Essay Option 1

Cats have nine lives, Pac-Man has 3 lives, and radioactive isotopes have half-lives. How many lives does something else—conceptual or actual—have, and why?—Inspired by Kedrick Shin, Class of 2019

Essay Option 2
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

Essay Option 3
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”)

Essay Option 4
“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Jessamyn West—Inspired by Elizabeth Mansfield, Class of 2020

Essay Option 5
UChicago has international campus centers around the world, but we don’t have any interplanetary, interstellar, or interdimensional campuses… yet! Propose a spot in time or space, in this or any universe, for a new UChicago campus. What types of courses would be taught at this site? What cultural experiences await students who study there?—Inspired by Peter Jasperse, Class of 2022

Essay Option 6
“Don’t be afraid to pick past prompts! I liked some of the ones from previous years more than those made newly available for my year. Also, don’t worry about the ‘correct’ way to interpret a question. If there exists a correct way to interpret the prompt I chose, it certainly was not my answer.”—Matthew Lohrs, Class of 2023

What’s so odd about odd numbers?—Inspired by Mario Rosasco, AB’09

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’1

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

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