Undergraduate / UChicago: choose from one of our old prompts or create your own. Harvard: a topic of your choice. [2]

UChicago Prompt: In the spirit of adventure, choose from one of our old prompts or creat your own
Harvard : You may choose a topic of your choice.
When writing a topic of your choice essay, do you have to write the prompt you choose in the space provided before inserting your essay or do you just write.

UChicago or Harvard Topic of your choice

X years I have lived in this world; for x,I could not accept the "what",for x, I diced through the "hows", for x, I sliced the "whys" and now I try to realize who is standing in front of me. Each time I stare at the mirror, three people stare back at me - Intellectual, Adventurous and Artistic me(s).

Intellectual me yelped her first cry at xxxxxx, the busy town of yyyy. Outwardly, she is a charming young girl. In school, she is loved by her teachers and respected by her peers. Growing up as an only child, she received her parents' utmost attention - allotted her many advantages; she did not have to share her toys with any brothers or sisters, nor did she compete for attention within my family.She has supportive and loving parents who have always told her she could do anything she set her mind to. This phrase has set in over the years, and the encouragement it holds never fails to inspire her.They sent her to school in zzz, one of the top in the country, where she met peers who shared her academic interest.The intense but friendly academic rivalry has helped her set her standards and aspirations to a high level. She also took part in Olympiads,though she failed twice, it only gave her two reasons to try again

Artistic me naturally leapt out when she was introduced to the culinary world of baking- standing in the middle of the white-tiled floor of her mother's kitchen dressed in a flour-stained apron, oven mitts and a powdered face, armed with the harmony of the rhythmic shaking of sugar which marked the beat, , with the whisking of the eggs and constant setting on the timer, all merging to form the melody - the idyllic sound track of the kitchen. She enjoyed the slow process of measuring, sifting, and stirring; waiting as the dough rises in the oven and the house becomes saturated with the scents of butter and flour and definitely sugar; pulling the pans out of the oven and finding the dough transformed into something golden and beautiful which excites her core. While reducing the amount of sugar and adding a little salt, forgetting to set the timer or over-estimating measurements can result in calamities, a few alterations from the recipe can result to triumph. She learned that great bakers are never those who follow every line in a cook book but add their creativity to introduce something new to the oven.

My first time in an airplane - a two week trip to Ethiopia sparked Adventurous me. I will explain how I became adventurous.

I have just begun to realize who I am. I am the sum of my experiences, my genes, my personality. Though I am staring at a mirror, I am starting to understand that I am unique in my own way. There is no other way to put it; I am xxxx - intellectual, adventurous and artistic.

Should I submit this essay to UChicago or Harvard, as I do not want to send the same essay to two universities. The word count is around 480 or so out of 650. Is this essay good for either Harvard or UChicago, which does the essay appeal more to. Suggestions are highly needed. Go very hard on this essay.

Thank You.

I will post Adventurous me later, please just review this in the meantime.

Undergraduate / Rubik's Cube similarities to the world - Common App Essay. [3]

Prompt - Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

complexity in this cube

It was the third minute and my hand could fall off.

Swiveling and mentally running through the algorithms of the Rubik's cube, the challenge of a completed cube comes to mind.When my Aunt returned from the U.S, she bought me a Rubik's cube . To most people, it was a trivial toy, but it contains worlds of mathematical complexity. It was this complexity I wanted to crack. Most of my time was suddenly sacrificed to the cube - working slowly, making mistakes with a little frustration were crucial to cracking the mystery behind the cube.It is this intricacy that I enjoy.

Working on the Rubik's cube has helped me gain focus, determination and patience and as well changed how I view people. It has influenced my interpretation of human interactions and how the world works. It made me value the importance of unity and teamwork. No matter what color or location the blocks are, they're all connected to the core. There will be moments where everything is a mess and out of place, but when working together it's only a matter of time and patience before everything clicks into place.

The more time I spent solving the cube, the more I started noticing its similarities to the world; the core never changes. The elements surrounding it move around until they reach the place that makes it perfect. In this analogy, I was the middle piece, and the problems within my life were the different, colorful sides that surrounded it. I came to understand that there are several ways a person can approach a situation. Just as there are multiple combinations in which the blocks of a Rubik's cube can be placed before it is solved. There's always a solution, one just has to keep turning.My love for science stems largely from this; science requires the same logical and levelheaded approach as the cube does. This intellectual stimulation, coupled with a desire to discover about brain's mysteries, compels me to pursue a career in Neurosurgery.

This summer, I worked in a - here, I want to write about my experience in working in a hospital/lab and assisting the surgeons there.

Working in a lab was an exhilarating experience for me. Even though I gave up resting my life away to instead xxx which has inspired and motivated me. I want to write the latter effect of the cube to me.

Please help me, especially with the last two paragraphs. I am applying to:
Harvard, Stanford, UChicago,USC, UPenn,Washington and Lee,Cornell, please give me some safety schools as I have a 4.5 gpa and I have 3 years to finish high school.

Will this essay appease the Adcoms, also please give me a good topic. the essay is approximately 400 with a limit of 650
Please go hard, very, very