Earful for University Over a Cheeky Essay

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/education/01chicago.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

January 1, 2010
Earful for University Over a Cheeky Essay
By TAMAR LEWIN

With the Jan. 2 deadline for applications fast approaching, the dean of admissions at the University of Chicago sent out a sample essay last week to thousands of high school seniors in hopes “that it lightens your mood, reduces any end-of-the-year stress and inspires your creative juices in completing your applications.” But the essay, comparing the college to an elusive lover, has had a very different effect.

“Dear University of Chicago, It fills me up with that gooey sap you feel late at night when I think about things that are really special to me about you,” the essay began. “Tell me, was I just one in a line of many? Was I just another supple ‘applicant’ to you, looking for a place to live, looking for someone to teach me the ways of the world?”

In the 10 days since the dean’s e-mail message went out, more than 100 postings appeared on College Confidential, a popular Web site for those applying to college, some questioning his decision to send out the essay.

The reactions posted ran the gamut, with many students and parents delighted, but others criticizing the essay as sexually provocative. And several students said that far from reducing their stress, it had them agonizing over whether to rewrite their own essays on why they wanted to attend Chicago.

One, beginning, “I’m going to cry now,” told of having written a similar “Why Chicago” essay, “more as a vignette than a letter, but it has me on one knee, saying, ‘Accept me.’ ” Another, titled, “Why, dean, why?!” wrote: “My Why Chicago is in exactly the same format. And somehow, covers a lot of the same ideas. Should I change mine?”

To calm the waters, a Chicago admissions representative on Tuesday posted a response telling students not to worry if their essays were similar. “We sent out the essay to lighten the mood, but it seems that it might have backfired a bit,” the posting said, adding that the dean, James G. Nondorf, had asked to “pass on a sincere apology if it did not hit the mark.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Dean Nondorf, who is in his first year at Chicago, said in an e-mail message that the reaction his office received had been overwhelmingly positive and that he thought the essay reflected “the sort of clever, creative spirit that tends to thrive at UChicago.”

“Our general message in sharing it with prospective students,” he wrote, “was that they shouldn’t stress out about essay writing.”

The student who wrote the essay, identified only as Rohan, gave permission for his essay to be distributed, the admissions office said. And although the early action program under which he was admitted is nonbinding, he has indicated that he plans to attend Chicago in the fall.

The University of Chicago has long prided itself on the unusual essays it requires from applicants, and for many years, it resisted the trend to join the Common Application, which handles online applications for hundreds of colleges and universities. Until the current freshman class, applicants used what Chicago called the Uncommon Application, which included an array of quirky and thoughtful essay prompts, many of which came from current students.

Applicants are still required to write an essay responding to one of five unusual prompts. The first one this year is “How did you get caught? Or not caught, as the case may be.” Applicants also must do the standard Common Application essay and the “Why Chicago” essay that elicited Rohan’s essay: how Chicago would “satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community and future?”

In his essay, Rohan objected to the “why.”

“Your cup overfloweth with academic genius, pour a little on me,” he wrote. “You’re legendary for it, they all told me it would never work out between us, but I had hope. I had so much hope; I replied to your adorable letters and put up with your puns.

“I knew going into it that you would be an expensive one to keep around, I accounted for all that; I understand someone of your caliber and taste. And now you inquire as to my wishes? They’re simple, accept me for who I am! Why can’t you just love and not ask why? Not ask about my assets or my past?”