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[Caltech]

Please list three books, along with their authors, that have been particularly meaningful to you. For each book, please include a sentence explaining their influence upon you. Please note that your response is not limited to math, science or school-assigned texts.

Members of the Caltech community live, learn, and work within an Honor System with one simple guideline; "No member shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the Caltech community." While seemingly simple, questions of ethics, honesty and integrity are sometimes challenging. Share an ethical dilemma that has challenged you. How did you respond? Your response is not limited to academic situations. (100 words max)

Caltech students have long been known for their quirky sense of humor and creative pranks. Please describe an unusual way in which you have fun. (100 words max)

In an increasingly global and interdependent society, there is a need for diversity in thought, talent, and experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. How do you see yourself contributing to the diversity of Caltech's community? (150 words max)

Scientific exploration clearly excites you (otherwise you wouldn’t be applying to Caltech). What is it about Caltech’s opportunities and resources that will best fuel your intellectual curiosity and develop your passion for science, technology, math or engineering? (500 words max)

If you need additional space, please explain using the upload function button below. Please do not attach a resume or upload research papers. Caltech will email you an application confirmation with information on how to upload research papers through your student portal.

[MIT]

Please tell us more about your cultural background and identity in the space below (100 word limit). If you need more than 100 words, please use the Optional section on Part 2.

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do for the pleasure of it. (*) (100 words or fewer).

Although you may not yet know what you want to major in, which department or program at MIT appeals to you and why? (*) (100 words or fewer).

What attribute of your personality are you most proud of, and how has it impacted your life so far? This could be your creativity, effective leadership, sense of humor, integrity, or anything else you’d like to tell us about. (*) (200-250 words)

Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations? (*) (200-250 words)

Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? (*) (200-250 words)

(Optional) No admission application can meet the needs of every individual. If you think additional information or material will give us a more thorough impression of you, please respond below.

[U of Chicago]

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.

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.

Choose one of the six extended essay options and upload a one- or two- page response.

Winston Churchill believed \"a joke is a very serious thing.\" From Off-Off Campus’s improvisations to the Shady Dealer humor magazine to the renowned Latke-Hamantash debate, we take humor very seriously here at The University of Chicago (and we have since 1959, when our alums helped found the renowned comedy theater The Second City). Tell us your favorite joke and try to explain the joke without ruining it. -Chelsea Fine, Class of 2016

In a famous quote by José Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher proclaims, \"Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia\" (1914). José Quintans, master of the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division at the University of Chicago, sees it another way: \"Yo soy yo y mi microbioma\" (2012). You are you and your..? -Maria Viteri, Class of 2016

This is what history consists of. It's the sum total of all the things they aren't telling us.-- Don DeLillo, Libra. What is history, who are “they,” and what aren’t they telling us? -Amy Estersohn, Class of 2010

The mantis shrimp can perceive both polarized light and multispectral images; they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. Human eyes have color receptors for three colors (red, green, and blue); the mantis shrimp has receptors for sixteen types of color, enabling them to see a spectrum far beyond the capacity of the human brain. Seriously, how cool is the mantis shrimp: mantisshrimp.uchicago.edu What might they be able to see that we cannot? What are we missing? -Tess Moran, Class of

How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy. -Florence Chan, Class of 2015

In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.