how to write uc app essays

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Madeleine Karydes

Lead admissions expert, table of contents, the university of california application.

• How to Answer UC’s Personal Insight Questions

Final Thoughts: Ace the UC Essays

Stay up-to-date on the latest research and college admissions trends with our blog team.

Everyone loves a good deal, right? When it comes to getting the best return on your college investment, the University of California (UC) system consistently outshines the competition. Of course, there are plenty of other reasons that UC schools earn high ranks! Nonetheless, with UCs ranking among the top in the nation for financial return, it’s clear that your path to a brighter financial future could start with a compelling UC application.

And the first step?

Mastering the UC essays. Your words have the power to unlock not just admission, but a lifetime of opportunities. So, how do you make your UC essays stand out in the 2024-2025 cycle? We’re here to guide you through each prompt and help you craft winning essays.

The University of California has its own unique application system , with a deadline of November 30th—a full month ahead of the Common Application. This means you’ll need to start early. Fortunately, the UC system allows you to apply to all nine campuses through a single application, making it easier to target multiple schools at once.

But what really sets the UC application apart?

The Personal Insight Questions (PIQs). These are the heart of your application, where you’ll choose and respond to four out of eight prompts, each with a 350-word limit. 

The PIQs are designed to dig deep into your experiences, aspirations, and personal qualities—what makes you, you. Your answers to these questions are a crucial factor in UC admissions decisions, so it’s essential to approach them thoughtfully.

Why are the PIQs so important?

The UC system receives tens of thousands of applications each year, and the PIQs are your opportunity to stand out. They provide a platform for you to showcase your character, leadership, creativity, and resilience—qualities that aren’t always evident in grades or test scores. The PIQs allow the admissions committee to see beyond the numbers and understand who you are as a person.

How to Answer UC’s Personal Insight Questions

Choosing which four prompts to answer is a strategic decision. While all questions are weighted equally, it’s vital to select the ones that resonate most with your experiences and strengths. Consider which stories best highlight your unique qualities and align with the values of the UC system.

UC Values: Student Characteristics to Focus On

These are the student characteristics that admissions officers at the University of California look for when reading applications. Read this list thoroughly and reflect on how it applies to your life!

• Excellence : The UC system is committed to academic excellence and innovation. This includes a strong emphasis on rigorous academic standards, research, and a commitment to advancing knowledge in various fields.
• Diversity and Inclusion : The UC system values a diverse and inclusive community. This means fostering an environment where people of different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives can thrive and contribute to the university community.
• Equity and Access : UC is dedicated to providing access to higher education for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. This includes efforts to support underrepresented and first-generation college students, ensuring that financial barriers do not prevent qualified students from attending.
• Public Service : A strong commitment to public service is central to the UC mission. The university encourages students, faculty, and staff to engage in activities that benefit society, including community service, civic engagement, and addressing social issues.
• Sustainability : The UC system places a high value on sustainability and environmental stewardship. The university is committed to reducing its environmental impact and promoting sustainable practices on campus and beyond.
• Integrity and Accountability : UC values integrity, ethical behavior, and accountability. This includes a commitment to transparency, honesty, and responsibility in all aspects of university life.
• Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity : The UC system encourages collaboration across disciplines and institutions. This includes fostering partnerships that bring together diverse perspectives to address complex challenges and advance knowledge.
• Global Citizenship : UC values the development of global citizens who are prepared to engage with and contribute to the world beyond their immediate lives.

UC Essay Prompts:

Next, let’s read over each of the short answer prompts provided by the University of California. Every student who wishes to apply for admission will need to choose four of these eight topics to write. According to the UC website , these are the prompts for 2024-2025:

• Leadership Experience: Describe an example of your leadership experience where you’ve positively influenced others, resolved disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
• Creative Side: Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways—problem-solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically. Describe how you express your creative side.
• Greatest Talent or Skill: What is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
• Educational Opportunity or Barrier: Describe how you’ve taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you’ve faced.
• Significant Challenge: Describe the most significant challenge you’ve faced and the steps you’ve taken to overcome it. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
• Inspiring Academic Subject: Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you’ve furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
• Betterment of School or Community: What have you done to make your school or community a better place?
• Additional Information: Beyond what you’ve already shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admission to the University of California?

Brainstorming:

If you’ve identified the prompts that resonate with you, it’s time to brainstorm. Start by reflecting on moments in your life that showcase your unique qualities—leadership, creativity, resilience, and more. Think beyond surface-level achievements; delve into challenges you’ve overcome, lessons learned, or moments of insight that have had a lasting impact on your life. In the PIQs, you’ll want to avoid just listing or repeating your resume. Instead, talk about unusual moments that illustrate your growth through action.

A compelling essay topic allows you to tell a story that’s both authentic and revealing, giving the admissions committee a window into who you are and what drives you. 

Great essay topics often come from personal experiences that have shaped your perspective or inspired change. What core memories have shaped who you are today? Remember, the best essays often come from deeply personal topics, so don’t be afraid to explore the experiences that have truly defined you. Beginning your brainstorming session with deep personal reflection can help flush out stories that align with your PIQ prompts.

Ready to get started? Next, we’ll go through each of these prompts to break down what they’re asking and discuss what sort of ideas can become strong essays.

Prompt 1, Leadership Experience:  

For this essay, share an example where your leadership made a positive impact. This could involve influencing others, resolving conflicts, or contributing to a team’s success—and you don’t have to be club president for it to count! Your essay should narrate a specific anecdote, detailing the positive outcomes and reflecting on how this experience contributed to your personal growth and future aspirations. Remember that leadership comes in many forms: have you ever been a secondary leader, in a role where you took the initiative to change something, or taken charge of a difficult situation? Introverted students often have more leadership experience than they first expect.

• Emphasize the Impact: Illustrate a particular leadership role where your actions led to a beneficial result. Use details if possible, like overall attendees, dollars raised, or individuals helped.
• Address Challenges: Describe any difficulties you encountered and how you overcame them, highlighting your problem-solving abilities and perseverance. College admissions officers are looking for resilient students who can handle the challenges of higher education.

Prompt 2, Creative Side:  

This prompt invites you to showcase your creativity, which can manifest in various forms—be it artistic expression, innovative problem-solving, or unique thinking. Provide a specific example of how you’ve demonstrated creativity and discuss your thought process behind it.

• Showcase Your Creativity: Detail a project or activity that highlights your creative abilities, and why. It doesn’t have to be traditional art; all kinds of self-expression can work extremely well for this question.
• Reflect on Its Significance: Explain what creativity means to you and how this particular example has influenced your perspective or future goals. The personalization aspect is key.

