Undergraduate / U of Chicago: Why Chicago? "I have always looked beyond" [4]

Like all applicants, I seek in an institution what I deem to be the basic and necessary aspects of a learning environment: a challenging and stimulating courses, helpful and didactic professors and classes, and a means of paving the way to a promising career. What is missing from the other institutions that I researched is an innovative and colorful approach to education, where students are only interested in fulfilling credits and picking up a degree. I have been cautious not to romanticize my vision of intellectual paradise, but from my research, University of Chicago, you feel just right. There is something about you that makes everyone else seem lackluster. You facilitate not just intellectuals and aggressive learners but independent thinkers. I finally found what I was always looking for.

What I learned about the University of Chicago all struck a chord with me. This is it, I thought. This is what I had always imagined for myself in a school, the type of intellectual environment I had always desired with a high caliber of academics and passion for learning. Before even learning about the "Life of the Mind" I had long decided that is the life for me.

I aim not to simply succeed academically and fulfill my requirements, but take something from the University and flourish, as well as bring my talents, my natural love for knowledge and insatiable curiosity.

I have always looked beyond. It once hit me how transient my life was and wondered how I would make my mark in a seemingly infinite human cycle. I voiced my thoughts, as a fifteen year old, speculating on the short lives of human beings and longing to make my existence in infinite time worthwhile. I always hated the idea of specification and looked to versatility of knowledge and universality of ideas. And thus, what I want more than anything is a healthy environment that can receive my ideas, and where I can learn from other ideas. Although I have not yet had the chance to meet the University in person, just through my research and the way the undergraduate application is presented, I am confident that the University of Chicago is truly the only one for me because of its emphasis on self-expression. The University of Chicago will allow me to make a mark in a transient lifetime.

I feel as though Chicago needs me just as much as I need it. I am inclined to curiosity, I am attracted to challenge and I push my limits. I have never been one to mindlessly complete assignments in pursuit of a grade. I am not afraid to voice my thoughts nor am I afraid to listen and to approach an issue from all sides. I have always been the one in class to actively participate in discussions, and have always been the one to pose broad and beyond questions to the teacher.

High school did spark my interests but has made me want more, to develop my interests further. I fell in love with literature, with discussing literature. It delighted me how universal literature was and how applicable the ideas were. It was not until sophomore year that I began to understand that I had a talent for writing and expressing my responses to great works of literature. I understood personally the benefit of small class size and a unique approach to teaching when I transferred to a school in Raleigh, North Carolina, coming from an enormous, overcrowded school in Los Angeles. My English teacher especially impressed me with his exciting and innovative approach to teaching that made for memorable learning. His class introduced me to intimate class book discussions that juggled broad concepts from works such as Oedipus Rex and Ayn Rand's Anthem. He taught us the word 'synthesize', and explained that it was a method of higher thinking. Once, he instructed a boy to fill a holed cup with water, and while the water leaked out, he explained the nature of an incomplete idea. His class allowed me to realize learning and thinking far exceedd fill-in-the-blank worksheets, and that the questions that need to be asked are the ones whose answers cannot not be found in the back of a textbook.

I will thrive under the personal attention at Chicago knowing I do not represent just another number but a unique individual offering special qualities. I am ready to devote myself to the University of Chicago for the sake of knowledge and ideas. I am confident that I can flourish as not only as a student of the great University of Chicago, but also as a thinker, an innovator, a disciple, and leader.

Undergraduate / "Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the Importance of Diversity" Common App [5]

Is it too abstract or far fetched? Can you get a good understanding of who I am and what I can possibly bring to the college community? Thank you for your time.

I tried to combine Plato's concept of the cave and answer it to the prompt: A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

Plato's profound Allegory of the Cave made a lasting impression on me as a sophomore when introduced to it in English class. The allegory itself was new to me: the flickering shadows on the cave wall representing severely limited experience and knowledge, the way the people were strapped in a chair unable to move their necks and were limited in communication, and the bewilderment of the lucky one who had the chance to escape and was able to experience the sun, the world outside the cave, but was unable to convey the phenomenon of what he saw to the naturally ignorant people with their long guarded beliefs. I understood the concept; it dawned on me how our views of the world are largely confined to our experiences, to what we choose to believe and who we choose to associate with. Our "worlds" I realized, are entirely perceptual and can easily change, depending on our experiences with other people and cultures, with ideas and knowledge. The people in Plato's cave were true prisoners: constrained by cultural chains that prevent a genuine realization of the truth, of the greater and more complex world. The sad part was that the prisoners were content to live in ignorance-forever. To escape the confines of ignorance and mental stagnation, diversity: beliefs, perspectives, ideas and experiences outside of the known, is necessary. Diversity does not just enrich the educational environment but is crucial for personal development and for the expansion of our delicate worlds. Overcoming personal and cultural condition and habits, breaking through comfort zones to reach out to other worlds seem to me the ways to true self-growth and enlightenment.

As someone who has experienced much of the country, attended three different high schools from coast to coast, lived in over five states and traveled to and through fifteen, I can appreciate this concept of diversity because it is responsible for my personal development. I was born in a remote town in Latvia, but was destined to be exposed to a great nation, one so diverse that its people or lands cannot be defined. My American story began when two young Russian immigrants brought me, a mere infant, to the United States when pursuing higher education. Since settling down, my parents had adjusted to speaking predominantly English with my sister and me. I was lucky to maintain the language and link to my Russian world, partly as a result of both of my grandmothers' sojourns to our homes. Soon, I became the one to initiate Russian conversations with my parents during my grandmothers' absences, for fear of losing this precious link. While some may feel shame and try to purposely suppress their cultural qualities for the sake of assimilation, I swell with pride when singled out in class to pronounce my unique last name, or when presented with an opportunity to put my bilingualism to the test and communicate with an elderly 'babushka' in Hollywood in need of quick translation.

Of course this clash and integration of ideas and perceptual worlds is not without conflict or pain. Our tendency to remain in the known and comfortable, like the prisoners of Plato's Cave, and repel and even degrade what is unknown or different is the main obstacle to accepting diversity. In the same English class, an American boy teased me and with contempt, dubbed me as a Communist, solely based on my Russian heritage. We almost did not make it here. Friends tried to deter my father from entering America, wondering why he would want to go to an unfamiliar country with no connections, no money, not even a basic knowledge of English. My mother, who could not form a coherent sentence of English at the time, hated the country and was eager to return home, to the familiar homeland. Today, both of my parents have mastered English, attained college degrees, and have strong ties to the country and the American culture.

I myself have radically grown since my freshman year of high school. High school has provided me with fodder to challenge and stretch my mental capabilities, to synthesize broad ideas and concepts that before were completely foreign to me. My academics have truly broadened my horizons, encouraging me to view my world differently than before. My experiences with the vast amount of people I have collided with, each with their own perspectives, collection of experiences and memories, beliefs and ideas. Wise teachers, insightful friends and acquaintances from all backgrounds, the many regions of the country, have all shaped my world.

Granted, my world is still limited. This is why I want to go to college; I know there is so much out there for me, there are people who I must meet and understand, there are countries I must experience through study abroad programs, languages I must learn and practice to open more doors, and cultures I must understand and explore, books to read of all topics, and concepts and ideas to challenge my mind, all to enrich my knowledge and my expand my perception of the world. Similarly, I offer my own diversity to the college community with my unique background, perspectives, and experiences. The beam of light that I have glimpsed has made me want nothing more than to break free and see the sun.