College Admissions: Most Bizarre Essay Questions of 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), the importance that colleges place on student essays has been steadily increasing. While the Common Application provides standard essay prompts, individual colleges often ask additional essay and short answer questions in their supplements to the common application. And of course, some colleges don’t use the Common App at all.
University of Chicago: Play-Doh and Plato?
The University of Chicago, long known for their “Uncommon App” finally succumbed to pressure and joined the Common App this year. Nevertheless, their penchant for asking bizarre essay questions survived. My favorite prompt from them in past years may have been “Write an essay about super-huge mustard.” What do they want to know this year? “What does Play-Doh™ have to do with Plato?” It’s hard to believe that U.
Chicago garners the reputation “where fun goes to die” with essay questions like that, isn’t it?
Then, there are the more obscure prompts, like the one Wake Forest threw out last year and this year “Give us your top ten list.” This of course left everyone asking “Top 10 WHAT???” My students crafted answers ranging from Jane Austen to grilled cheese sandwiches in an effort to appear intelligent and humble. Tufts asked ominously and simply “Why did you do it?”, which seemed to me like a tempting entrée to confess to a fictitious murder a la Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps not the best route to go.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFranklin & Marshall: WWBFD?
Other colleges prefer the more classically cerebral questions that call upon a student to ponder the deeper questions of the universe. Franklin & Marshall asked “Imagine yourself as Benjamin Franklin the inventor. What would you invent and who would it impact?” Bard asked “The Austrian writer and social critic Karl Kraus, famous for his provocative aphorisms, wrote ‘Civilization ends, since barbarians erupt from it.’ Write a short commentary on what you think this might mean from your perspective 100 years later, and whether it makes any sense.”
A few colleges looked to their roots and quoted famous alumni, founders or influential saints. Barnard asked “Alumna and writer Anna Quindlen says that she 'majored in unafraid' at Barnard. What does that mean to you? And Villanova prompted students with “One of the core values of Villanova, as an Augustinian university founded on the teachings of St. Augustine, is that student and faculty learn from each other. As you imagine yourself as a member of the Villanova community, what is one lesson that you have learned in your life that you will want to share with others?”
Tufts: Why does Rapunzel work at Saks?
My award this year, however, for the most creative and fun prompts go to UNC and Tufts. UNC asked in a light hearted manner, for applicants to list briefly, their: dream job, most overrated superhero, most underrated superhero, former kindergarten fear, gadget that needs inventing and advice for adults. Tufts asked “The human narrative is replete with memorable characters like America’s Paul Revere, ancient Greece’s Perseus or the Fox Spirits of East Asia. Imagine one of humanity’s storied figures is alive and working in the world today. Why does Rapunzel work at Saks? Would Shiva be a general or a diplomat? Is Quetzalcoatl trapped in a zoo? In short, connect your chosen figure to the contemporary world and imagine the life he/she/it might lead.” Kudos to both Tufts and UNC for understanding teens and making the application fun for students and readers!
Cristiana Quinn, M.Ed. is the founder of College Admission Advisors, LLC which provides strategic, individual counseling for college-bound students. www.collegeadvisorsonline.com
For more college coverage, don't miss GoLocalTV, fresh every day at 4pm and on demand 24/7, here.
Related Articles
- College Admissions: 6 Steps to a Winning Application
- Dirty Little Secrets of College Admissions
- College Admissions: The Real Cost of the Most Expensive Colleges
- College Admissions: Demystifying Early Admission
- College Admissions: College Rejection 911
- College Admissions: How Important Are PSAT Scores?
