UChicago asks two essays: a required "Why UChicago" question and an Extended Essay chosen from six prompts written by current students and alumni, including "How do thoughts eat?", an Olympic event for an everyday activity, and the classic "choose your own adventure".
UChicago sets no word limit. It says its questions can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between, and asks you to take a little risk and have fun. The Extended Essay is where readers see how your mind plays.
UChicago's questions at a glance
| Question | Limit | Who answers it | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Why UChicago | no set limit | Required | Why this college |
| How do thoughts eat? (Ernest Leong, Class of 2026) | no set limit | Choose 1 of 6 | Creative prompt |
| An artistic practice that solves a problem (Akhil Korra, Class of 2028) | no set limit | Choose 1 of 6 | Creative prompt |
| Make up a mixed metaphor (Julia Nieberg, Class of 2029) | no set limit | Choose 1 of 6 | Creative prompt |
| An Olympic event for the mundane (Ewan Smith, Class of 2028) | no set limit | Choose 1 of 6 | Creative prompt |
| Mistaken Identity of Acronym (Jeeho Byun, Class of 2030) | no set limit | Choose 1 of 6 | Creative prompt |
| Choose your own adventure | no set limit | Choose 1 of 6 | Creative prompt |
How to plan the UChicago supplement
- 1Pick the Extended Essay prompt that gives you the most to think about, not the one with the best first joke. You will spend hundreds of words on it.
- 2Make "Why UChicago" concrete and personal: it asks about learning, community and future, in that order.
- 3With no word limit, edit for value, not length. Most strong answers are a page or so; cut anything you would skim yourself.
1. Why UChicago
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Required“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.”
What it is really asking. How UChicago, as you know it now, satisfies your desire for a particular kind of learning, community and future, with some specificity about your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.
How to approach it
- 1Start with your wishes: what kind of learning, community and future you want, in your own terms.
- 2For each, name what at UChicago meets it, as you know it now (classes, ways of teaching, traditions, people), and check it on UChicago's pages.
- 3Cover all three parts; most drafts forget "future".
Mistakes to avoid
- Only praising the Core with no link to your wishes.
- Quoting UChicago's own marketing back.
- Writing about Chicago the city as the main reason.
Full guide: How to Write the "Why UChicago" Essay
Question 2: Extended Essay (Required; Choose one)
2. How do thoughts eat? (Ernest Leong, Class of 2026)
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Choose 1 of 6“Food for thought: How do thoughts eat?”
What it is really asking. "How do thoughts eat?" A metaphor to take seriously: what feeds a thought, how it digests, what it grows into.
How to approach it
- 1Choose one framing (biology, cooking, economics) and build it rigorously.
- 2Use your own thinking habits as evidence.
- 3Let the metaphor reveal something true about how you learn.
Mistakes to avoid
- A clever first paragraph and nothing after it.
Full guide: How to Write UChicago's "How Do Thoughts Eat?" Essay
3. An artistic practice that solves a problem (Akhil Korra, Class of 2028)
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Choose 1 of 6“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.”
What it is really asking. Choose an artistic practice, use its principles, and propose an elegant solution to a problem (as the James Webb telescope used origami).
How to approach it
- 1Pick a practice you know from the inside.
- 2State its principles precisely.
- 3Apply them to a real problem with enough detail to convince.
Mistakes to avoid
- A vague link between art and problem.
Full guide: How to Write UChicago's "Artistic Practice" Essay
4. Make up a mixed metaphor (Julia Nieberg, Class of 2029)
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Choose 1 of 6“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.”
What it is really asking. Invent a mixed metaphor and explain how it could make sense, be understood or even be applied.
How to approach it
- 1Choose two images with a real tension between them.
- 2Argue for its meaning with examples.
- 3Apply it to something in your life.
Mistakes to avoid
- A list of funny mixed metaphors.
Full guide: How to Write UChicago's "Mixed Metaphor" Essay
5. An Olympic event for the mundane (Ewan Smith, Class of 2028)
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Choose 1 of 6“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?”
What it is really asking. A new Olympic event built on an everyday activity: how it is scored, officiated and judged, and why it is a worthy addition.
How to approach it
- 1Pick an activity you know well enough to write rules for.
- 2Cover all four parts the prompt lists: event, scoring, officiating, why it is worthy.
- 3Let the rules reveal what you value.
Mistakes to avoid
- Only the joke, without the rigor of the rules.
Full guide: How to Write UChicago's "Olympic Event" Essay
6. Mistaken Identity of Acronym (Jeeho Byun, Class of 2030)
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Choose 1 of 6“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.”
What it is really asking. A confounding, comedic or captivating example of a Mistaken Identity of Acronym, and its backstory.
How to approach it
- 1Pick an acronym mix-up you can tell as a story.
- 2Build the backstory with specifics.
- 3Find the idea underneath: what the confusion shows.
Mistakes to avoid
- A list of acronyms.
Full guide: How to Write UChicago's "Mistaken Identity of Acronym" Essay
7. Choose your own adventure
UChicago's wording · no set limit · Choose 1 of 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!”
What it is really asking. Choose one of UChicago's past prompts or write your own question, then answer it with originality and some risk.
How to approach it
- 1If you write your own question, make it one you could only ask.
- 2Say clearly which prompt or question you are answering.
- 3Hold the same rigor as the other prompts.
Mistakes to avoid
- Recycling a personal essay under a new title.
Full guide: How to Write UChicago's "Choose Your Own Adventure" Essay
What our grader checks in your UChicago answers
Every answer is judged against a checklist for its kind of question plus one check written for UChicago's own wording. Each area comes back Met, Partly or Missing, and those verdicts (with the word limit) set the answer's readiness: Ready, Nearly there or Needs work. There is no score out of 100.
| Question | UChicago's own check |
|---|---|
| Why UChicago | Addresses UChicago's three parts (learning, community and future) with some specificity about the applicant's own wishes and how they relate to UChicago. |
| How do thoughts eat? (Ernest Leong, Class of 2026) | Plays with the prompt with intellectual rigor and takes a real risk, as UChicago invites. |
| An artistic practice that solves a problem (Akhil Korra, Class of 2028) | Chooses one artistic practice and uses its principles to propose an elegant solution to a stated problem. |
| Make up a mixed metaphor (Julia Nieberg, Class of 2029) | Invents one mixed metaphor and explains how it could make sense, be understood or applied. |
| An Olympic event for the mundane (Ewan Smith, Class of 2028) | Covers the event, how it is scored, officiated and judged, and why it is a worthy addition. |
| Mistaken Identity of Acronym (Jeeho Byun, Class of 2030) | Gives one example of a mistaken acronym and tells its backstory. |
| Choose your own adventure | States the past prompt chosen (or the applicant's own question) and answers it with originality and some risk. |
The type checklists are on the supplemental essay grader page.
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