University of Chicago Supplemental Essay Prompts & Writing Guide 2025-2026

This prompt is a playground for your curiosity and your ability to think in layers. UChicago doesn't just want a clever answer; it wants to see how you reason through an imaginary scenario, what questions you ask yourself, and what your choice reveals about what you value. The animal you select should connect to something you genuinely care about, whether that's problem-solving, ethics, social behavior, survival strategies, or communication. Don't pick an animal because it's funny or unexpected; pick it because asking that particular species a particular question lets you explore an idea that matters to you. Your essay should feel like an intellectual adventure, not a joke. Pick an animal that gives you the best angle into a real question you want to explore.

Once you've chosen your species and your question, your real work begins: make a sophisticated case for why that animal holds the answer you're looking for. Show your reasoning. If you're curious about collective intelligence, why does an ant colony reveal more than a beehive? If you're interested in environmental adaptation, what can you learn from a species that thrives in an extreme habitat that you couldn't learn from a more common animal? This is where you demonstrate intellectual playfulness in a serious way. You're not just brainstorming wild ideas; you're building an argument that shows UChicago you can think critically about an unfamiliar prompt, ask meaningful questions, and defend your perspective with depth and nuance. Use specifics about the animal and your question to ground your essay in reality, even as you explore something imaginative.

Your writing should feel authentically you, not like something designed to impress. This means avoiding overly formal language or trying too hard to sound clever. Let your personality and genuine curiosity shine through. If you have a sense of humor, use it. If you're more analytical, let that voice come through. UChicago's admissions team has read thousands of these essays and they can spot when a student is performing rather than thinking. Your essay might take unexpected turns in its structure or tone, use vivid descriptions, or employ wordplay, but whatever choices you make should serve your larger idea, not distract from it. The prompt gives you permission to be creative, so embrace that while staying grounded in your actual question and reasoning. By the end, an admissions officer should have a clear sense of not just what animal you'd choose, but why, and what that tells them about how your mind works.

UChicago's admissions team views this essay as your chance to think critically about systems and unintended consequences, not just pick something you dislike and dismiss it. They want to see your capacity for nuance; that you understand how removing one thing creates a chain reaction of collateral effects. Avoid predictable choices like nuclear weapons or AI unless you bring a genuinely original angle (perhaps tying it to UChicago's history with the Manhattan Project, or exploring surprising downstream consequences most students miss). Instead, consider inventions that improved life in one way but complicated it in another: social media algorithms, standardized testing, the 40-hour work week, fast fashion, or even more abstract concepts. The strongest essays choose something less obvious, and then trace unexpected second and third-order effects of what would change as a result.

Ground your choice in personal experience whenever possible. Rather than writing a purely intellectual exercise, connect your uninvention to something you have observed or lived through. For example, instead of discussing social media in the abstract, you might describe how the "like" button has distorted the way you and your friends interact; without it, your generation might be more present and less focused on artificial gratification. This personal connection is what transforms a clever idea into an authentic reflection of your values and concerns about the world. The essay should reveal something about how you think, what you care about, and why you notice problems others might overlook.

Don't play it safe with your tone or structure. UChicago celebrates intellectual playfulness and creative prose; you can use vivid imagery, sentence fragments, direct address, lists, or even unconventional formatting to keep the reader engaged. Show admissions officers that you're a strong writer willing to take stylistic risks while maintaining clarity and focus. Remember that you still need a clear line of thought running through the essay; the experiment should feel intentional, not scattered. Use the one-to-two-page space to your advantage, but aim for around 500 to 700 words as a strong benchmark. Most importantly, demonstrate that you can engage with complex ideas at a highly intellectual level while revealing something genuine about yourself. Every disappearance reveals what you value most, and that insight is what UChicago wants to understand about you.