Prompt 3, Greatest Talent or Skill:  

With this prompt, be sure to describe your most significant talent or skill and how it has evolved over time. Provide concrete examples that illustrate your growth and development. Connect this talent or skill to your future goals and how it will aid you in your academic and professional journey.

• Detail Your Growth: Explain how you have honed this talent or skill over the years. For this prompt, you’ll only want to answer if you have an interest or hobby that you’ve continued participating in for a number of years.
• Link to Future Goals: Discuss how this ability will support your success at the University of California and beyond. It’s important to draw the connections between your past accomplishments and your future aspirations.

Prompt 4, Educational Opportunity or Barrier:  

In this essay, reflect on a significant educational opportunity you seized or a barrier you overcame. Craft a narrative that sets the context, describes your approach to the situation, and concludes with the growth and insights you gained. It’s important to convey how this experience has prepared you for future academic challenges.

• Narrate Your Experience: Outline the educational challenge or opportunity and your response to it. Instead of focusing on how unfair the circumstances may have been, use this space to highlight how you responded to the obstacles in your way in a positive and constructive manner.
• Highlight Personal Growth: Discuss what you learned and how it has equipped you for university life. Ultimately, admissions officers want to know how you plan to move forward.

Prompt 5, Significant Challenge:  

When responding to this question, describe a major challenge you’ve faced, how you addressed it, and its impact on your academic performance. Ensure your story is focused on what you learned and demonstrate your resilience and the lessons learned from overcoming the challenge.

• Describe the Challenge: Provide details about the challenge you encountered. It’s important to give context for this challenge, for it to make sense—and have proper significance—to the casual reader.
• Showcase Resilience: Explain how you managed it and what you learned, highlighting your perseverance and determination.

Prompt 6, Inspiring Academic Subject:  

This prompt asks you to discuss an academic subject that deeply inspires you and how you have pursued this interest both inside and outside the classroom. Include personal projects, competitions, or additional coursework that highlight your passion for the subject and explain how this interest aligns with your future goals.

• Express Your Passion: Share what excites you about this subject. For instance, are there specific aspects or unusual angles of the topic that excite you?
• Link to Future Goals: Describe how your enthusiasm for this subject ties into your academic and career objectives at the University of California.

Prompt 7, Betterment of School or Community:  

For this question, you can describe your contributions to improving your school or community. Whether through community service or personal initiatives, detail the direct impact of your efforts. It’s crucial to demonstrate how your actions benefited the community and reflect on what you learned from the experience.

• Detail Your Involvement: Explain your role in a community enhancement activity.
• Reflect on Impact: Discuss how this experience has shaped your view on community service and your commitment to making a difference.

Prompt 8, Additional Information (Free Choice):  

Finally, this open-ended prompt allows you to share anything else that defines you as a strong applicant, that doesn’t fit into the previous prompts. However, because of the flexibility, there’s also a lot of responsibility! 

Firstly, ensure that your essay is unique and not a repurposed response from other prompts. Use this opportunity to highlight something distinctive about your background or perspective. Secondly, only use this prompt if you have a compelling reason to skip the other seven. With those out of the way, you’ll stay on the right track.

• Highlight Your Unique Background: Share an aspect of your background or viewpoint that sets you apart.
• Discuss Your Contribution: Explain how your unique perspective will enrich the University of California community. For instance, what three things are you most looking forward to when you attend a UC? Share your excitement!

Summary: Quick Tips for Crafting Your Best UC Essays

• Be You: Admissions officers can spot a generic essay from a mile away. Be genuine and let your personality shine through your writing. Share specific anecdotes that highlight your character and what drives you.
• Remember Concrete Details: In other words, “Show, don’t tell!” Use vivid examples to illustrate your points. Instead of saying you’re a leader, describe a situation where you led a team through a challenging project or initiative. Your values will show through your actions.
• Reflect and Connect: Reflect on what you’ve learned from your experiences and how they’ve shaped your aspirations. Connect your past experiences to your future goals and explain how a UC education will help you achieve them.
• Go Beyond the Resume: The UC essays are an opportunity to showcase aspects of yourself that aren’t reflected in your academic achievements or extracurricular activities. Share stories that reveal your personal growth and leadership in unexpected ways.
• Don’t Repeat Yourself: As you are choosing topics, make sure that each PIQ reflects a different part of you. Instead of focusing three of your essays on how much you love Physics, expand on the different aspects of your personality beyond the one-dimensional! You may be academically smart in the classroom, but you can also use these essays to show how you’re a great artist and creative thinker. Thinking about your UC application as a whole will help you with a big-picture strategy.

Leverage Your Resources:

Don’t forget to explore the UC application website for the most updated information and guidelines on the PIQs. This is where you’ll find the official word on what the UC admissions team is looking for, as well as tips directly from the source. Understanding their expectations can help you tailor your responses to their criteria.

Additionally, you can reach out to experts like Empowerly. We have years of experience and former admissions officers from the University of California system on staff. If you’re wondering what your chances of getting into a great California university are, we can help.

Over 98% of our students earn admission to their top-choice universities: you can, too!

Crafting your UC essays is a journey of self-discovery and storytelling. By choosing the right prompts, being authentic, and reflecting deeply on your experiences, you can create essays that not only resonate with the admissions committee but also set you on the path to success. Remember, these essays are your chance to stand out and show why you’re a perfect fit for the UC system. 

Good luck, and remember you are not alone!

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How to Write a Perfect UC Essay for Every Prompt

College Essays

If you're applying to any University of California (UC) campus as an incoming first-year student , then you have a special challenge ahead of you. Applicants need to answer four UC personal insight questions, chosen from a pool of eight unique prompts different from those on the Common App. But not to worry! This article is here to help.

In this article, I'll dissect the eight UC essay prompts in detail. What are they asking you for? What do they want to know about you? What do UC admissions officers really care about? How do you avoid boring or repulsing them with your essay?

I'll break down all of these important questions for each prompt and discuss how to pick the four prompts that are perfect for you. I'll also give you examples of how to make sure your essay fully answers the question. Finally, I'll offer step-by-step instructions on how to come up with the best ideas for your UC personal statements.

Feature image credit: Boston Public Library /Flickr

What Are the UC Personal Insight Questions?

If you think about it, your college application is mostly made up of numbers: your GPA, your SAT scores, the number of AP classes you took, how many years you spent playing volleyball. But these numbers reveal only so much. The job of admissions officers is to put together a class of interesting, compelling individuals—but a cut-and-dried achievement list makes it very hard to assess whether someone is interesting or compelling. This is where the personal insight questions come in.

The UC application essays are your way to give admissions staff a sense of your personality, your perspective on the world, and some of the experiences that have made you into who you are. The idea is to share the kinds of things that don't end up on your transcript. It's helpful to remember that you are not writing this for you. You're writing for an audience of people who do not know you but are interested to learn about you. The essay is meant to be a revealing look inside your thoughts and feelings.

