<p>OP, you’ve received some good advice from posters. In essence, don’t let the medium overwhelm or drive the message. It should only enhance the message. Here’s another perspective: UChicago uses these WhyChicago essays (of accepted students) to help advisors become familiar with their first year students. My daughter is a first year and wrote her essay in a letter format. She edited it several times to ensure it had substance and carefully articulated why she thought UChicago was the best fit for her. So she was pleasantly surprised to find at their first meeting that her advisor had a copy of her essay and knew much about what she wanted out of her experience at UChicago. So imagine your potential advisor reading your (clean) rap 6 months later. What is he/she going to know about you and UChicago?</p>