- candidates, but that does not change the fact that there is a tremendous overlap of potential students bteween Chicago and other selective schools. </p>

<p>On a personal note, I’d like to add that I am EXTREMELY suspicious of schools that attempt to display a whimsical and overly jocular image in their documents. A few years back, MIT sent out an oversize pamphlet that was annoying for both its size and contents. It was big -probably cost a small fortune,- read both ways, and was full of graffiti-like pages. It is something that MIT seemingly likes to do. A recent financial aid brochure contained silly pictures of what represented an orientation activity at MIT. Why MIT thinks that pictures of students lining up in strange positions with obviously fake smiles and images of a huge balloon has anything to do with financial aid is beyond me. I guess it shows why the school would NOT be for a grinch like me! If I wanted to join a circus, I’d look up one of P.T. Barnum’s heirs. </p>

<p>I know, I know that students could have fun at MIT and Chicago, but their reputation also includes little tidbits such as “Chicago where fun died” I respect both those schools for their academic rigor, but let’s leave it at that I am very underwhelmed by the efforts to be different and “funny” at ALL cost. </p>

<p>I prefer truth in advertising, especially simple and unadulterated truth.</p>

[jazzymom]

<p>My son, who plays jazz trumpet, would have gotten a kick out of answering Option 1 in the OP. It’s a great question to prompt an essay on improvisation. I love it. When a college is flooded as others are with more applications than they can accept, what’s the problem with making the process more of a challenge and therefore more self selecting? If a student is up to meeting that challenge with a well-written, creative essay, they know they will find like-minded peers and it’s all good. If a prospective student is not up for it, then that’s one less application the adcoms have to wade through. Seems like a pretty smart strategy.</p>

[marite]

<p>Jazzymom:</p>

<p>That was the best prompt in that lot. And its chief qualities were that it was not pretentious and it was succinct. Alas, it was not offered as a model for emulation. I personally would not care to be in the same classes as students 2&4.</p>

[idad]

<p>Actually there is a real UChicago, almost self-depricating, sense of humor the permeates throughout the University. It is one of the things I loved about the place. Chicago seems to just go on its own merry way, not overly concerned about what others think. Seems to be working, applications and yield hit record levels last year, even though they do not use the common app, are notorious for academic rigor (and rightfully so), and do not have ED admissions. They do make a special effort to connect with applicants and to provide wonderful support (not referring to financial) throughout the 4 years.</p>

<p>On the Chicago thread the favorite so far seems to be prompt #4, my favorites are 1 and 3.</p>

<p>Also, don’t forget, there is always prompt #5.</p>

[xiggi]

<p>Jazzymom, I do not think that this year’s essays are particularly selecting or challenging; they are just … different. </p>

<p>FWIW, I would hate to see more schools emulating Chicago. Could you imagine hundreds of schools allowing the unbridled imagination of alumni -or others participants- setting the tone by competing for outdoing one another in silliness?</p>

<p>Forgive me, but I find little inspiration in writing about whatever my he’lade could be, or about a giant jar of mustard. Creativity is one thing; utter wackiness is another.</p>

[brand_182]

<p>well, this coming from a guy that will be applying to chicago, I find their essays generally more interesting than “why do you want to attend X college” or “what one event in your life blah blah blah.”</p>

[celloguy]

<p>

ziggi says “I do not think that this year’s essays are particularly selecting”

in the same breath as reporting that neither ziggi or sister would apply to UChicago because of the essays. Logic here?</p>

[newmassdad]

<p>What Chicago is doing makes perfect sense.</p>

<p>How does a college (heck, how does any product or company) stand out in a crowded field? Differentiate.</p>

<p>Love it or hate it, there can be advantages to being different. And the fact is that Chicago must appeal to a different kind of student. It does not offer the snob appeal of its peers and superiors (heck, even Chicagoians confuse it with the local public university), it does not have the financial resources to buy the best, be it facilities or financial aid offerings. (due to location, history, its hospital and so forth, it has expenses quite a bit higher than its peers.) and it certainly does not have, ahem, a location that most find attractive. At most, they find it tolerable. </p>

<p>So, to overcome these deficits, it MUST play up other things. So it appeals to students looking for something a bit different. (that it ends up with all to many ivy rejects who are not totally happy is a separate issue), I can tell you that it was largely the quirky essays that appealed to my own D three years ago. Their prospie briefing, when they discussed the essays, was truly the only time my D appeared awake, indeed showed excitement, in many a briefing.</p>

[xiggi]

<p>

ziggi says “I do not think that this year’s essays are particularly selecting” </p>

<p>in the same breath as reporting that neither ziggi or sister would apply to UChicago because of the essays. Logic here?

</p>

<p>Zelloguy, finding reading comprehension challenging? Didn’t I write “that the school would be the last she’d apply if she had to live with people who do well on those essays!” in my OP? Sounds pretty logical to me?</p>