When writing this essay, resist the urge to simply define the linguistic concept of contronyms and then attach a story to it. Instead, think of the contronym framework as a lens for exploring genuine complexity in your own life—a place where you experienced two seemingly opposite truths existing at the same time. UChicago's admissions team uses this prompt to see how you navigate unfamiliar intellectual challenges and whether you can embrace nuance rather than reduce things to binaries. Your job is not to be clever about language but to demonstrate how you grapple with contradiction. Choose a role, identity, or experience where you actually felt pulled in opposing directions: perhaps you were a mentor who also learned humility from mentees, a student leader who gained authority while discovering vulnerability, or someone caught between two cultures where isolation and belonging coexisted. The strongest essays show both sides of the tension living together, not as separate chapters of your life but as simultaneous, uncomfortable realities you had to navigate.

Ground your exploration in specific, concrete moments. Rather than telling the admissions committee what the contradiction meant, show them a scene that makes the duality unmistakable. Describe the moment when you realized your position as a tutor also made you a student, or when your role as a protector forced you to expose yourself. Include dialogue, sensory details, or the exact thought that struck you when you recognized the opposing meanings coexisting. These vivid instances are far more memorable and reveal more about how your mind works than abstract reflection alone. Admissions officers want to understand not just what contradictions you have experienced but how you process complexity and adapt when the world doesn't fit neatly into categories. This is how you prepare for a UChicago education, where you will constantly encounter ideas that challenge your assumptions. By showing them a time you did this already, you are demonstrating readiness.

Finally, move beyond mere observation to reflection on what this duality taught you. What shifted in your thinking or behavior because you lived inside this tension? How did embracing both sides of the contradiction change your understanding of yourself, others, or how systems work? This is where your essay connects to UChicago's core value of pursuing knowledge that enriches life. The university believes in rigorous inquiry, free exchange of ideas, and learning how to think in shades of gray rather than in absolutes. By showing that you have already begun questioning easy answers and sitting with paradox, you signal that you belong in an environment that celebrates intellectual playfulness alongside serious rigor. Avoid forcing a neat resolution or trying to "solve" the contradiction; instead, let the reader see you genuinely wrestling with both sides at once. That discomfort is the point.

This prompt invites you to move beyond surface-level nostalgia and instead demonstrate intellectual depth and critical thinking. UChicago's admissions team wants to see how you think when faced with an open-ended question, not just what you choose to write about. The object you select becomes a vehicle for revealing your perspective, values, and reasoning. Your job is to anchor abstract thinking in something tangible: pick something genuinely worth preserving in your view, then build a substantive argument for why its disappearance would matter. Don't choose something obvious or sentimental. The key is to move beyond "I love cursive" or "my grandmother loved handwritten letters" and instead ask yourself what loss would ripple outward through society, culture, or human experience. The most compelling essays will connect the object to something larger: a shift in how we communicate, learn, remember, or think.

Your argument should feel grounded in reality, not abstract philosophy. If you write about something genuinely disappearing or being phased out (like certain forms of currency, print newspapers, or specific technologies), do your research. What makes this object costly or inefficient? Why is the world moving away from it? Then, make a case for what unique function or value it serves that no replacement fully captures. For example, you might argue that while screens handle information faster, a specific object demands a kind of attention or patience that matters for human development. Show that you understand the trade-off; don't pretend the world is making a mistake without acknowledging the genuine reasons for the shift. This kind of nuance signals intellectual maturity. Be specific about consequences. Instead of vague claims, show concrete ways the world changes if this object vanishes. How might this affect communication, memory, learning, or social connection? The more precisely you can articulate what we lose, the more convincing your argument becomes.

Remember that UChicago values creativity within intellectual rigor. Your tone should feel thoughtful and genuine, not overly formal or trying too hard to sound clever. Let your authentic voice shine through. You have space to be playful, personal, or unconventional in how you structure your ideas; you can use imagery, unexpected phrasing, or bold claims, as long as they serve your central argument. The admissions team is evaluating how your mind works; they want to see curiosity, reasoning, and your ability to find meaning in something others might dismiss as insignificant. Write an essay that only you could write, grounded in your own observations and reflections about what matters and why.

This essay is not asking you to pitch a winning business idea, so resist the urge to treat it like a startup elevator pitch. Instead, view it as an intellectual thought experiment; it is your chance to showcase how your mind works, how you connect ideas across domains, and how you find hidden logic in seemingly absurd combinations. UChicago wants to see you play with concepts like a thinker, not necessarily like an MBA. The prompt is fundamentally about revealing who you are through your reasoning, so pick a brand that genuinely interests you and that you understand deeply, rather than choosing a famous company just because it seems safe.

