芝加哥大學以“燒腦文書”著稱，每年都會要求申請者解答一些“腦洞大開”的問題。
目前，芝加哥大學2024-2025申請季附加文書題目已新鮮出爐，今年芝大又恢復了Extended Essay六選一，這不走尋常路的作風，真的很芝大！
一起來看看今年的文書題目到底有多怪多有趣吧！
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.
譯文：
根據你目前所瞭解的，芝加哥大學如何能滿足你對特定型別學習、社群和未來的渴望?
請具體闡述一下你自己的願望,以及它們與芝加哥大學的關係。
解讀：這是一篇比較典型的why school的文書，一篇應該充滿關於學校的細節以及學生希望如何為學校貢獻自己獨特魅力的文章。
它不應該包括可以在旅遊和資訊會議上學習的有關芝加哥大學的通用資訊。
比如大家都知道它是全美第一經濟系的所在地。避開這個，寫一些新的東西，而不是重複你在校園訪問中提供的資訊！
寫好這篇文章的關鍵就是要向招生官展示芝大的資源是如何在最大程度上滿足你對學習氛圍、社群和未來的期望。 “satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future” 。
因此，在寫這篇文書的時候，不能只是單純“誇”芝大或者自己，而是要解釋為什麼自己匹配芝大、具體在哪方面匹配。
比如，寫“自己喜歡學科A與學科B的跨學科研究，高中期間做過類似的活動，而芝大剛好提供了這麼一個獨特的課程/專案/社團”，就要比單獨寫“芝大可以滿足我的學術興趣”生動得多。
一篇好的why school文書往往都是具體展現你與這所學校的“深厚情緣”，而不是臨時拍腦袋做決定。
建議對芝大感興趣的同學們可以利用暑期時間多瀏覽芝大官網，看看有沒有感興趣的專案：
https://www.uchicago.edu/
Essay Option 1
We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents.
– Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026
譯文：
我們都熟悉用" 綠眼睛"表達“嫉妒”或用“藍色”表達"情緒低沉"，但你聽說過"被抓到手染紫色"或者"被逗樂到有些發橙"這樣的說法嗎?
請給一個帶有顏色元素的老套說法賦予新的色彩內涵，並告訴我們它所表達的意義。
——靈感來自 Ramsey Bottorff, 2026級
Essay Option 2
"Ah, but I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now” – Bob Dylan. In what ways do we become younger as we get older?
– Inspired by Joshua Harris, Class of 2016
譯文：
“啊，那時我老得多 / 現在我比那時年輕” —— Bob Dylan。
隨著年齡的增長，我們在哪些方面會變得更年輕?
——靈感來自 Joshua Harris, 2016級
Essay Option 3
Pluto, the demoted planet. Ophiuchus, the thirteenth Zodiac. Andy Murray, the fourth to tennis's Big Three. Every grouping has something that doesn’t quite fit in. Tell us about a group and its unofficial member, why (or why not) should it be excluded?
– Inspired by Veronica Chang, Class of 2022
譯文：
冥王星，這顆被降級的行星。蛇夫座，第十三個星座。安迪·穆雷，網球大滿貫三巨頭裡的第四人。
每個群體（集合）中總會有那麼一個“異類”的成員。
請討論一個群體(集合)及其非正式成員，請說明它是否應該被排斥在外，並且給出理由。
靈感來自 Veronica Chang, 2022級
Essay Option 4
"Daddy-o", "Far Out", "Gnarly": the list of slang terms goes on and on. Sadly, most of these aren’t so "fly" anymore – “as if!” Name an outdated slang from any decade or language that you'd bring back and explain why you totally “dig it.”
– Inspired by Napat Sakdibhornssup, Class of 2028
譯文：
"老爸"、"太棒了"、"太酷了"這些俚語列表可以一直列下去。
遺憾的是，其中大多數已經不再"時髦"了——"好像!"
請列舉一個任何年代或任何語言中過時的俚語，解釋你為什麼會"非常喜歡"它，並且想讓它重新流行起來。
靈感來自 Napat Sakdibhornssup, 2028級
Essay Option 5
How many piano tuners are there in Chicago? What is the total length of chalk used by UChicago professors in a year? How many pages of books are in the Regenstein Library? These questions are among a class of estimation problems named after University of Chicago physicist Enrico Fermi. Create your own Fermi estimation problem, give it your best answer, and show us how you got there.
– Inspired by Malhar Manek, Class of 2028
譯文：
芝加哥有多少鋼琴調音師?
芝加哥大學教授一年內用掉的粉筆總長度是多少?
雷金斯坦圖書館裡的書籍有多少頁?
