Essays

The University of Chicago requires three separate pieces of writing: two essays that are a paragraph or two in length which address your desire to study at the University of Chicago and your favorite things, and one longer essay that is a page or two in length. The topics for the longer essay change every year.

We recommend that applicants compose their essays in a word processing program first, and then copy and paste them into the spaces provided on the online application. For the longer essay, pick which one you are responding to, and then copy and paste your essay into the space provided.

For security reasons, we are unable to allow formatting, such as underlines, tables, or italics, on your essay. This should not be a problem, as it is your words that we are interested in. If you think that formatting is necessary to our understanding of your essay, you can choose to send it under separate cover, and then mail or fax it in with the provided cover sheet.