The key to this essay is the word "strangely logical." Your proposed product or service must feel unexpected at first but then become completely sensible once you explain it. Start by identifying a brand's core competencies, values, or supply chain; then find an unmet need in the world that those assets could address. For example, if you chose Tesla, you might not propose electric snowmobiles (too obvious) but rather a line of portable home battery systems that reduce dependence on the electrical grid; this connects their expertise in battery technology to the growing climate crisis and desire for energy independence. The strength of your essay depends entirely on how well you trace the logic: Why does this brand's unique position make them the right entity to solve this problem? What do they already know or control that competitors don't? How does this extension reflect or deepen the brand's existing mission rather than contradict it? Don't rush past this reasoning; this is where you flex your analytical muscles.

Beyond the logic, address the "why now" element with genuine insight into contemporary problems. Is this product addressing a cultural shift, a market gap, an environmental concern, or a psychological need? The prompt specifically asks why the world (or the brand) needs this right now, so ground your answer in current reality. You might discuss how a shift in consumer values makes this timing perfect, or how this solves a problem that has become urgent. Use this moment to show cultural awareness and a genuine sense of what matters in the world, not just clever pattern matching. If your idea touches on something you care about personally, let that show through; UChicago values intellectual playfulness paired with authentic engagement with real stakes.

Finally, resist the temptation to over-explain or hedge. You have one to two pages, so be concise, build your argument steadily, and trust your reader to follow your logic. Avoid opening with disclaimers like "this probably won't happen, but..." and avoid generic business speak. Write with personality and clarity, and let your voice come through as someone who loves thinking about how systems and solutions connect across unexpected domains.

This prompt sits perfectly within UChicago's tradition of intellectual playfulness, and the admissions committee is looking for evidence that you can think creatively while maintaining rigorous logic. The key is to pick a correlation that genuinely fascinates you, not just one that sounds funny. You should anchor your argument in real reasoning, even if it's tongue-in-cheek; the goal is to show how your mind works when confronted with an absurd premise. The best responses lean into the challenge rather than treating it as a joke—they demonstrate intellectual curiosity and the willingness to follow an idea wherever it leads, which is precisely the kind of thinking UChicago cultivates through its Core Curriculum and emphasis on vigorous scholarly discourse.

When selecting your correlation, aim for something that allows you to explore a hidden truth or unexamined connection. For example, instead of picking an obviously silly pairing, choose one that initially seems absurd but gradually reveals something meaningful about how the world actually works. Your argument should build methodically: introduce the correlation, acknowledge why it appears spurious, then construct a plausible causal chain that ties the two variables together. This might involve identifying a third factor influencing both, exploring temporal proximity, or using creative metaphor to argue that correlation masks a deeper principle. You might reference confounding variables, shared economic or social pressures, or even psychological tendencies that link the two phenomena. The rigor of your reasoning matters as much as the creativity of your premise.

Authenticity is essential here, so choose a topic that connects to your actual interests or worldview. If you care about sustainability, environmental science, economics, or cultural trends, let that passion guide your selection. Some students use this prompt to explore a professional interest through satire; others reveal something personal about how they see patterns in the world. The tone can vary widely. You might write something playful that entertains while it argues, or something unexpectedly serious beneath a whimsical surface. Either way, make sure your voice comes through—admissions officers at UChicago read thousands of essays and appreciate authenticity far more than they appreciate clever formula. Keep your writing concise and clear, letting your unique perspective shine rather than burying your argument in flowery language. The point is not to impress with vocabulary but to demonstrate how you think when you encounter a puzzle.

This is your chance to show admissions officers not just what you think, but how you think. UChicago prizes intellectual playfulness and the ability to engage with unconventional ideas, so your essay should feel like a window into your mind as much as your personality. The prompt is deliberately open-ended and somewhat absurd because the school wants you to grapple with complex, even messy ideas rather than deliver a safe, predictable answer. If you choose a past prompt or create your own question, make sure it genuinely excites you. Forced creativity falls flat; admissions readers can tell when you are simply trying to sound clever rather than exploring something that truly captures your curiosity. The essay should reveal something about your values, how you approach problems, and the kind of intellectual community you crave.

