<p>how do people approach the essay about their interests (books, paintings, etc). i was just planning to do a pseudo list with a few sentences explaining why i liked it, but it just didnt seem quite uchicago enough. so i was wondering people could talk about how the approached and if possible post their essay.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about being “uchicago.” Be yourself. Mine was sort of a list with a conclusion about what attracts me. Write what you feel like, see how it turns out, and try writing it again in a different way if you want.</p>
<p>Well, just remember that it’s 1-2 paragraphs. I wrote about 5 paragraphs when I started a week ago and had to re-write it.<br>
My advice - since I’m in the same boat as you are in - is to try to write about something in a very clear way. I don’t think listing a bunch of books, albums, etc. will be a good idea unless it’s 2 or 3 different things in each paragraph.
I focused on one thing - music. A specific genre of music has changed my life and I wrote about how and what has happened to me because of music.
Just make sure that whatever you write has passion and voice.<br>
Since I kind of helped you, do you have any ideas how to add voice into the first essay? The people (parents) who’ve read it so far have all told me that it has none of the passion that I have when I talk to them about going to the UChicago.</p>
<p>ditto with vap-- the interests essay was by far the hardest for me-- I just had so many of them and I didn’t even know where to begin or from which angle to approach it.</p>
<p>If you have a list of things, take your favorite sentence or two (or item or two) and see if you can spin out an essay that you’re satisfied with from there.</p>
<p>I’m writing mine right now, and I just talked about a play and a book I recently read and why I really loved them. The play was a more funny-ish topic, whereas the book was non-fiction and just really interesting.</p>
<p>I have a similar problem. What I ended up doing was dedicating a paragraph to a musical piece or a book that has really affected me (I ended up with 4 paragraphs). I would just try to write the essay in different ways and see which you like best.</p>
<p>Hm, I did something kind of interesting with mine last year. I chose to talk about the musical, Wicked, and the tv show, House, and described why I was similar to the characters highlighted in those pieces. It was kind of risky, but I feel like it really showcased my character and it got me in. What you need to do is not look for something that seems impressive, but rather something that really tells the admissions people who you are.</p>
<p>Mine was one paragraph, by the way. My “Why Chicago” was two paragraphs. My longer essay was one page single spaced.</p>
<p>From Libby Pearson, who is the only person who has any real authority on these matters:</p>
<p><a href=“http://uncommonapplication.blogspot.com/2007/08/age-old-problem-of-getting-your-point_06.html[/url]”>http://uncommonapplication.blogspot.com/2007/08/age-old-problem-of-getting-your-point_06.html</a></p>