My personal statement was about being multi-racial. My mother is a first generation immigrant from Japan and my dad is a white American. I reflected on the ways I was differentiated from American culture because of the influence of Japanese culture in my life and how it impacted the way I perceived myself within the fabric of American society. I also reflected on how little I actually knew about my Japanese heritage and yet that Japanese heritage still defined my...

There were five essay prompts and the applicant was to choose one and respond. The prompt I chose was: “At present, you need to live the question.”—Rainer Maria Rilke, translated from German by Joan M. Burnham. I wrote about how truth was never certain--the "real truth," and that with each second there are events that occur which constantly shape and reconfigure the truth as we may have defined it even just one second before. As a result we need...

I referred to the value of a liberal arts education, the core curriculum, and the rigor of the program.

I participated in the Women's Varsity Swim Team at the University of Chicago. From my own experience, if you play a sport it becomes a lot easier to get into more elite schools--IF...

I interviewed with the admissions office at the University of Chicago. I would not worry about referencing philosophers, great thinkers, or texts during the interview. I spoke about traveling experiences I had and some of the things I noticed during those experiences about the country, city, the people, etc. Also,...

To be recruited for the swim team I first looked at the qualifying times it would take to for me to be a competitive candidate for the team. Once I ascertained that I had a good chance of being recruited because I was competitive enough compared to the current women's team, I filled out a...