The Oddball Essay is a supplemental essay type that mines for information about not only who you are, but also how you think. Colleges are interested in the way your mind works so they can determine if you’d be a good fit for their campus community. Are you easily led down a rabbit hole of fan theories of your favorite show? Have you always wondered why grocery stores shelve eggs in the dairy section when there is truly nothing “dairy” about them? While on the hunt for smart and dedicated students, they’re also looking for intellectually curious and emotionally evolved young people who are eager to learn and engage with a diversity of opinions.
This supplemental essay type provides you with the opportunity to break out of the box and let your individuality shine. Everyone approaches life a little differently, and this is a chance to let admissions know your POV on the world. We’re sure you’re a little tired of thinking in terms of accomplishments and grades, so this should be a welcome change of pace while you exercise your mind and let your thoughts wander a bit into what may be a yet unknown opinion or train of thought you’ve never explored.
University of Chicago, University of Southern California (USC), Wake Forest (WFU), and Elon are some of the schools notorious for quirky essay questions.
Here are UChicago’s 2024-25 Essay Options 1-5 for your reference:
Essay Option 1
We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents.
Essay Option 2
“Ah, but I was so much older then / I’m younger than that now” – Bob Dylan. In what ways do we become younger as we get older?
Essay Option 3
Pluto, the demoted planet. Ophiuchus, the thirteenth Zodiac. Andy Murray, the fourth to tennis’s Big Three. Every grouping has something that doesn’t quite fit in. Tell us about a group and its unofficial member, why (or why not) should it be excluded?
Essay Option 4
“Daddy-o”, “Far Out”, “Gnarly”: the list of slang terms goes on and on. Sadly, most of these aren’t so “fly” anymore – “as if!” Name an outdated slang from any decade or language that you’d bring back and explain why you totally “dig it.”
Essay Option 5
How many piano tuners are there in Chicago? What is the total length of chalk used by UChicago professors in a year? How many pages of books are in the Regenstein Library? These questions are among a class of estimation problems named after University of Chicago physicist Enrico Fermi. Create your own Fermi estimation problem, give it your best answer, and show us how you got there.
Don’t hesitate to read our UChicago Essay Writing Guide for help getting started!
Beyond your transcripts and your Activity List, these essays help admissions gain insight into how your brain works. Do you approach things logically or with a curious spin? Is your seemingly unorthodox way of thinking actually anchored by strict rules? Sharing an opinion or idea is one thing, but spending the rest of the essay letting them into your way of thinking is the real gem they’re mining for here. Written in your own unique voice, these essays are your chance to make an impression on your reader and enrich their view of who you are. Get detailed and get remembered.
To write an Oddball Essay that stands out from the pack, we recommend taking a stance. Many of these prompts offer a category and list examples, asking you to expand their list and back it up with your reasons why. For instance, “We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being ‘caught purple-handed’?”—they’ve provided examples of known items in this category and are asking you to take the logic one step further to come up with another and provide reasoning behind it. Remember: there is no right or wrong answer here! There is only a thoughtful response vs. the underdeveloped essay and a lack of explanation. So, with that in mind, the key here is to get detailed and lay your logic bare on the page while showcasing who you are. Maybe the color red has always reminded you of embarrassment or blushing, so the phrase you’d like to introduce is “heated red.” When you tried getting off the ski lift, you lost your balance; your cheeks went flush, and your forehead heated up. You knew people were not only staring, but also getting impatient as you blocked the way with your goofy-footed snowboard. Though it’s not a lasting feeling, it comes on hot like a boiling kettle and shocks the system, practically making you immoble. Though red is often associated with anger, to you, red is embarrassment. How have you taken steps to combat the paralysis of that feeling? See how quickly a color-theory story gets personal?
This essay is the writing equivalent of “yes, and” (and improv-heads out there?). You’re taking their pitch for an idea and running with it. They’ve teed up a concept and are asking you to support the claim and add your own opinions to the mix. Often, former students have written these prompts, so if you can tread water with their alumni, you are sure to succeed in their ranks.
In the end, remember that the point of essays responding to absurd prompts is to tell them more about who you are, so don’t get lost in the sauce of proving a point and be sure to use your examples or opinions to shed light on what makes you tick and why you’d be a great addition to their community.
We at College Essay Advisors have been guiding students one-on-one through the Oddball Essay writing process for school-specific supplements for over twenty years. We take a holistic approach to these essays, considering each student’s application package as a whole while helping them select and write responses that add color to their application submissions.
Our Advisors accommodate each student’s scheduling needs to virtually brainstorm, draft, and revise winning Oddball Essays. It’s incredibly important to us that each student’s voice is preserved, and we pride ourselves in helping students write successful essays that differentiate them from similarly qualified applicants. For more information, submit a contact form and/or review our one-on-one advising services.
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