
Show HN: UChicago admissions asked me to find Waldo. I did. - superuser2
https://github.com/jacobsevart/waldo_uchicago
======
memset
This is neat! Best of luck to you!

Here is a thought: one of your goals with this essay is to write it as a
"counselor-friendly essay". Do you feel like it is as friendly as it could be?

I think there is tremendous value in being able to explain technical concepts
to non-technical people, and a skill that is worth practicing. Iterate on this
essay! Or write more of them! How would you "tell a story" while conveying
this information? Is that even possible? Or even worthwhile? Tinker with it.

The one thing I really liked about your essay was the end: "To reliably solve
this sort of problem, I’m told, I’d want to [use fancy computer science
terminology]. So, UChicago, shall we revisit this question in CMSC 35400
(Machine Learning) or CMSC 35500 (Computer Vision)?" It ties this back to your
own personal goals and how they mesh with the university.

Great stuff.

~~~
chris_wot
I'd say this is counsellor friendly. One of the most impressive things was
that he was willing to acknowledge sources - basically he gave credit where it
was due. This doesn't take away from his essay, instead it shows that he can
use existing ideas in an original way.

I hope he gets accepted! I tip my hat to the author.

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marcuswestin
I'm a UoC comp sci alumnus working at silicon valley startups since graduation
in '08. Though a fantastic place in many ways, it's not one to encourage
actually building stuff. If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and
solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC. I was :) on the
other hand, if you go through with their BS degree in CS then you will have
learnt a lot of fascinating theory.

Best of luck my friend! And ping me at marcuswestin@gmail.com to say hi or if
you have any questions. Cheers :)

~~~
superuser2
I "prospied" last weekend and the professor I met at Hack Night said that the
systems side of the department has a stronger focus in that area, though he
may be in the minority there. The theory side is interesting as well, though I
don't want to get _too_ far away from reality.

Thanks so much! This is why I love HN. I will definitely be in touch.

~~~
mvzink
Now I regret missing hack night last week! I hope you got to meet some of our
outstanding crew. Sounds like you talked to Borja. I had the good fortune to
meet him when I visited and probably wouldn't have even bothered with a 4 year
college if I hadn't. Here's hoping your essay does the trick! Shoot me an
email if you want to discuss UChicago: mvz@mvz.so

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jasonkester
Awesome. And I feel for this guy, knowing what the next four years is going to
be like for him. Sitting in classes listening to an instructor spend a whole
week explaining how a "for" loop works to students who for the most part won't
be able to successfully write their own "for" loop by the time they graduate
(with a 3.5 GPA in CS).

I wish there was a degree path in "software" rather than "computer science",
since that's what a kid like this needs. Turning algorithms into code is
clearly solved for him. But I bet a few years of turning "nothing" into
"shipping software" would be a lot more useful (or at least a lot less of a
waste of time).

~~~
lewispollard
I'm in the UK and did a degree in software engineering which was pretty light
on comp sci theory, but still had the similar pain of sitting through basic
programming structure lectures for almost 2 years before hitting any kind of
complicated software problems.

~~~
highace
I can relate. I'm also from the UK and in the final year of my comp-sci based
degree took a module titled 'Web Application Development'. Cool - we're going
to be building a web app, I thought. Wrong - it was an introduction to HTML,
CSS, and javascript. We didn't even have to make anything, just write
snippets. In the final year for fuck's sake. What a waste of £20k.

~~~
lewispollard
Ah, mine wasn't so bad, my second year 'browser based applications' module
involved creating open data mashups with jQuery, and a third year module in
'architectures and frameworks' used Groovy on Grails, so we did get into some
pretty good modern stuff eventually.

------
tymekpavel
This is very impressive. However, I think the essay was poorly written. The
point of the essay is not just to highlight your talents, but also to present
yourself in a coherent manner. I feel like you focused a lot on the coding
aspect and half-cooked the writing, which happens all too often in this
industry. Nevertheless, good job on the project; you got an early start on a
bright future.

~~~
spamizbad
I disagree. I'd estimate his writing skills are in the 95%+ percentile for
17/18 year olds.

In the last 5-7 years, the English curriculum in US schools has changed
significantly in an effort to improve NCLB reading scores. One part of the
curriculum that had to get trimmed down was writing composition.

These days, unless you were home schooled or attended grades 9-12 at a quality
private school, you probably won't be taught how to write a proper essay until
college.

~~~
brianchu
Keep in mind that the University of Chicago is considered roughly a top 10
university (tied for 4th, if US News is to be trusted, which of course it
should not). The 25th percentile of admitted students is at the 95th
percentile of SAT scores. Rest assured, 80%+ of people who are admitted into
the University of Chicago know how to write a decent essay (the other 20%
allowing for athletes and development cases).

That being said, I don't find anything wrong with his writing, especially
since he is writing a short technical explanation rather than a reflective
memoir.

~~~
travisp
>the other 20% allowing for athletes and development cases

Chicago is not known for letting people in because they are athletes...

>80%+ of people who are admitted into the University of Chicago know how to
write a decent essay

Actually, as an '06 U of C grad, I was a little bit shocked at how poorly the
majority of the first years wrote. I say this without praising my own writing
abilities as necessarily better. If the students represent some of the best in
the country (they probably do), it doesn't say anything positive about writing
eduction in the country.

~~~
brianchu
True that UoC does not give very much of a boost to recruited athletes.
Nonetheless, that 20% estimate would account for borderline legacies,
development cases (parents donated), and possibly affirmative action admits
(the data is mixed on this).

