The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Three years ago, I applied to one of the top high schools in my country. When it came time to write my essays, I spent 150 hours writing them in the space of a single month. Out of many thousands of applicants, I was one of 200 selected...

People in my community believe the only way to be successful is to pursue medicine or engineering and arts are looked down upon here.I have a science background but am also interested in the deeper questions of existence, such as one encounters in philosophy. I don’t want to let go of my passions.Instead,I want to study at Cornell, where, far from being looked down upon, interdisciplinary study that includes the liberal arts are treasured through its...

We want to get to know you better. What are three words that your best friend would use to describe you and why? I have always lived in the same isolated, rather orthodox, community of 10,000 people surrounded by smaller towns and villages. After the Orlando nightclub attack, India refused to say their wishes were with the distraught gay community. When I asked my mother about this,she was disgusted.“How can you think about that?It’s not natural,” she...

How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.) –Proposed by Kelly Kennedy, BA '10 Statistics. (2009–2010) Every morning I wake up, take a shower, and then hear my mom call to me: "Amartya, go and pranam in the temple before eating." So I get dressed and walk to the one room of the house that is devoted to eight clay Gods. I fold my hands and close my eyes. Although I am not sure about the...

How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago. People in my community believe the only way to be successful is to pursue medicine or engineering and arts are looked down upon here. I have a science background but am also interested in the deeper questions of existence, such as one encounters...

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. My favorite book: The Bancroft Strategy by Robert Ludlum or The Inferno by Dan Brown. These two books make you question your ideas of morality itself ! My favorite movie: Independence Day (Hollywood) and 3 Idiots (Bollywood) My...