These short essays—each with a 350-word limit—are different from the essays you write in school, which tend to focus on analyzing someone else's work. Really, the application essays are much closer to a short story. They rely heavily on narratives of events from your life and on your descriptions of people, places, and feelings.

If you'd like more background on college essays, check out our explainer for a very detailed breakdown of exactly how personal statements work in an application .

Now, let's dive into the eight University of California essay questions. First, I'll compare and contrast these prompts. Then I'll dig deep into each UC personal statement question individually, exploring what it's really trying to find out and how you can give the admissions officers what they're looking for.

Think of each personal insight essay as a brief story that reveals something about your personal values, interests, motivations, and goals.

Comparing the UC Essay Prompts

Before we can pull these prompts apart, let's first compare and contrast them with each other . Clearly, UC wants you to write four different essays, and they're asking you eight different questions. But what are the differences? And are there any similarities?

The 8 UC Essay Prompts

#1: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.

#2: Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

#3: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

#4: Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

#5: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

#6: Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

#7: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

#8: Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

How to Tell the UC Essay Prompts Apart

• Topics 1 and 7 are about your engagement with the people, things, and ideas around you. Consider the impact of the outside world on you and how you handled that impact.
• Topics 2 and 6 are about your inner self, what defines you, and what makes you the person that you are. Consider your interior makeup—the characteristics of the inner you.
• Topics 3, 4, 5, and 8 are about your achievements. Consider what you've accomplished in life and what you are proud of doing.

These very broad categories will help when you're brainstorming ideas and life experiences to write about for your essay. Of course, it's true that many of the stories you think of can be shaped to fit each of these prompts. Still, think about what the experience most reveals about you .

If it's an experience that shows how you have handled the people and places around you, it'll work better for questions in the first group. If it's a description of how you express yourself, it's a good match for questions in group two. If it's an experience that tells how you acted or what you did, it's probably a better fit for questions in group three.

For more help, check out our article on coming up with great ideas for your essay topic .

Reflect carefully on the eight UC prompts to decide which four questions you'll respond to.

How Is This Guide Organized?

We analyze all eight UC prompts in this guide, and for each one, we give the following information:

• The prompt itself and any accompanying instructions
• What each part of the prompt is asking for
• Why UC is using this prompt and what they hope to learn from you
• All the key points you should cover in your response so you answer the complete prompt and give UC insight into who you are

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 1

The prompt and its instructions.

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.

Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking a lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about your accomplishments and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn't necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?

What's the Question Asking?

The prompt wants you to describe how you handled a specific kind of relationship with a group of people—a time when you took the reigns and the initiative. Your answer to this prompt will consist of two parts.

Part 1: Explain the Dilemma

Before you can tell your story of leading, brokering peace, or having a lasting impact on other people, you have to give your reader a frame of reference and a context for your actions .

First, describe the group of people you interacted with. Who were and what was their relationship to you? How long were you in each others' lives?

Second, explain the issue you eventually solved. What was going on before you stepped in? What was the immediate problem? Were there potential long-term repercussions?

Leadership isn't limited to officer roles in student organizations. Think about experiences in which you've taken charge, resolved conflicts, or taken care of loved ones.

Part 2: Describe Your Solution

This is where your essay will have to explicitly talk about your own actions .

Discuss what thought process led you to your course of action. Was it a last-ditch effort or a long-planned strategy? Did you think about what might happen if you didn't step in? Did you have to choose between several courses of action?

Explain how you took the bull by the horns. Did you step into the lead role willingly, or were you pushed despite some doubts? Did you replace or supersede a more obvious leader?

Describe your solution to the problem or your contribution to resolving the ongoing issue. What did you do? How did you do it? Did your plan succeed immediately or did it take some time?

Consider how this experience has shaped the person you have now become. Do you think back on this time fondly as being the origin of some personal quality or skill? Did it make you more likely to lead in other situations?

What's UC Hoping to Learn about You?

College will be an environment unlike any of the ones you've found yourself in up to now. Sure, you will have a framework for your curriculum, and you will have advisers available to help. But for the most part, you will be on your own to deal with the situations that will inevitably arise when you mix with your diverse peers . UC wants to make sure that

• you have the maturity to deal with groups of people,
• you can solve problems with your own ingenuity and resourcefulness, and
• you don't lose your head and panic at problems.

Demonstrating your problem-solving abilities in your UC college essay will make you a stronger candidate for admission.

How Can You Give Them What They Want?

So how can you make sure those qualities come through in your essay?

Pick Your Group

The prompt very specifically wants you to talk about an interaction with a group of people. Let's say a group has to be at least three people.

Raise the Stakes

Think of the way movies ratchet up the tension of the impending catastrophe before the hero swoops in and saves the day. Keeping an audience on tenterhooks is important—and distinguishes the hero for the job well done. Similarly, when reading your essay, the admissions staff has to fundamentally understand exactly what you and the group you ended up leading were facing. Why was this an important problem to solve?

Balance You versus Them

Personal statements need to showcase you above all things . Because this essay will necessarily have to spend some time on other people, you need to find a good proportion of them-time and me-time. In general, the first (setup) section of the essay should be shorter because it will not be focused on what you were doing. The second section should take the rest of the space. So, in a 350-word essay, maybe 100–125 words go to setup whereas 225–250 words should be devoted to your leadership and solution.

Find Your Arc

Not only do you need to show how your leadership helped you meet the challenge you faced, but you also have to show how the experience changed you . In other words, the outcome was double-sided: you affected the world, and the world affected you right back.

Give your response to question 1 a compelling arc that demonstrates your personal growth.

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 2

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?

This question is trying to probe the way you express yourself. Its broad description of "creativity" gives you the opportunity to make almost anything you create that didn't exist before fit the topic. What this essay question is really asking you to do is to examine the role your brand of creativity plays in your sense of yourself . The essay will have three parts.

Part 1: Define Your Creativity

What exactly do you produce, make, craft, create, or generate? Of course, the most obvious answer would be visual art, performance art, or music. But in reality, there is creativity in all fields. Any time you come up with an idea, thought, concept, or theory that didn't exist before, you are being creative. So your job is to explain what you spend time creating.

Part 2: Connect Your Creative Drive to Your Overall Self

Why do you do what you do? Are you doing it for external reasons—to perform for others, to demonstrate your skill, to fulfill some need in the world? Or is your creativity private and for your own use—to unwind, to distract yourself from other parts of your life, to have personal satisfaction in learning a skill? Are you good at your creative endeavor, or do you struggle with it? If you struggle, why is it important to you to keep pursuing it?

