<p>1) Where you’re from: VA
2) When you submitted your application: October 23ish i think… not sure
3) How long/hard you WORKED on your app: since the summer, pretty hard i guess
4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: yup- just about one of my fav book, really personal
5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: Silence Essay- Susan Sonntag (I’m surprised so many did the Waldo one! Maybe I’m not that creative)
6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Silence
7) What you want to major in: Economics
8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: reach
9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: 8-I would LOVE to go, but really depends on whether I get the scholarship I applied for.</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: Illinois (A Chicago-land suburb)</p>
<p>2) When you submitted your application: November 4th</p>
<p>3) How long/hard you WORK on your app (very applicable for UChicago :P): Started my essays in July and then left them until mid-October. Then I went crazy with the revisions. </p>
<p>4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: No… I wanted to, but some family stuff came up in October.</p>
<p>5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: “Silence is inescapably a form of speech.”</p>
<p>6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: I loved both. But I’d say my Why UChicago essay was better. I accidentally made it four paragraphs long but it emphasized ME. Hope it maked up for the optional essay. </p>
<p>7) What do you want to major in: History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine (:</p>
<p>8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: UChicago is the dream. None other can compare. </p>
<p>9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: Um… 11.</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: Maryland</p>
<p>2) When you submitted your application: November 9th</p>
<p>3) How long/hard you WORK on your app: I put a good amount of effort into all the components of my application, including an arts supplement (I sang classical and opera music). I didn’t refine my common application essay very much; in hindsight, it seems a little generic. However, I spent at least 20 hours (not consecutive of course) writing my extended essay. I got a lot of friends to read/critique, including a UChicago class of 2016 student who went to my high school. They all said it was great, so I’m hoping that’ll give me an edge.</p>
<p>4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: Yes, but I did it pretty last minute and I guess my first priority was structure and mechanics, and I kind of skimped on creativity and voice. I wrote it about my favorite aria (Nessun Dorma). So while it doesn’t sound like “me” with regards to voice, it’s about something that is very “me”. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense.</p>
<p>5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: I chose the arch nemesis prompt.</p>
<p>6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Definitely my extended essay. My Why UChicago essay was good. It wasn’t nearly as good as my extended essay, but it did explain well why I want to go to UChicago SO BADLY.</p>
<p>7) What do you want to major in: Biological Sciences</p>
<p>8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: I think UChicago’s hard to get into for any one, even the 2400 and 4.0 kids. It’s definitely an even greater reach for me because my SAT score and GPA aren’t up to par. </p>
<p>9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: 10</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: Northern VA
2) When you submitted your application: October 28.
3) How long/hard you worked on app: Started in August, took a break, then worked on it for maybe the last week of October. My Why UChicago and optional essay were written the day I submitted my app.
4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: Yes, but it was quite informal.
5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: So where is Waldo, really?
6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Waldo, though mine isn’t very original (from what I’ve seen in the threads).
7) What do you want to major in: English language and literature! I put down Studio Art and Physics as possible alternatives.
8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: Huuuuuuuuge reach.
9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10? 10.</p>
<p>Anyone here interested in their HIPS (History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine) major? Its pretty unique, and I’m wondering how many applicants know about it…</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: NJ
2) When you submitted your application: Oct 1st…got it done early!
3) How long/hard you WORKED on your app: A couple hours really. Well a couple hours on the Common App and a couple on the Supplement.
4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: Nope
5) The topic you chose for your creative essay? Topic of Choice: “What experience changed you” was what I choose it to be.
6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Extended. But my short was pretty unique whereas my extended was moreso rheotically powerful.
7) What you want to major in: Economics. Milton Friedman, nuff said.
8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: A normal reach, but let’s admit, any school sub 20% is reach for even the most qualified of people.