這些問題都屬於一類由芝加哥大學物理學家恩里科·費米命名的估算難題。
創造你自己的費米估算難題，給出你的最佳答案，並說明你是如何得出這個答案的。
靈感來自 Malhar Manek, 2028級
Essay Option 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!
譯文：
接下來是是經典的冒險題目。
秉持著勇於探索的精神，選擇任何一個我們的過往題目(或者自己擬一個題目)。要有獨創性、創造性、思考性。
充分展示你作為寫作者、思想者、夢想家、社會評論家、智者、世界公民或芝加哥大學未來學生的優秀品質，稍微冒點險，玩得開心！
解析：放飛自我吧！但一定要記得緊扣主題，儘可能地展示一個善於觀察、總結與思考的自我！
Some classic questions from previous years…
Exponents and square roots, pencils and erasers, beta decay and electron capture. Name two things that undo each other and explain why both are necessary.
– Inspired by Emmett Cho, Class of 2027
“Where have all the flowers gone?” – Pete Seeger. Pick a question from a song title or lyric and give it your best answer.
– Inspired by Ryan Murphy, AB’21
“Vlog,” “Labradoodle,” and “Fauxmage.” Language is filled with portmanteaus. Create a new portmanteau and explain why those two things are a “patch” (perfect match).
– Inspired by Garrett Chalfin, Class of 2027
Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your new intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History… a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here.
—Inspired by Josh Kaufman, AB'18
You are on an expedition to found a colony on Mars, when from a nearby crater, a group of Martians suddenly emerges. They seem eager to communicate, but they're the impatient kind and demand you represent the human race in one song, image, memory, proof, or other idea. What do you share with them to show that humanity is worth their time?
—Inspired by Alexander Hastings, Class of 2023, and Olivia Okun-Dubitsky, Class of 2026
Who does Sally sell her seashells to? How much wood can a woodchuck really chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Pick a favorite tongue twister (either originally in English or translated from another language) and consider a resolution to its conundrum using the method of your choice. Math, philosophy, linguistics… it's all up to you (or your woodchuck).
—Inspired by Blessing Nnate, Class of 2024
What can actually be divided by zero?
—Inspired by Mai Vu, Class of 2024
The seven liberal arts in antiquity consisted of the Quadrivium — astronomy, mathematics, geometry, and music — and the Trivium — rhetoric, grammar, and logic. Describe your own take on the Quadrivium or the Trivium. What do you think is essential for everyone to know?
—Inspired by Peter Wang, Class of 2022
Subway maps, evolutionary trees, Lewis diagrams. Each of these schematics tells the relationships and stories of their component parts. Reimagine a map, diagram, or chart. If your work is largely or exclusively visual, please include a cartographer's key of at least 300 words to help us best understand your creation.
—Inspired by Maximilian Site, Class of 2020
"Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" – Eleanor Roosevelt. Misattribute a famous quote and explore the implications of doing so.
—Inspired by Chris Davey, AB’13
Engineer George de Mestral got frustrated with burrs stuck to his dog’s fur and applied the same mechanic to create Velcro. Scientist Percy Lebaron Spencer found a melted chocolate bar in his magnetron lab and discovered microwave cooking. Dye-works owner Jean Baptiste Jolly found his tablecloth clean after a kerosene lamp was knocked over on it, consequently shaping the future of dry cleaning. Describe a creative or interesting solution, and then find the problem that it solves.
—Inspired by Steve Berkowitz, AB’19, and Neeharika Venuturupalli, Class of 2024
Joan of Arkansas. Queen Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mash up a historical figure with a new time period, environment, location, or occupation, and tell us their story.
—Inspired by Drew Donaldson, AB’16
Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Milo drives through the tollbooth. Dorothy is swept up in the tornado. Neo takes the red pill. Don’t tell us about another world you’ve imagined, heard about, or created. Rather, tell us about its portal. Sure, some people think of the University of Chicago as a portal to their future, but please choose another portal to write about.
—Inspired by Raphael Hallerman, Class of 2020
What’s so odd about odd numbers?
—Inspired by Mario Rosasco, AB’09
Vestigiality refers to genetically determined structures or attributes that have apparently lost most or all of their ancestral function, but have been retained during the process of evolution. In humans, for instance, the appendix is thought to be a vestigial structure. Describe something vestigial (real or imagined) and provide an explanation for its existence.
—Inspired by Tiffany Kim, Class of 2020
In French, there is no difference between “conscience” and “consciousness.” In Japanese, there is a word that specifically refers to the splittable wooden chopsticks you get at restaurants. The German word “fremdschämen” encapsulates the feeling you get when you’re embarrassed on behalf of someone else. All of these require explanation in order to properly communicate their meaning, and are, to varying degrees, untranslatable. Choose a word, tell us what it means, and then explain why it cannot (or should not) be translated from its original language.
