Take Home Essay

Below is a good example of the kind of  college application questions you may be asked to write.  The character limit forces you to be concise and efficient, and invites you to think about structure. Ideally, this will be either a two or three paragraph "mini essay."   

I will be grading this based on:  Grammar, Meeting the Criteria, and Strong Content.  One difficult aspect of this is actually choosing the argument in the first place.  Are you really arguing against your true opinion?  Some students find this difficult and never really fulfill that part of the prompt. 

Make a rational argument for a position you do not support personally.  For clarity, please state your true opinion first and then argue the opposite position. Consider an issue that has affected you personally. 

 Limit: 1000 characters (including spaces)

DUE: BEFORE NEXT CLASS.  Late submissions not accepted. 

Next Essay: University of Chicago - Prompts

UPDATE:  Revised/Expanded/Completed Version: Due BEFORE FRIDAY'S Class.  Late submissions not accepted.

Below is info directly cut and paste from the U of C website. Please chose one of the prompts and have it on your blog for Next Class. Copy and paste the prompt so we know which one you chose.

Length: 500 - 600 words.

The University of Chicago has long been renowned for its provocative essay questions. We think of them as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions. They can be approached with utter seriousness, complete fancy, or something in between.
Each year we email newly admitted and current College students and ask them for essay topics. We receive several hundred responses, many of which are eloquent, intriguing, or downright wacky.
As you can see by the attributions, some of the questions below were inspired by submissions by your peers.

2012-13 essay questions:

Essay Option 1.

"A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies." –Oscar Wilde.
Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).
Inspired by Martin Krzywy, admitted student Class of 2016.

Essay Option 2.

Heisenberg claims that you cannot know both the position and momentum of an electron with total certainty. Choose two other concepts that cannot be known simultaneously and discuss the implications. (Do not consider yourself limited to the field of physics).
Inspired by Doran Bennett, BS'07 Chemistry and Mathematics.

Essay Option 3.

Susan Sontag, AB'51, wrote that "[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech." Write about an issue or a situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend. The Aesthetics of Silence, 1967.
Anonymous submission.

Essay Option 4.

“...I [was] eager to escape backward again, to be off to invent a past for the present." –The Rose Rabbi by Daniel Stern
Present: pres·ent
1. Something that is offered, presented, or given as a gift.
Let’s stick with this definition. Unusual presents, accidental presents, metaphorical presents, re-gifted presents, etc. — pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it.
Inspired by Jennifer Qin, admitted student Class of 2016.

Essay Option 5.

In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.

Essay Option 6.

So where is Waldo, really?
Inspired by Robin Ye, admitted student Class of 2016

The rest of this semester....

Assignments Due:

1.  Ben X - 500 word response.  Did you like it? Why or why not?  Comment on the issues presented.  DUE: Before next Friday.

2.  Flash Fiction - 10 stories no more than two sentences long.  Focus on subtext that reader is expected to gather.  DUE: Before Next Friday.

3.  Three In-Class Writing Assignments:

1. Answer questions about the following stories from The Martian Chronicles:  The Silent Towns, The Long Years, Million Year Picnic, There Will Come Soft Rains
2. University of Chicago Prompt
3. Descriptive Writing Exercise

 All In-Class writings must be transferred to your blogs after I've looked at them.

Midterm Results

Here are the results. After talking to Ms. Lee and Mr. Tweedie, I lowered my scores and gave more B's to fall in line with them for the sake of consistency.  It is true that the prompt clearly stated "your narrative should entirely be in transit - not beginning or ending at the place of origin."  Some of you really deviated from the prompt, others just a little. 

I also based the scores a bit heavily on length and syntax.  Some were very short, and others had the usual grammatical issues.  That said, most were very "okay" if not similar.  Lots of vision trip and airplane experiences.   If you wrote about something a little bit unique and managed to include a theme, you scored higher. 

I think I was waaaay to generous with the Earthlings scores, so expect harsher scoring in the future.

Kickback	89.60
Optimus Prime	92.00
Bumblebee	90.00
Ratchet	90.20
Ironhide	90.70
Mudflap	89.40
Jolt	89.40
Inferno	89.90
Sentinal	89.00
Wheeljak	89.40
Megatron	90.30
Demolisher	89.60
Star Scream	89.90
Ravage	90.50
Devastator	89.00
Rampage	91.50
Scrapper	89.10
Laserbeak	90.00