9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: 8.5-9, I won’t be crying on the floor if I get rejected, but I will be jumping for joy if I get accepted. Each day I seem to learn more about this school and I really want the chance of going one day.</p>
<p>@uchicagobound hips definitely sounds very interesting. im hoping to do maybe a chemistry/ psychology major since im interested in neurosience but its not offered as a major. i would definitely consider hips, since i wanted to minor in philosophy anyways!</p>
<p>i found neuroscience as a subsection under biology- so i would definitely consider minoring in hips</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: NYC</p>
<p>2) When you submitted your application: october 29th</p>
<p>3) How long/hard you WORK on your app: Did a fair amount of work on it, a lot of revising on the essays.</p>
<p>4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: Yes, I wrote about my favorite rapper, Aesop Rock.</p>
<p>5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: Heisenberg</p>
<p>6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Why UChicago or the optional one</p>
<p>7) What do you want to major in: Political and Computer Science</p>
<p>8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: Probably a pretty big reach. My GPA is pretty low, and my ACT score is weird (36 in reading, very bad in math…) BUT, i do high school debate, which uchicago seems to really love, and I think I’m a pretty good writer.</p>
<p>9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: 9. love the atmosphere, probably wont love the core as much as most. still kicking myself for not applying to amherst.</p>
<p>Out of those that chose the silence essay, how many did not write an essay in one form or another? For those that answered the Heisenberg question, I’m incredibly interested in how you were able to solve this one- please share at least a brief description of your essay.</p>
<p>Heisenberg one was fun. Maybe I’ll post it up here if I get good news on Tuesday, but I wrote about my fetish for the rain (with enough austerity to balance the ticket).</p>
<p>For my heisenberg essay, i wrote about breaking bad.</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: Chicagoland
2) When you submitted your application: Late October
3) How long/hard you WORKED on your app (very applicable for UChicago :P): a decent amount of time over the summer (10-15 hours total) for just the supplement
4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: yes, just a list with some explanations
5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: Enemies
6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Why UChicago
7) What you want to major in: econ
8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: its a reach for everyone, but my stats put me in the range of accepted students
9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: 9</p>
<p>Love Breaking Bad :)</p>
<p>You go glencoco!</p>
<p>But seriously, if you care enough to spend that long on a single essay for uchicago, i think you deserve to get in. Good luck to everyone for Tuesday!</p>
<p>Most of it was me staring at my computer screen during a 9 hour car ride. I did not really slave too much over the essays and I wish mine were better.</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: MNL</p>
<p>2) When you submitted your application: October 31</p>
<p>3) How long/hard you WORK on your app: For the supplements and essays, I really did work hard on it but I did the Optional essay last minute. My SAT was bad (not ivyleague/uchicago/stanford/amherst/other selective colleges kind of status or not in that range) and I couldnt take it again so I’m just hoping everything else (which in the view of my counselor was really great/stellar) will make up for my not so good scores.</p>
<p>4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: Talked about my favorite genre of books - made it light and hearty to show my down-to-earthness. I wanted this to be cute and flimsy since my UCHICAGO creative supplement on the gifts is kinda intense</p>
<p>5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: The one about creating a past story for a gift that you received</p>
<p>6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Common App Essay (talked about this childhood memory with my mom and i related that to greatness, kinda hard to explain but my english and philosophy teacher, friends, counselor praised it and I even asked an older friend who studies in Harvard to critique it and she said its very well written, unique and the impact of the story is absolutely moving) and I also liked my Creative Supplement - I talked about this locket I received from my grandmother and I created a past for it in relation to the Japanese-Phil war, I imagined her during that time (she was alive and she experienced/saw all the cruelty) and what it was like for her - that was the “past” that I created for that locket.</p>
<p>7) What do you want to major in: ECONOMICS!!! </p>
<p>8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: Beyond REACH. Like I said, scores are not so great (Like its less than 2000). GPA is great to good enough though, my extracurriculars are golden lots of leadership positions, part of debate, editor of yearbook, writes for the school paper, more than 300 hours of community service, essays are good… Just really the SAT Scores are bad cause it was my finals that week and i didnt get to study rigorously for it and I wanted to take it again but the slots in my place were full already. In the end, I couldnt really do anything anymore so hopefully I successfully tried to make them see who I really am.</p>
<p>9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: 10. But I have never actually expected to be accepted. I had to be realistic so I applied ED to another university in the east coast which I absolutely love as well but Univ of Chicago really has a great atmosphere and from what I hear, their economics program is uhhhmazing (Econ is absolutely the course that I want to major in)</p>
<p>1) Where you’re from: Rhode Island… little state, big heart haha.
2) When you submitted your application: Oct 28th
3) How long/hard you WORKED on your app: quite a while
4) Did you do the optional favorites essay?: “Optional” doesn’t really mean optional if you REALLY want to get in, so of course.
5) The topic you chose for your creative essay?: Waldo
6) In your opinion, which was your best essay?: Waldo
7) What you want to major in: Math/Applied Math
8) Whether Chicago’s a safety/likely/reach school for you: Likely, I have legacy and good test scores.
9) How badly do you want to go on a scale of 1 to 10?: I’m gonna say 8. Its my number 1, but I’ve never visited (i’ve been on campus but didn’t get a chance to go on a tour) so i’m not quite sure at the moment</p>
<p>1.Michigan
2.Oct 28
3.a few weeks, a few different revisions
4.yes it was good not phenomenal
5.present
6.present
7.econ
8.reach, could definitely get in, but not perfect match
9.7 got deferred from my number 1 (wharton) and chicago is like 3 on my list after columbia</p>