—Inspired by Emily Driscoll, Class of 2018
Little pigs, French hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Parts of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together.
—Inspired by Zilin Cui, Class of 2018
The mantis shrimp can perceive both polarized light and multispectral images; they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Human eyes have color receptors for three colors (red, green, and blue); the mantis shrimp has receptors for sixteen types of color, enabling them to see a spectrum far beyond the capacity of the human brain. Seriously, how cool is the mantis shrimp: mantisshrimp.uchicago.edu What might they be able to see that we cannot? What are we missing?
—Inspired by Tess Moran, AB’16
How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy.
—Inspired by Florence Chan, AB’15
The ball is in your court—a penny for your thoughts, but say it, don’t spray it. So long as you don’t bite off more than you can chew, beat around the bush, or cut corners, writing this essay should be a piece of cake. Create your own idiom, and tell us its origin—you know, the whole nine yards. PS: A picture is worth a thousand words.
—Inspired by April Bell, AB'17, and Maya Shaked, Class of 2018 (It takes two to tango.)
“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” –Oscar Wilde. Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).
—Inspired by Martin Krzywy, AB’16
Heisenberg claims that you cannot know both the position and momentum of an electron with total certainty. Choose two other concepts that cannot be known simultaneously and discuss the implications. (Do not consider yourself limited to the field of physics).
—Inspired by Doran Bennett, AB’07
Susan Sontag, AB’51, wrote that “[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.” Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend. The Aesthetics of Silence, 1967.
—Anonymous Suggestion
“…I [was] eager to escape backward again, to be off to invent a past for the present.” —The Rose Rabbi by Daniel Stern
Present: pres·ent
1. Something that is offered, presented, or given as a gift.
Let’s stick with this definition. Unusual presents, accidental presents, metaphorical presents, re-gifted presents, etc.—pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it.
—Inspired by Jennifer Qin, AB’16
So where is Waldo, really?
—Inspired by Robin Ye, AB’16
Find x.
—Inspired by Benjamin Nuzzo, an admitted student from Eton College, UK
Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?
—Inspired by an anonymous alumna, AB'06
How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.)
—Inspired by Kelly Kennedy, AB’10
Chicago author Nelson Algren said, “A writer does well if in his whole life he can tell the story of one street.” Chicagoans, but not just Chicagoans, have always found something instructive, and pleasing, and profound in the stories of their block, of Main Street, of Highway 61, of a farm lane, of the Celestial Highway. Tell us the story of a street, path, road—real or imagined or metaphorical.
—Anonymous Suggestion
UChicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell entitled his 2005 book What Do Pictures Want? Describe a picture, and explore what it wants.
—Inspired by Anna Andel
“Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.“—Miles Davis (1926–91)
—Inspired by Jack Reeves
University of Chicago alumna and renowned author/critic Susan Sontag said, “The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.” We all have heard serious questions, absurd questions, and seriously absurd questions, some of which cannot be answered without obliterating the very question. Destroy a question with your answer.
—Inspired by Aleksandra Ciric
“Mind that does not stick.”
—Zen Master Shoitsu (1202–80)
Superstring theory has revolutionized speculation about the physical world by suggesting that strings play a pivotal role in the universe. Strings, however, always have explained or enriched our lives, from Theseus’s escape route from the Labyrinth, to kittens playing with balls of yarn, to the single hair that held the sword above Damocles, to the Old Norse tradition that one’s life is a thread woven into a tapestry of fate, to the beautiful sounds of the finely tuned string of a violin, to the children’s game of cat’s cradle, to the concept of stringing someone along. Use the power of string to explain the biggest or the smallest phenomenon.
—Inspired by Adam Sobolweski
Have you ever walked through the aisles of a warehouse store like Costco or Sam’s Club and wondered who would buy a jar of mustard a foot and a half tall? We’ve bought it, but it didn’t stop us from wondering about other things, like absurd eating contests, impulse buys, excess, unimagined uses for mustard, storage, preservatives, notions of bigness…and dozens of other ideas both silly and serious. Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard.
—Inspired by Katherine Gold
People often think of language as a connector, something that brings people together by helping them share experiences, feelings, ideas, etc. We, however, are interested in how language sets people apart. Start with the peculiarities of your own personal language—the voice you use when speaking most intimately to yourself, the vocabulary that spills out when you’re startled, or special phrases and gestures that no one else seems to use or even understand—and tell us how your language makes you unique. You may want to think about subtle riffs or idiosyncrasies based on cadence, rhythm, rhyme, or (mis)pronunciation.