Your core strategy should be to treat this as an intellectual exercise that reveals your reasoning, not as another personal narrative. If you select a past prompt, spend time reviewing the full archive on UChicago's website to find one that resonates with your natural interests. For instance, if you are drawn to systems thinking, you might choose a prompt about an organism's decision-making; if you care about language and culture, a question about communication or meaning-making might serve you better. Avoid generic, surface-level takes. Connect your answer to something you are genuinely passionate about, then dig deeper than others might. Show that you can argue a point rigorously, think through implications, and grapple with complexity. The school values students who are comfortable with ambiguity and nuance, so do not shy away from acknowledging tensions or gray areas in your response.

If you decide to create your own question, be cautious. This approach can backfire if your question is too personal, too derivative of your personal statement, or not intellectually rigorous enough. Your custom question should be genuinely thought-provoking and worth exploring at length; it should feel like something only you would ask, grounded in your unique perspective. Use vivid, imaginative prose that reflects your voice. UChicago admissions officers appreciate unconventional sentence structures, unexpected metaphors, phrasing in other languages (with explanation), or even lists and fragments if they serve your argument. Avoid the temptation to be weird for the sake of weirdness; every creative choice should strengthen your intellectual argument and let your authentic personality shine through. Finally, use the full one to two pages available to you. This is not a space for brevity; develop your ideas fully, build layered arguments, and demonstrate the kind of rigorous, imaginative thinking that thrives in UChicago's classroom.

This essay is your chance to demonstrate that you've done your homework and that your intellectual curiosity aligns perfectly with what UChicago offers. The admissions committee wants to see that you understand the school's distinctive culture (one that values rigorous inquiry, interdisciplinary thinking, and intellectual community) and that you can articulate precisely how specific academic programs, resources, and traditions will enable you to pursue your passions. Your response should balance concrete details with genuine enthusiasm, showing you're not just attracted to UChicago's prestige but to its particular approach to learning and community.

Start by identifying what specifically draws you to UChicago's academic philosophy. The Core Curriculum is central to the university's identity, requiring all students to engage with diverse disciplines and develop critical thinking skills across humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. If you value interdisciplinary exploration or want to challenge yourself beyond your intended major, discuss how taking courses outside your comfort zone (perhaps a humanities sequence as a STEM major, or quantitative courses as a humanities student) will enrich your intellectual development. Be specific about which Core sequences intrigue you and why. Beyond the Core, research particular professors whose work resonates with your interests, specific research centers or institutes relevant to your goals, or unique academic opportunities like undergraduate research fellowships. Don't just list names and programs: explain what you hope to contribute or explore through these resources and how they connect to your intellectual journey.

The community aspect is equally important. UChicago's House System creates tight-knit residential communities where intellectual life extends beyond the classroom, and traditions like Scav Hunt (the legendary four-day scavenger hunt that has challenged students to build everything from homemade go-karts to nuclear reactors) showcase the playful, collaborative spirit that balances academic intensity. Perhaps you're drawn to the weekly discussions in your house common room, the quirky traditions like the Latke-Hamantash Debate (where faculty use academic rigor to argue the merits of Jewish foods), or opportunities to engage with Chicago's vibrant cultural scene through the ArtsPass program. Show that you understand how UChicago students learn from each other through spirited debate and intellectual exchange, not just from professors.

Finally, connect these elements to your future aspirations. Explain how UChicago's emphasis on critical thinking, rigorous analysis, and exploring ideas from multiple perspectives will prepare you for your long-term goals, whether in academia, public service, business, or another field. The strongest essays weave together learning, community, and future into a coherent narrative that demonstrates you belong at UChicago because of who you are and who you hope to become. Aim for 400 to 500 words of substance (genuine reflection and specific details) rather than vague praise. Make the admissions committee see you thriving in Hyde Park, contributing your unique perspective to classroom discussions, collaborating with housemates on Scav, and emerging as a more thoughtful, intellectually mature person.