<p>Can their their liberal art core curriculum to be considered something unique enough for the essay?</p>
<p>I take it you’re talking about the Why Chicago essay?
If the Core is something that makes you want to go there, write about it. If it isn’t, don’t. Seriously, they aren’t looking for a book report style description of UChicago – they already know about themselves. What they want to know is why you actually care, why you should be accepted out of all those applicants. So, following the most basic of logic, answer the question: why do <em>you</em> want to go there?
If you can’t answer that question, you’ve got a problem, and a whole different question to be asking yourself.</p>