Part 3: Connect Your Creative Drive With Your Future

The most basic way to do this is by envisioning yourself actually pursuing your creative endeavor professionally. But this doesn't have to be the only way you draw this link. What have you learned from what you've made? How has it changed how you interact with other objects or with people? Does it change your appreciation for the work of others or motivate you to improve upon it?

Connecting your current creative pursuits with your chosen major or career will help UC admissions staff understand your motivations and intentions.

Nothing characterizes higher education like the need for creative thinking, unorthodox ideas in response to old topics, and the ability to synthesize something new . That is what you are going to college to learn how to do better. UC's second personal insight essay wants to know whether this mindset of out-of-the-box-ness is something you are already comfortable with. They want to see that

• you have actually created something in your life or academic career,
• you consider this an important quality within yourself,
• you have cultivated your skills, and
• you can see and have considered the impact of your creativity on yourself or on the world around you.

College admissions counselors, professors, and employers all value the skill of thinking outside the box, so being able to demonstrate that skill is crucial.

How can you really show that you are committed to being a creative person?

Be Specific and Descriptive

It's not enough to vaguely gesture at your creative field. Instead, give a detailed and lively description of a specific thing or idea that you have created . For example, I could describe a Turner painting as "a seascape," or I could call it "an attempt to capture the breathtaking power and violence of an ocean storm as it overwhelms a ship." Which painting would you rather look at?

Give a Sense of History

The question wants a little narrative of your relationship to your creative outlet . How long have you been doing it? Did someone teach you or mentor you? Have you taught it to others? Where and when do you create?

Hit a Snag; Find the Success

Anything worth doing is worth doing despite setbacks, this question argues—and it wants you to narrate one such setback. So first, figure out something that interfered with your creative expression . Was it a lack of skill, time, or resources? Too much or not enough ambition in a project? Then, make sure this story has a happy ending that shows you off as the solver of your own problems: What did you do to fix the situation? How did you do it?

Show Insight

Your essay should include some thoughtful consideration of how this creative pursuit has shaped you , your thoughts, your opinions, your relationships with others, your understanding of creativity in general, or your dreams about your future. (Notice I said "or," not "and"—350 words is not enough to cover all of those things!)

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 3

What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Things to consider: If there's a talent or skill that you're proud of, this is the time to share it. You don't necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?

Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule?

Basically, what's being asked for here is a beaming rave. Whatever you write about, picture yourself talking about it with a glowing smile on your face.

Part 1: Narrative

The first part of the question really comes down to this: Tell us a story about what's amazing about you. Have you done an outstanding thing? Do you have a mind-blowing ability? Describe a place, a time, or a situation in which you were a star.

A close reading of this first case of the prompt reveals that you don't need to stress if you don't have an obvious answer. Sure, if you're playing first chair violin in the symphony orchestra, that qualifies as both a "talent" and an "accomplishment." But the word "quality" really gives you the option of writing about any one of your most meaningful traits. And the words "contribution" and "experience" open up the range of possibilities that you could write about even further. A contribution could be anything from physically helping put something together to providing moral or emotional support at a critical moment.

But the key to the first part is the phrase "important to you." Once again, what you write about is not as important as how you write about it. Being able to demonstrate the importance of the event that you're describing reveals much more about you than the specific talent or characteristic ever could.

Part 2: Insight and Personal Development

The second part of the last essay asked you to look to the future. The second part of this essay wants you to look at the present instead. The general task is similar, however. Once again, you're being asked to make connections:  How do you fit this quality you have or this achievement you accomplished into the story of who you are?

A close reading of the second part of this prompt lands on the word "proud." This is a big clue that the revelation this essay is looking for should be a very positive one. In other words, this is probably not the time to write about getting arrested for vandalism. Instead, focus on a skill that you've carefully honed, and clarify how that practice and any achievements connected with your talent have earned you concrete opportunities or, more abstractly, personal growth.

Remember to connect the talent or skill you choose to write about with your sense of personal identity and development.

What's UC Hoping to Learn About You?

Admissions officers have a very straightforward interest in learning about your accomplishments. By the end of high school, many of the experiences that you are most proud of don't tend to be the kind of things that end up on your résumé .

They want to know what makes you proud of yourself. Is it something that relates to performance, to overcoming a difficult obstacle, to keeping a cool head in a crisis, to your ability to help others in need?

At the same time, they are looking for a sense of maturity. In order to be proud of an accomplishment, it's important to be able to understand your own values and ideals. This is your chance to show that you truly understand the qualities and experiences that make you a responsible and grown-up person, someone who will thrive in the independence of college life. In other words, although you might really be proud that you managed to tag 10 highway overpasses with graffiti, that's probably not the achievement to brag about here.

Unless you were hired by the city to paint the overpasses, in which case definitely brag about it.

The trick with this prompt is how to show a lot about yourself without listing accomplishments or devolving into cliché platitudes. Let's take it step by step.

Step #1: Explain Your Field

Make sure that somewhere in your narrative (preferably closer to the beginning), you let the reader know what makes your achievement an achievement . Not all interests are mainstream, so it helps your reader to understand what you're facing if you give a quick sketch of, for example, why it's challenging to build a battle bot that can defeat another fighting robot or how the difficulties of extemporaneous debate compare with debating about a prepared topic.

Keep in mind that for some things, the explanation might be obvious. For example, do you really need to explain why finishing a marathon is a hard task?

Step #2: Zoom in on a Specific Experience

Think about your talent, quality, or accomplishment in terms of experiences that showcase it. Conversely, think about your experiences in terms of the talent, quality, or accomplishment they demonstrate. Because you're once again going to be limited to 350 words, you won't be able to fit all the ways in which you exhibit your exemplary skill into this essay. This means that you'll need to figure out how to best demonstrate your ability through one event in which you displayed it . Or if you're writing about an experience you had or a contribution you made, you'll need to also point out what personality trait or characteristic it reveals.

Step #3: Find a Conflict or a Transition

The first question asked for a description, but this one wants a story—a narrative of how you pursue your special talent or how you accomplished the skill you were so great at. The main thing about stories is that they have to have the following:

• A beginning: This is the setup, when you weren't yet the star you are now.
• An obstacle or a transition: Sometimes, a story has a conflict that needs to be resolved: something that stood in your way, a challenge that you had to figure out a way around, a block that you powered through. Other times, a story is about a change or a transformation: you used to believe, think, or be one thing, and now you are different or better.
• A resolution: When your full power, self-knowledge, ability, or future goal is revealed.

If, for example, you taught yourself to become a gifted coder, how did you first learn this skill? What challenges did you overcome in your learning? What does this ability say about your character, motivations, or goals?

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 4

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that's geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you—just to name a few.

If you choose to write about educational barriers you've faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who are you today?

