The University of Chicago has been know for some of the most creative, thought-provoking application essay prompts. If you will be a high school senior in the Class of 2015, you can sneak a peek at the questions that will be in your application.
2014-15 Essay Questions:
Essay Option 1.What’s so odd about odd numbers?
Essay Option 2.In French, there is no difference between “conscience” and “consciousness”. In Japanese, there is a word that specifically refers to the splittable wooden chopsticks you get at restaurants. The German word “fremdschämen” encapsulates the feeling you get when you’re embarrassed on behalf of someone else. All of these require explanation in order to properly communicate their meaning, and are, to varying degrees, untranslatable. Choose a word, tell us what it means, and then explain why it cannot or should not be translated from its original language.
Essay Option 3. Little pigs, french hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Parts of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together.
Essay Option 4. Were pH an expression of personality, what would be your pH and why? Feel free to respond acidly! Do not be neutral, for that is base!
Essay Option 5. A neon installation by the artist Jeppe Hein in UChicago’s Charles M. Harper Center asks this question for us: “Why are you here and not somewhere else?” There are many potential values of “here”, but we already know you’re “here” to apply to the University of Chicago; pick any “here” besides that one.
Essay Option 6. In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question 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, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.
via Essay Questions | College Admissions | The University of Chicago.
For this year, students have three options for applying to University of Chicago – through the university’s website (opening soon); Universal Application (which opens July 1); and the Common Application (opening August 1). Either way you choose, you will have fun with these questions!
Please check our site for more tips on writing a winning essay!
