If you’re still writing, here is the banging “why” essay (by my sibling, a little edited/altered by my hand) I promised you:
One of the most appealing aspects of University of Chicago is the way it is constructed. I’m not talking about its physical construction (although I do love collegiate Gothic architecture). I’m talking about the construction of your curriculum. There is the Common Core, which not only forms a sturdy foundation in all areas of academic study, but also creates a community where everybody has read the same books. Imagine: over 4000 people with a common intellectual language! Besides the core, there are so many exciting concentrations. I could create a double concentration in East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Economics, and combine my love of Japanese language, culture, and history with my interest in economic analysis. With courses such as Literature and Politics in Japan and The Economics of Globalization in East Asia, I would have the opportunity to study pan-Asian econo-cultural interactions and prepare to study abroad in Japan my junior year. Alternatively, if I concentrated in International Relations and Human Rights, I could learn how to address socio-economic problems like the tensions between the U.S. military and the Okinawan people, which I studied independently while on a Peace Scholarship in Okinawa last summer.
U of C seems like an earnest and playful place where serious boycotts of Taco Bell are sprinkled with protests against pants, and monuments to atom reactor inventors are adjacent to glowing purple dormitories. It is a place where intellectualism and creativity reign. As a very serious student who is also playful and creative, I think I would fit in very well! I hope I have the opportunity to be a part of the U of C community. [end]
Regarding further resources, my new favorite essay-writing book is Elizabeth Wissner-Gross’s Write Your College Essay in Less Than a Day. I hesitate to recommend it because, as with all of her books, about half is great and the other half exudes an obsession with competition that borders on the deranged. I mean, no, you should not mention your SAT Subject or any other test scores, even if they are good, in the first sentence of your essay. And also: scoring your essay according to some artificial 100-point weighted rubric no college would be caught dead using? What?!
Nevertheless, her chapter about the “why” essay is really worth reading. Some good tips:
-Research an academic passion on the school website. Pay attention not only to the description of the major but also to the classes, research opportunities, special subprograms, study abroad, and any co-curricular opportunities associated with that academic interest (which you are passionate about!). Mention these things.
-Use the school-specific wording; e.g., at Swarthmore people major in Religion, but at Harvard they concentrate in Comparative Study of Religion.
-Size, weather, and prestige are boring, boring.
Here is another good essay-writing resource.
Now, if you’re still working, wrap it in a bow and send it off. It’s the holidays.
Tags: admissions, advice, applications, college essays, u chicago
Your sibling seems to have a pretty specific idea of what he wants to do, and apparently some extraordinary experience to back it up. What if my child doesn’t know what he wants to study? What if instead of scholarships to Japan, he spent his summer doing something perhaps more age-appropriate, like going to camp? How can he communicate that despite a clear path or extraordinary experience, he’s still an interesting candidate for a top university?
Great question. I’d like to answer it in parts, if I may. First up (since planning time is upon us): what to do about summer?
It’s easy enough for students to deploy meaningful summer experience in the college essay (and to actually USE such summers to figure out who they are and what they care about). But what constitutes a meaningful summer experience?
Getting a scholarship to study language in Japan, then independently researching local politics, is definitely meaningful and impressive. But travel is NOT the centerpiece of his accomplishment. It’s the evidence of personal and academic initiative, passion, and resourcefulness, not the fact of the trip itself, that adds force to this essay.
Any kind of summer work, volunteering, or study that shows passion, initiative, resourcefulness, work ethic, and/or responsibility is just as good. Just going to summer camp, if that means having supervised, aimless, non-academic, and fully funded fun all summer, is probably not going to seem age-appropriate or impressive in the eyes of admissions officers. But a 16- or 17-year-old camp counselor, store clerk, hospital volunteer, or Mathcamper will have plenty of opportunities, in life and on the college application, to show a few of these qualities.
More on this later. And thanks! I welcome more questions and thoughts!