Cue the swelling music because this essay is going to be all about your inspirational journey. You will either tell your story of overcoming adversity against all (or some) odds or of pursuing the chance of a lifetime.

If you write about triumphing over adversity, your essay will include the following:

A description of the setback that befell you: The prompt wants to know what you consider a challenge in your school life. And definitely note that this challenge should have in some significant way impacted your academics rather than your life overall.

The challenge can be a wide-reaching problem in your educational environment or something that happened specifically to you. The word "barrier" also shows that the challenge should be something that stood in your way: If only that thing weren't there, then you'd be sure to succeed.

An explanation of your success: Here, you'll talk about what you did when faced with this challenge. Notice that the prompt asks you to describe the "work" you put in to overcome the problem. So this piece of the essay should focus on your actions, thoughts, ideas, and strategies.

Although the essay doesn't specify it, this section should also at some point turn reflexive. How are you defined by this thing that happened? You could discuss the emotional fallout of having dramatically succeeded or how your maturity level, concrete skills, or understanding of the situation has increased now that you have dealt with it personally. Or you could talk about any beliefs or personal philosophy that you have had to reevaluate as a result of either the challenge itself or of the way that you had to go about solving it.

If you write about an educational opportunity, your essay will include the following:

A short, clear description of exactly what you got the chance to do: In your own words, explain what the opportunity was and why it's special.

Also, explain why you specifically got the chance to do it. Was it the culmination of years of study? An academic contest prize? An unexpected encounter that led to you seizing an unlooked-for opportunity?

How you made the best of it: It's one thing to get the opportunity to do something amazing, but it's another to really maximize what you get out of this chance for greatness. This is where you show just how much you understand the value of what you did and how you've changed and grown as a result of it.

Were you very challenged by this opportunity? Did your skills develop? Did you unearth talents you didn't know you had?

How does this impact your future academic ambitions or interests? Will you study this area further? Does this help you find your academic focus?

If writing about an educational obstacle you overcame, make sure to describe not just the challenge itself but also how you overcame it and how breaking down that barrier changed you for the better.

Of course, whatever you write about in this essay is probably already reflected on your résumé or in your transcript in some small way. But UC wants to go deeper, to find out how seriously you take your academic career, and to assess  how thoughtfully you've approached either its ups or its downs.

In college, there will be many amazing opportunities, but they aren't simply there for the taking. Instead, you will be responsible for seizing whatever chances will further your studies, interests, or skills.

Conversely, college will necessarily be more challenging, harder, and potentially much more full of academic obstacles than your academic experiences so far. UC wants to see that you are up to handling whatever setbacks may come your way with aplomb rather than panic.

Define the Problem or Opportunity

Not every challenge is automatically obvious. Sure, everyone can understand the drawbacks of having to miss a significant amount of school because of illness, but what if the obstacle you tackled is something a little more obscure? Likewise, winning the chance to travel to Italy to paint landscapes with a master is clearly rare and amazing, but some opportunities are more specialized and less obviously impressive. Make sure your essay explains everything the reader will need to know to understand what you were facing.

Watch Your Tone

An essay describing problems can easily slip into finger-pointing and self-pity. Make sure to avoid this by speaking positively or at least neutrally about what was wrong and what you faced . This goes double if you decide to explain who or what was at fault for creating this problem.

Likewise, an essay describing amazing opportunities can quickly become an exercise in unpleasant bragging and self-centeredness. Make sure you stay grounded: Rather than dwelling at length on your accomplishments, describe the specifics of what you learned and how.

Elaborating on how you conducted microbiology research during the summer before your senior year would make an appropriate topic for question 4.

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 5

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you've faced and what you've learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you're currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, "How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends, or with my family?"

It's time to draw back the curtains and expand our field of vision because this is going to be a two-part story of overcoming adversity against all (or some) odds.

Part 1: Facing a Challenge

The first part of this essay is about problem-solving. The prompt asks you to relate something that could have derailed you if not for your strength and skill. Not only will you describe the challenge itself, but you'll also talk about what you did when faced with it.

Part 2: Looking in the Mirror

The second part of question 5 asks you to consider how this challenge has echoed through your life—and, more specifically, how what happened to you affected your education.

In life, dealing with setbacks, defeats, barriers, and conflicts is not a bug—it's a feature. And colleges want to make sure that you can handle these upsetting events without losing your overall sense of self, without being totally demoralized, and without getting completely overwhelmed. In other words, they are looking for someone who is mature enough to do well on a college campus, where disappointing results and hard challenges will be par for the course.

They are also looking for your creativity and problem-solving skills. Are you good at tackling something that needs to be fixed? Can you keep a cool head in a crisis? Do you look for solutions outside the box? These are all markers of a successful student, so it's not surprising that admissions staff want you to demonstrate these qualities.

The challenge you write about for question 5 need not be an educational barrier, which is better suited for question 4. Think broadly about the obstacles you've overcome and how they've shaped your perspective and self-confidence.

Let's explore the best ways to show off your problem-solving side.

Show Your Work

It's one thing to be able to say what's wrong, but it's another thing entirely to demonstrate how you figured out how to fix it. Even more than knowing that you were able to fix the problem, colleges want to see how you approached the situation . This is why your essay needs to explain your problem-solving methodology. Basically, they need to see you in action. What did you think would work? What did you think would not work? Did you compare this to other problems you have faced and pass? Did you do research? Describe your process.

Make Sure That You Are the Hero

This essay is supposed to demonstrate your resourcefulness and creativity . And make sure that you had to be the person responsible for overcoming the obstacle, not someone else. Your story must clarify that without you and your special brand of XYZ , people would still be lamenting the issue today. Don't worry if the resource you used to bring about a solution was the knowledge and know-how that somebody else brought to the table. Just focus on explaining what made you think of this person as the one to go to, how you convinced them to participate, and how you explained to them how they would be helpful. This will shift the attention of the story back to you and your efforts.

Find the Suspenseful Moment

The most exciting part of this essay should be watching you struggle to find a solution just in the nick of time. Think every movie cliché ever about someone defusing a bomb: Even if you know 100% that the hero is going to save the day, the movie still ratchets up the tension to make it seem like, Well, maybe... You want to do the same thing here. Bring excitement and a feeling of uncertainty to your description of your process to really pull the reader in and make them root for you to succeed.

You're the superhero!

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 6

Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

Things to consider: Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can't get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom — such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs — and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

This question is really asking for a glimpse of your imagined possibilities .

For some students, this will be an extremely straightforward question. For example, say you've always loved science to the point that you've spent every summer taking biology and chemistry classes. Pick a few of the most gripping moments from these experiences and discuss the overall trajectory of your interests, and your essay will be a winner.

