WA@osl8280
Hi Harsh!
Thanks for your time.
Since Booth has drastically reduced the word budget for applicants across essays and short answers, what is the best way to really personalize your application and communicate it to adcom?
I see we are starting with the toughest question 😅 I might not be the best person to answer this yet since we are still waiting to hear from AdCom on what exactly they are expecting, maybe part of the reason is to reduce AI usage

But if I am being honest, I think the first 2 questions are still pretty standard around goals. You need to be on point with how your story connects with your past experience, your immediate goal, and how that eventually leads to your long-term goal.
3 and 4 are definitely more interesting. For 3, I wouldn’t take it randomly. I would probably pull some reference from last year’s picture essay and think about how whatever you pick can highlight something about you and what you can bring back to Booth.
For 4, I feel they are trying to understand your personality outside academics/work. So this could be a good place to bring in some random adventure, hobby, or unique experience and show how that can help you connect with your future classmates or add something different to the group.