University of Chicago

1. Background, identity, interest, or talent: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2. Facing adversity: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3. Challenging an idea: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
4. Gratitude: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
5. Personal growth: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
6. Intellectual curiosity: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
7. Topic of your choice: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

The Common App enforces the length inside the application. For Common App applicants.

1. A story from your life: Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.
2. What interests or excites you: What interests or excites you? How does it shape who you are now or who you might become in the future?
3. A positive impact on others: Describe a time when you had a positive impact on others. What were the challenges? What were the rewards?
4. An idea or belief questioned: Has there been a time when an idea or belief of yours was questioned? How did you respond? What did you learn?
5. A success or obstacle: What success have you achieved or obstacle have you faced? What advice would you give a sibling or friend going through a similar experience?
6. Topic of your choice: Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

The Coalition asks for an essay of about 500-650 words. For Coalition applicants.

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 UChicago.

UChicago has no strict word limit; its admissions FAQ (collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/uchicago-admissions-faq/) gives 300-600 words as a rough guideline, not a requirement.

1. Food for thought: How do thoughts eat?
2. The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, utilized origami-inspired techniques to compactly store and deploy its sunshield in space. Choose an artistic practice and use its principles to propose an elegant solution to a problem.
3. Sometimes metaphors get mixed up. For one reason or another, one could say, “we'll burn that bridge when we get there” or “the world is your china shop”. Make up your own mixed metaphor. Explain how it could make sense, be understood, or even applied.
4. The Olympics have long celebrated the pinnacle of human athletic achievement. But what if they expanded to honor the mundane? Imagine a new Olympic event built around an everyday activity like speed dishwashing or competitive grocery bagging. How is it scored, officiated, and judged? Why is it a worthy addition?
5. AI: Allen Iverson. NASA, or the North American Saxophone Alliance. Share a potentially confounding, comedic, or captivating example of MIA (Mistaken Identity of Acronym) and tell us its backstory.
6. And, as always… the classic choose your own adventure option! In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, choose one of our past prompts (or create a question of your own). Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun!

UChicago has no strict word limit; its admissions FAQ (collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/uchicago-admissions-faq/) gives 500-700 words as a rough guideline, not a requirement.