But what if you have many academic interests? Or what if you discovered your academic passion only at the very end of high school? Let's break down what the question is really asking into two parts.

Part 1: Picking a Favorite

At first glance, it sounds as if what you should write about is the class in which you have gotten the best grades or the subject that easily fits into what you see as your future college major or maybe even your eventual career goal. There is nothing wrong with this kind of pick—especially if you really are someone who tends to excel in those classes that are right up your interest alley.

But if we look closer, we see that there is nothing in the prompt that specifically demands that you write either about a particular class or an area of study in which you perform well.

Instead, you could take the phrase "academic subject" to mean a wide field of study and explore your fascination with the different types of learning to be found there. For example, if your chosen topic is the field of literature, you could discuss your experiences with different genres or with foreign writers.

You could also write about a course or area of study that has significantly challenged you and in which you have not been as stellar a student as you want. This could be a way to focus on your personal growth as a result of struggling through a difficult class or to represent how you've learned to handle or overcome your limitations.

Part 2: Relevance

The second part of this prompt , like the first, can also be taken in a literal and direct way . There is absolutely nothing wrong with explaining that because you love engineering and want to be an engineer, you have pursued all your school's STEM courses, are also involved in a robotics club, and have taught yourself to code in order to develop apps.

However, you could focus on the more abstract, values-driven goals we just talked about instead. Then, your explanation of how your academics will help you can be rooted not in the content of what you studied but in the life lessons you drew from it.

In other words, for example, your theater class may not have stimulated your ambition to be an actor, but working on plays with your peers may have shown you how highly you value collaboration, or perhaps the experience of designing sets was an exercise in problem-solving and ingenuity. These lessons would be useful in any field you pursue and could easily be said to help you achieve your lifetime goals.

If you are on a direct path to a specific field of study or career pursuit, admissions officers definitely want to know that. Having driven, goal-oriented, and passionate students is a huge plus for a university. So if this is you, be sure that your essay conveys not just your interest but also your deep and abiding love of the subject. Maybe even include any related clubs, activities, and hobbies that you've done during high school.

Of course, college is the place to find yourself and the things that you become passionate about. So if you're not already committed to a specific course of study, don't worry. Instead, you have to realize that in this essay, like in all the other essays, the how matters much more than the what. No matter where your eventual academic, career, or other pursuits may lie, every class that you have taken up to now has taught you something. You learned about things like work ethic, mastering a skill, practice, learning from a teacher, interacting with peers, dealing with setbacks, understanding your own learning style, and perseverance.

In other words, the admissions office wants to make sure that no matter what you study, you will draw meaningful conclusions from your experiences, whether those conclusions are about the content of what you learn or about a deeper understanding of yourself and others. They want to see that you're not simply floating through life on the surface  but that you are absorbing the qualities, skills, and know-how you will need to succeed in the world—no matter what that success looks like.

Focus on a telling detail. Because personal statements are short, you simply won't have time to explain everything you have loved about a particular subject in enough detail to make it count. Instead, pick one event that crystallized your passion for a subject   or one telling moment that revealed what your working style will be , and go deep into a discussion of what it meant to you in the past and how it will affect your future.

Don't overreach. It's fine to say that you have loved your German classes so much that you have begun exploring both modern and classic German-language writers, for example, but it's a little too self-aggrandizing to claim that your four years of German have made you basically bilingual and ready to teach the language to others. Make sure that whatever class achievements you describe don't come off as unnecessary bragging rather than simple pride .

Similarly, don't under-reach. Make sure that you have actual accomplishments to describe in whatever subject you pick to write about. If your favorite class turned out to be the one you mostly skipped to hang out in the gym instead, this may not be the place to share that lifetime goal. After all, you always have to remember your audience. In this case, it's college admissions officers who want to find students who are eager to learn and be exposed to new thoughts and ideas.

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 7

What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place— like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

This topic is trying to get at how you engage with your environment. It's looking for several things:

#1: Your Sense of Place and Connection

Because the term "community" is so broad and ambiguous, this is a good essay for explaining where you feel a sense of belonging and rootedness. What or who constitutes your community? Is your connection to a place, to a group of people, or to an organization? What makes you identify as part of this community—cultural background, a sense of shared purpose, or some other quality?

#2: Your Empathy and Ability to Look at the Big Picture

Before you can solve a problem, you have to realize that the problem exists. Before you can make your community a better place, you have to find the things that can be ameliorated. No matter what your contribution ended up being, you first have to show how you saw where your skills, talent, intelligence, or hard work could do the most good. Did you put yourself in the shoes of the other people in your community? Understand some fundamental inner working of a system you could fix? Knowingly put yourself in the right place at the right time?

#3: Your Problem-Solving Skills

How did you make the difference in your community? If you resolved a tangible issue, how did you come up with your solution? Did you examine several options or act from the gut? If you made your community better in a less direct way, how did you know where to apply yourself and how to have the most impact possible?

Clarify not just what the problem and solution was but also your process of getting involved and contributing specific skills, ideas, or efforts that made a positive difference.

Community is a very important thing to colleges. You'll be involved with and encounter lots of different communities in college, including the broader student body, your extracurriculars, your classes, and the community outside the university. UC wants to make sure that you can engage with the communities around you in a positive, meaningful way .

Make it personal. Before you can explain what you did in your community, you have to define and describe this community itself—and you can only do that by focusing on what it means to you. Don't speak in generalities; instead, show the bonds between you and the group you are a part of through colorful, idiosyncratic language. Sure, they might be "my water polo team," but maybe they are more specifically "the 12 people who have seen me at my most exhausted and my most exhilarated."

Feel all the feelings. This is a chance to move your readers. As you delve deep into what makes your community one of your emotional centers, and then as you describe how you were able to improve it in a meaningful and lasting way, you should keep the roller coaster of feelings front and center. Own how you felt at each step of the process: when you found your community, when you saw that you could make a difference, and when you realized that your actions resulted in a change for the better. Did you feel unprepared for the task you undertook? Nervous to potentially let down those around you? Thrilled to get a chance to display a hidden or underused talent?

To flesh out your essay, depict the emotions you felt while making your community contribution, from frustration or disappointment to joy and fulfillment. 

Dissecting Personal Insight Question 8

Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Things to consider: If there's anything you want us to know about you, but didn't find a question or place in the application to tell us, now's your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

From your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for UC? Don't be afraid to brag a little.

If your particular experience doesn't quite fit under the rubrics of the other essay topics , or if there is something the admissions officers need to understand about your background in order to consider your application in the right context, then this is the essay for you.

Now, I'm going to say something a little counterintuitive here. The prompt for this essay clarifies that even if you don't have a "unique" story to tell, you should still feel free to pick this topic. But, honestly, I think you should  choose this topic only if you have an exceptional experience to share . Remember that E veryday challenges or successes of regular life could easily fit one of the other insight questions instead.

