The University of Chicago is known for its original and unconventional admission essay questions. The University of Chicago states that they “think of the essay questions as an opportunity for students to tell us about themselves, their tastes, and their ambitions.” WSPN reporters asked a few WHS students for their responses to some of this year’s admission essay questions without any explanation. Here are some of their responses.

Question: Find x

“Find x? Do I have a problem? No? Ummmm. There’s one right there. There’s one up there. (pointing to the clock at the X roman numeral) – Michael Moore (Class of 2019)

Question: How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve but are not limited to: statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy.

“Chemistry.”
“I don’t know. They’re different fruit. They’re made up differently. One’s an apple and one’s an orange. How am I supposed to answer that? They both grow from trees. One is orange, one is red. They’re different fruits; they taste different.” – Casey Ross (Class of 2019)

Question: What is square one and can you actually go back to it?

“Good question. Square one’s the start of everything. And yes you can return to it.” – librarian Joanne Schmidt.

“Siri, what’s square one?” – Ciara Murphy (Class of 2020)

Question: Where is Waldo really?

“Where is Waldo really? Where is Waldo — I have no idea. Ok, Waldo… That is one of the great existential questions of humanity, you know? It really kind of toys with your mind. You have to search within to find where Waldo is in the external reality that we face. You know, asking where Waldo is, is all about asking who you are.” – Jeff Prince (Class of 2018)

“Oooh, that’s a tough one. Ummm. I don’t know. In your mind?” – Rami Namou (Class of 2018)

Question: What’s so odd about odd numbers?

“The fact that they can’t be divided by two to create integers. The even numbers all look round while the odd numbers are just disgusting.” – Janelle Renterghem (Class of 2018)