Here's the prompt for this essay: How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to Chicago.
The limit is supposed to be one to two paragraphs but I know that UofChi is very flexible with whatever length. My main concerns are:
1. Too generic? Do I get specific enough?
2. Should I reword the essay to go along with the theme of me and UofChi like two of the same people?
Thanks for your time and definitely will read back.
Yeah, I'm that guy. The one who replaces talk about Fantasy Draft picks with talk about Thoreau. The one who incorporates book quotes into daily conversation; "I'm...tired" I'll say in a voice reminiscent of Pete from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The one who is hesitant at choosing essay topics because he likes all of them too much. I'm that guy. At the same though, I feel like if University of Chicago took human form, he'd be that kind of a guy too.
Interested in far too many things, I browse through street fashion articles and play with the ideas of kinetic energy. I adore the nuances of Invisible Man and engross myself into readings about the Cuban Missile Crisis. With the Core, that's no problem. As an Economics major, I can still revel in the lessons of authors like Aristotle and fallen civilizations like the Romans. The Core will expose me to aspects I haven't seen yet of the subjects that I love. Then there are the Interdisciplinary Programs I can access at University of Chicago, like Chicago Studies and Humans Rights. They give me the opportunity to mesh all of my passions together instead of having to choose just one thing, which I'm frankly not very good at. And just in case I have a sudden academic obsession. University of Chicago provides me with so many workshops. You can catch me in "German Philosophy" one night and then "Caribbean Studies" the next. At the University of Chicago, my passion for learning will only be stoked.
While I fall in love with the education at Chicago, I'll fall equally as hard with the community and people. I want to find myself with housemates in the Common Room of Blackstone or Palmer or any Residence Hall really, just musing about whatever crosses our minds. With University of Chicago, conversations become something amazing. It's also people besides the students that promise to make my time at University of Chicago truly remarkable. Though I expect college to be a liberating and independent experience, I'll always have an Advisor to help guide me. The professors aren't world-renowned for just their awards but for their accessibility as well. I've always built personal connections with my teachers and at University of Chicago that won't stop.
An adventure as a Maroon guarantees me so much. I get one of the best educations I can with incredible people on a Gothic inspired campus that I love in a city that I already love. I'll probably leave University of Chicago with more questions than answers. After all, that's what former University of Chicago president Robert Hutchins expected when he said that an education at Chicago had to "unsettle the mind." But until then there's just one question: Will I get in?