What this means is that evaluating whether your experiences qualify for this essay is a matter of degrees. For example, did you manage to thrive academically despite being raised by a hard-working single parent? That's a hardship that could easily be written about for Questions 1 or 5, depending on how you choose to frame what happened. Did you manage to earn a 3.7 GPA despite living in a succession of foster families only to age out of the system in the middle of your senior year of high school? That's a narrative of overcoming hardship that easily belongs to Question 8.

On the flip side, did you win a state-wide robotics competition? Well done, and feel free to tell your story under Question 4. Were you the youngest person to single-handedly win a season of BattleBots? Then feel free to write about it for Question 8.

This is pretty straightforward. They are trying to identify students that have unique and amazing stories to tell about who they are and where they come from. If you're a student like this, then the admissions people want to know the following:

• What happened to you?
• When and where did it happen?
• How did you participate, or how were you involved in the situation?
• How did it affect you as a person?
• How did it affect your schoolwork?
• How will the experience be reflected in the point of view you bring to campus?

The university wants this information because of the following:

• It gives context to applications that otherwise might seem mediocre or even subpar.
• It can help explain places in a transcript where grades significantly drop.
• It gives them the opportunity to build a lot of diversity into the incoming class.
• It's a way of finding unique talents and abilities that otherwise wouldn't show up on other application materials.

Let's run through a few tricks for making sure your essay makes the most of your particular distinctiveness.

Double-Check Your Uniqueness

Many experiences in our lives that make us feel elated, accomplished, and extremely competent are also near universal. This essay isn't trying to take the validity of your strong feelings away from you, but it would be best served by stories that are on a different scale . Wondering whether what you went through counts? This might be a good time to run your idea by a parent, school counselor, or trusted teacher. Do they think your experience is widespread? Or do they agree that you truly lived a life less ordinary?

Connect Outward

The vast majority of your answer to the prompt should be telling your story and its impact on you and your life. But the essay should also point toward how your particular experiences set you apart from your peers. One of the reasons that the admissions office wants to find out which of the applicants has been through something unlike most other people is that they are hoping to increase the number of points of view in the student body. Think about—and include in your essay—how you will impact campus life. This can be very literal: If you are a jazz singer who has released several songs on social media, then maybe you will perform on campus. Or it can be much more oblique: If you have a disability, then you will be able to offer a perspective that differs from the able-bodied majority.

Be Direct, Specific, and Honest

Nothing will make your voice sound more appealing than writing without embellishment or verbal flourishes. This is the one case in which how you're telling the story is just as—if not more—important than what you're telling . So the best strategy is to be as straightforward in your writing as possible. This means using description to situate your reader in a place, time, or experience that they would never get to see firsthand. You can do this by picking a specific moment during your accomplishment to narrate as a small short story and not shying away from explaining your emotions throughout the experience. Your goal is to make the extraordinary into something at least somewhat relatable, and the way you do that is by bringing your writing down to earth.

Your essays should feature relatable thoughts and emotions as well as insights into how you will contribute to the campus community.

Writing Advice for Making Your UC Personal Statements Shine

No matter what personal insight questions you end up choosing to write about, here are two tips for making your writing sparkle:

#1: Be Detailed and Descriptive

Have you ever heard the expression "show; don't tell"? It's usually given as creative writing advice, and it will be your best friend when you're writing college essays. It means that any time you want to describe a person or thing as having a particular quality, it's better to illustrate with an example than to just use vague adjectives . If you stick to giving examples that paint a picture, your focus will also become narrower and more specific. You'll end up concentrating on details and concrete events rather than not-particularly-telling generalizations.

Let's say, for instance, Adnan is writing about the house that he's been helping his dad fix up. Which of these do you think gives the reader a better sense of place?

My family bought an old house that was kind of run-down. My dad likes fixing it up on the weekends, and I like helping him. Now the house is much nicer than when we bought it, and I can see all our hard work when I look at it.

My dad grinned when he saw my shocked face. Our "new" house looked like a completely run-down shed: peeling paint, rust-covered railings, shutters that looked like the crooked teeth of a jack-o-lantern. I was still staring at the spider-web crack in one broken window when my dad handed me a pair of brand-new work gloves and a paint scraper. "Today, let's just do what we can with the front wall," he said. And then I smiled too, knowing that many of my weekends would be spent here with him, working side by side.

Both versions of this story focus on the house being dilapidated and how Adnan enjoyed helping his dad do repairs. But the second does this by:

painting a picture of what the house actually looked like by adding visual details ("peeling paint," "rust-covered railings," and "broken window") and through comparisons ("shutters like a jack-o-lantern" and "spider-web crack");

showing emotions by describing facial expressions ("my dad grinned," "my shocked face," and "I smiled"); and

using specific and descriptive action verbs ("grinned," "shocked," "staring," and "handed").

The essay would probably go on to describe one day of working with his dad or a time when a repair went horribly awry. Adnan would make sure to keep adding sensory details (what things looked, sounded, smelled, tasted, and felt like), using active verbs, and illustrating feelings with dialogue and facial expressions.

If you're having trouble checking whether your description is detailed enough, read your work to someone else . Then, ask that person to describe the scene back to you. Are they able to conjure up a picture from your words? If not, you need to beef up your details.

It's a bit of a fixer-upper, but it'll make a great college essay!

#2: Show Your Feelings

All good personal essays deal with emotions. And what marks great personal essays is the author's willingness to really dig into negative feelings as well as positive ones . As you write your UC application essays, keep asking yourself questions and probing your memory. How did you feel before it happened? How did you expect to feel after, and how did you actually feel after? How did the world that you are describing feel about what happened? How do you know how your world felt?

Then write about your feelings using mostly emotion words ("I was thrilled/disappointed/proud/scared"), some comparisons ("I felt like I'd never run again/like I'd just bitten into a sour apple/like the world's greatest explorer"), and a few bits of direct speech ("'How are we going to get away with this?' my brother asked").

What's Next?

This should give you a great starting point to address the UC essay prompts and consider how you'll write your own effective UC personal statements. The hard part starts here: work hard, brainstorm broadly, and use all my suggestions above to craft a great UC application essay.

Making your way through college applications? We have advice on how to find the right college for you , how to write about your extracurricular activities , and how to ask teachers for recommendations .

Interested in taking the SAT one more time? Check out our highly detailed explainer on studying for the SAT to learn how to prepare best.

Worried about how to pay for college after you get in? Read our description of how much college really costs , our comparison of subsidized and unsubsidized loans , and our lists of the top scholarships for high school seniors and juniors .

