Hi everyone,
I'll be really glad if you read and give feedback about my Why UChicago essay! Feel free to be Harsh!
My reason for wanting to go to the University of Chicago is very simple. I want to be challenged, and UChicago is the most challenging university that I will find. It is famously challenging academically, but I think it is challenging in other ways that are just as important.
In the summer of 2010, I attended a Model United Nations conference in Beijing, China, where I co-moderated a committee with a student from UChicago. What struck me most about this student, and in fact the entire UChicago team, was how deeply engaged they were with the topics of the conference, and how ready they were to discuss these topics even after the conference was over. A community of people who really challenge each other intellectually can be just as educational as rigorous academics, and as I saw in Beijing, the student community at UChicago is a very special and dynamic one. Through extracurricular organizations such as Model UN, Amnesty International, and the Model Arab League, I would be able to discuss and gain new perspective on the issues I am interested in. Even better, the university actually creates and supports this intellectual community in its classes. The Core program, for instance, does not just introduce new students to essential texts, but also teaches them how to debate with and engage each other.
Along with this emphasis on intellectual community, UChicago also encourages two of the most challenging and important experiences I can think of - travel and learning a foreign language. Especially in the globalized world we live in, I think a real education requires that you leave your comfort zone and learn to live and communicate in a foreign environment. Given my focus, I am especially interested in the International Studies quarter in France (where I could practice French, a primary language of international politics) which is set in UChicago's own center in Paris.
Finally, and most importantly, UChicago asks and enables its students to act on what they have learned. The Human Rights Program, for instance, is very exciting for me academically, since it offers a unique interdisciplinary focus and the chance to discuss the central questions of human rights. But it is more than just an academic opportunity. Through its Internship Program, it provides support for students to pursue projects at humanitarian organizations around the world. This, in my opinion, is how a real education should be. It should lead to and support action out in the world. And with the excellent CAPS (Career and Academic Planning Service) at UChicago, this support continues even after students leave the university.
In short, I think I would learn and develop more at UChicago than I would anywhere else. In going to college, I do not just want to earn a diploma. I want to become someone who can really make a difference on the issues that matter to me, and I believe that at the University of Chicago- the place to be a real human who cares about world, who tries to get enlightened as much as possible while trying to become his own übermensch- I would become that person.
You say "challenge" a lot
"and, as I saw in Bejing,"
"engage with each other"
" Especially inBecause of the globalized world we live in, I think a real education requires that you leave your comfort zone and learn to live and communicate in a foreign environment."
I believe you are a bit repetitive in saying you want to be challenged. Are there other reasons beyond intellectual rigor that draws you to U of C. What about the school's reputation? What about their mission statement? Your interest should go beyond your fascination with the intellect of the student you mentioned in the essay. Explore other reasons. Talk about how you will be an asset to the program..you will bring diversity, etc. Discuss how the university will help you achieve your goals.