—Inspired by Kimberly Traube
In 2015, the city of Melbourne, Australia created a "tree-mail" service, in which all of the trees in the city received an email address so that residents could report any tree-related issues. As an unexpected result, people began to email their favorite trees sweet and occasionally humorous letters. Imagine this has been expanded to any object (tree or otherwise) in the world, and share with us the letter you’d send to your favorite.
-Inspired by Hannah Lu, Class of 2020
You’re on a voyage in the thirteenth century, sailing across the tempestuous seas. What if, suddenly, you fell off the edge of the Earth?
-Inspired by Chandani Latey, AB'93
The word floccinaucinihilipilification is the act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant or of having no value. It originated in the mid-18th century from the Latin words "floccus," "naucum," "nihilum," and "pilus"—all words meaning “of little use.” Coin your own word using parts from any language you choose, tell us its meaning, and describe the plausible (if only to you) scenarios in which it would be most appropriately used.
-Inspired by Ben Zhang, Class of 2022
Lost your keys? Alohomora. Noisy roommate? Quietus. Feel the need to shatter windows for some reason? Finestra. Create your own spell, charm, jinx, or other means for magical mayhem. How is it enacted? Is there an incantation? Does it involve a potion or other magical object? If so, what's in it or what is it? What does it do?
-Inspired by Emma Sorkin, Class of 2021
Imagine you’ve struck a deal with the Dean of Admissions himself, Dean Nondorf. It goes as follows: you’re guaranteed admission to the University of Chicago regardless of any circumstances that arise. This bond is grounded on the condition that you’ll obtain a blank, 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, and draw, write, sketch, shade, stencil, paint etc., anything and everything you want on it; your only limitations will be the boundaries of both sides on the single page. Now the catch… your submission, for the rest of your life, will always be the first thing anyone you meet for the first time will see. Whether it’s at a job interview, a blind date, arrival at your first Humanities class, before you even say, “hey,” they’ll already have seen your page, and formulated that first impression. Show us your page. What’s on it, and why? If your piece is largely or exclusively visual, please make sure to share a creator's accompanying statement of at least 300 words, which we will happily allow to be on its own, separate page.
PS: This is a creative thought experiment, and selecting this essay prompt does not guarantee your admission to UChicago.
-Inspired by Amandeep Singh Ahluwalia, Class of 2022
Cats have nine lives, Pac-Man has three lives, and radioactive isotopes have half-lives. How many lives does something else—conceptual or actual—have, and why?
-Inspired by Kendrick Shin, Class of 2019
If there’s a limited amount of matter in the universe, how can Olive Garden (along with other restaurants and their concepts of food infinity) offer truly unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks? Explain this using any method of analysis you wish—physics, biology, economics, history, theology… the options, as you can tell, are endless.
-Inspired by Yoonseo Lee, Class of 2023
A hot dog might be a sandwich, and cereal might be a soup, but is a ______ a ______?
-Inspired by Arya Muralidharan, Class of 2021 (and dozens of others who, this year and in past years, have submitted the question “Is a hot dog a sandwich,” to which we reply, “maybe”)
“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Jessamyn West
-Inspired by Elizabeth Mansfield, Class of 2020
（上下滑動檢視更多。。。）
芝大的校訓是“益智厚生” （Crescat scientia; vita excolatur），錄取的學生也自然都是勤於發問、善於探究的深度思想者。
芝大的附加文書便是這樣一個展現學生思維結構的絕佳平臺。寫好芝大文書的關鍵就是要去展現你獨特的思想：你是怎麼去處理一個看似很“無厘頭”的問題的？你切入的角度與分析問題的過程是怎樣的？這是芝大的招生官老師最希望看到的。
大家也不用囿於傳統文書的格式與字數限制，往年芝大文書中就有小說、劇本、證詞、小品文、遊戲設計、地圖、說明書，甚至是數學建模！
總之，大家在寫芝大文書時一定要開啟思維，放飛想象，不要為形式上的條條框框所限制！
Ref:https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/uchicago-supplemental-essay-questions
那麼，爛大街的文書主題如何寫出彩才能讓招生官拍案叫絕？
2024年7月6日14：00，美本規劃和文書專家、百位藤校及Top20錄取學生規劃和文書導師——老查老師將深度還原美本藤校及Top20錄取文書寫作心法。
歡迎大家掃碼或者點選【閱讀原文】報名講座！
特此宣告：以上內容為【老查留學】原創文章。原創不易，未經允許，禁止轉載抄襲。發其他平臺需經授權，轉載請新增“laocha103”微訊號申請，歡迎點贊轉發分享評論~