As for the second point, obviously your experience is purely anecdotal, which
is hard to refute (other than dismissing it as anecdotal). I suspect that this
opinion might be biased by our tendency to view things relatively rather than
objectively - someone in the 75th percentile would see that most first years
write poorly _compared to him/herself_ , and thus might conclude that most
first years are poor writers in general, when objectively that is not the
case.

------
gtani
Best o luck. I tried something similar with Stanford, submitting some APL code
and a detailed explanation... didn't work that well.

I love the U of C, great school but not necessarily an easy place to go to
school. The CS people are one of the few bastions of SML among CS depts.

------
jjm
Bump for the _balls_ to do this AND for opening it up for everyone to review
(usually good preconditions for a good foss developer).

------
hakanito
Good job! Piece of advice from someone already at uni, you should write your
reports in LaTeX.

I've been doing it for a couple of years now and I'm amazed how often
professors complement the layout, structure and readability. Of course, the
actual content matters to... But in fact, for a report written using LaTeX vs.
Microsoft Word, in my experience the LaTeX version would certainly receive a
higher grade.

------
iopuy
Question, can essays contain pictures and diagrams? This seems like one of
those pitfalls like using profanity to stress your awesomeness in a job
application cover letter while everything else tells you not to.

~~~
superuser2
It was explicitly allowed by a question last year, though this year's
supplement is silent on that issue. So _maybe_ not, and I wouldn't pull that
at an institution with a different culture, but all 6 questions are curveballs
and clearly designed to encourage creativity. I don't think they'll mind.

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johndbritton
If you don't get a full ride at school I'd recommend that you go straight into
industry. It seems that you've already got enough skill to get hired, and once
you do that you'll get paid to learn on the job.

~~~
rayiner
I'd recommend taking this advice with a grain of salt. OP is clearly talented,
and a U of C degree will pay huge dividends down the line. There are lots of
great jobs closed to people without a top-notch degree on their resume. Though
balancing debt for college is always something that should be kept in mind.

------
kenko
Waitaminute, _Supplement to the Common Application_? Oh, Chicago, how you have
strayed!

~~~
carterschonwald
i'm sure many enterprising young applicants used the same essay for both the
common and (un)common apps.

~~~
Evbn
Parent was lamenting Chicago's decline into "common" status.

~~~
prakashk
As a parent of a kid who is currently undergoing this "torture" of the
admissions process [1], I beg to differ. The Common Application is definitely
one of the ways the pain is alleviated. I wouldn't want to imagine the times
when _every_ college/university had their own application format.

Every institution that uses the Common App also has their own supplement and I
have seen them very varied in complexity: from simple one-page form with no
additional essays to much more involved ones with three essays. The supplement
is now the place where the institution can show how "special" they are and how
rigorous their admissions process is.

I wish all colleges went the Common App route.

[1] I didn't go to college in the United States, so I didn't really have any
idea how complex this process is until now.

------
brianchu
Very cool, and something that probably will impress admissions officers,
though I think it's generally not a good idea to publicly publish admissions
essays until after the deadline.

~~~
superuser2
I applied early action before publishing, and the deadline will pass in a few
minutes.

------
haldean
FYI: your essay is giving me an access denied error:

    
    
        <Error>
          <Code>AccessDenied</Code>
          <Message>Access Denied</Message>
          <RequestId>A5B17F2AF38ADC02</RequestId>
          <HostId>
            3nvDN913QSL0zKSFhKcMZfhtVLAER4DU45ZNNP3K+cbtuNWze9IKOwDpovxl0Foz
          </HostId>
        </Error>

~~~
superuser2
Fixed, thanks.

~~~
Pwnguinz
Not fixed for me. And presumably for anyone else, either.

~~~
superuser2
Would you mind trying again? I did "Grantee: Everyone" but forget to check the
Open/Download box in the S3 console. Looks like it's working now, but famous
last words, etc.

~~~
trb
It works for me, so it's publicly accessible now.

------
paborden
Went to U of C ... Interviewed prospective students ... all that.

And, frankly: this essay knocks it out of the park. My essay (which, I'm
convinced, got me into the school) was similarly off the wall.

Remember that the point of a response like this ... in addition to being well-
reasoned, thought-out, and written ... is to leave a unique impression in the
reader's mind ... one where, after they've read a gazillion apps that day,
makes them say "admit the waldo programming kid!"

------
purewater
FYI, you made typo on "Boltzmann" in the essay.

Edit: looks like you already submitted the essay. Oh well. Good luck :)

~~~
superuser2
Yep, thanks. Nothing I can do about it now :(. Actually caught that one while
editing, but "fixed" it incorrectly. The public version is correct now,
though.

------
njs12345
Please keep us posted with whether you're successful, superuser2! The essay is
fairly transparent but points to an interesting tradeoff between counselor and
professor when it comes to the question of whether it is accepted.

------
dbecker
The admissions counselors should be very impressed with what you've done. I
know I'm impressed.

Of course, someone with your amount of skill and drive will be successful no
matter where you go to school.

------
joezhou
Good job! Wish I'd thought of this when I was applying for college

------
imrehg
Congrats!

Related video: Werner Herzog reads "Where's Waldo", it's a really chilling
story! <http://youtu.be/EvWh6PMi9Ek>

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haubey
So you wrote the Waldo essay, eh? I wrote the present essay. Good luck to you,
and good luck to us all.

------
Aldor
Well now my essay feels inadequate...

But seriously though, good job, and best of luck!

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gms
I wish I was this competent at that age.

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modernise
Correction: I have.

