Gestalt Strangers look at me and see patchwork. A leather skirt, a faded messenger bag packed with library books and a marked-up score for Schubert's Death and the Maiden. I am at the symphony hall, a coffee shop chess game, the local fabric store. My favorite jeans have shown more Sharpie than denim, an inky map of my passions, ever since one lazy summer afternoon and a serendipitous rush of inspiration. I am patchwork, practical and proud. I debate philosophy,...

Prompt: "A neon installation by the artist Jeppe Hein in UChicago’s Charles M. Harper Center asks this question for us: “Why are you here and not somewhere else?” (There are many potential values of “here”, but we already know you're “here” to apply to the University of Chicago; pick any “here” besides that one). - Inspired by Erin Hart, Class of 2016" Title: Here at University High School I am currently enrolled in a highly-praised, public college preparatory school. Some...

The University of Chicago is quirky, curious, and academically open-minded. I am drawn to the idea of a school with such vast opportunities for learning of all kinds, and can easily imagine myself exploring many of my interests throughout an undergraduate experience. UChicago’s emphasis on Creative Writing as an interdisciplinary focus is especially exciting to me, as I love to write and am brimming with ideas for the incorporation of my interests, such as Gender Studies or Psychology, with...

Prompt: "(Optional) Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own." I have an unbreakable love, deep in my heart, for Jane Austen. Her books are timeless and relevant, despite the centuries that have elapsed since they were written, because they deal with the ever-fluid...