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Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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How to Write the UC Essays 2024–2025

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The ten University of California (UC) schools are prestigious public universities scattered across the state of California. From the northern UC Davis to the southern UC San Diego, these institutions are dream schools for in-state and out-of-state students. In fact, the top 5 most popular schools to apply to in the US are all UC schools. In the fall of 2022, UCLA received 174, 914 applications . That’s greater than the population of Jackson, Mississippi!

Nine of these schools (the exception is UC San Francisco) offer undergraduate degrees. These schools share an application portal and don’t use the Common App or the Coalition App. As a result, their essay prompts are unique. At the same time, once you’ve applied to one UC school, it’s simple to apply to the rest. In this blog post, we’ll break down the UC essay prompts so that you have the tools to nail your application.

UC 2024-2025 Prompts

Personal insight questions (250-350 words).

• Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
• Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
• What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
• Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
• Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
• Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
• What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
• Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

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General Tips

There are eight UC essay prompts , known as the Personal Insight Questions (PIQs). Although each question requires a response of 250-350 words, you don’t need to answer every question. In fact, you’re required to select four prompts to answer. The UC admissions officers understand that some prompts will resonate with some students more than others, and they consider each prompt equally.

It’s important to note that some of the prompts have overlapping qualities. For instance, you could write about an education barrier you have overcome when answering prompt 4, and that educational barrier might have been the most significant challenge you have faced, making it a great response to prompt 5 as well. Therefore, you may want to come up with a few topics that are important to you before even deciding which prompts you would like to answer. Consider the topics which make you who you are. Your background, interests, struggles, and accomplishments might all be topics on your list, with added specificity to make them your own. 

Then, once you’ve determined what you would like to write about, you can peruse the prompts to see which might best align with your listed topics. Of course, if one of the topics does not align with any of the prompts, you’ll need to take a step back and reassess what the UC admissions officers might be looking for that you weren’t prepared to deliver. Is it vulnerability? Humility? Growth? Confidence? Intellectuality? Ambition? These are all qualities admissions officers might look for in applicants. Consider whether your topics demonstrate these qualities, and if not, how you could incorporate them into your topics and/or responses, however subtly.

UC’s Personal Insight Questions

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time. (250-350 words).

This essay prompt allows you to show the UC admissions officer your leadership style and conflict response . In addition, you can demonstrate your abilities as a leader beyond including it on an activities list or resume. Many students hold leadership positions in high school which are functionally meaningless, but others achieve important impacts through their positive influence and trailblazing energy. If you are in the latter category of students, this is a great prompt for you to describe your leadership experience.

The prompt specifically asks you to provide an example of your leadership experience. This response should not be a list. It should be ONE anecdote, narrative, concept, accomplishment, or event. If possible, you should show through this singular example how you have grown as a leader or as an individual. Lastly, try to use concrete details to flesh out your example and make it feel real and memorable to the reader, avoiding clichés when possible.

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. (250-350 words)

If your creative side is a meaningful aspect of who you are, this is a great prompt for you to choose! Many STEM-oriented students choose this prompt in order to demonstrate that they are well-rounded individuals. If the rest of your application discusses your skills in trigonometry and your summer coding internship, then shedding light on your poetry hobby will help the admissions officers see you as a whole person, full of life and dimension.

That said, creativity comes in many flavors , and this prompt encourages you to think broadly about your creative side. Maybe your creativity comes through in how you approach a chess game or compose a speech for MUN. Maybe your creativity flourishes when you’re under pressure, trying to negotiate the soccer ball away from your opponent. Or maybe you’re most creative when you’re trying to entertain your younger siblings. 

However your creativity manifests, be as authentic in your presentation of it as possible. You don’t need to be a concert pianist to discuss your musical endeavors, and you don’t need to have a portfolio to back up the joy you find in photography. As long as you provide genuine details about your life, your creative side is valid.

What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? (250-350 words)

This essay prompt is especially tricky to tackle. Some students have a prodigal talent in a particular area, whether athletic, academic, interpersonal, or otherwise. Other students, however, excel more broadly and are more well-rounded than pointy. Even if you don’t have a special talent, you might still be able to answer this prompt. You might just answer it more creatively, focusing on “soft skills” like communication, time management, empathy, and so on—or whatever feels authentic to you. However, if it feels like a stretch, perhaps try a different prompt.

Regardless of your talent, you will need to answer this prompt with modesty —and no false modesty, either. Instead of listing your accolades, describe the struggles that have shaped you. Describe your training, your failures, your mentors, and your doubts. Painting a picture of how far you’ve come and how hard you worked will be much more memorable and inspiring than implying you woke up a genius. After all, even if you have a natural aptitude for something, no great skill comes without hard work, and this essay prompt is an opportunity for you to show that work.

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced. (250-350 words)

This essay prompt seeks to understand how you will function as a student in a UC school. When you’re offered opportunities, how will you take advantage of them? When you face obstacles, how will you surmount them? Of course, you can’t answer these questions just yet, because whatever obstacles you might face and opportunities you might receive in college are probably going to be surprises. Still, through this essay, you can hint at your future responses to opportunities and obstacles by describing your past responses.

Note that the prompt provides two options: you could write about a significant educational opportunity OR an educational barrier. Both topics are focused on your educational history, though. Consider the most formative moments in your personal educational history, and after settling on the most formative one, you’ll want to clearly spin it in your essay as either an opportunity or an obstacle. In both cases, you should express how you grew from the experience. How did you make the most of the opportunity, and how could you have better maximized that opportunity? How did you overcome that obstacle, and what did you gain from the experience? Considering your continued areas for growth will demonstrate your maturity and continued commitment to self-development.

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement? (250-350 words)

This essay prompt asks you to look back over your life experiences to date and consider your resilience within the lens of your academic achievement . If an event in your life impacted your academic achievement, then this prompt is a great opportunity for you to discuss that challenge. After you’ve identified the most significant challenge you have faced, you may want to free-write about all the steps you took to overcome this challenge. These steps could include anything—studying, forgiving, going to therapy, praying, working, asking questions, and so on.

This prompt requests vulnerability, and vulnerability demands details. Don’t be shy to share your missteps, but be purposeful in showing your current stability, strength, and achievements despite or even because of this challenge you have faced. After describing this challenge as specifically and concretely as possible, indicate how you have changed, and be sure to include at least 1-2 sentences regarding the impact (or lack thereof) which this challenge had on your academic achievement (for better or for worse).

Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. (250-350 words)

Admissions officers often look for curiosity in applicants, and if you are a curious person, then this essay prompt is for you. In this essay, you can demonstrate how your curiosity for an academic subject has driven you to pursue research, projects, or other activities. Be sure to discuss ONE academic interest, even if you relate multiple ways you have deepened your relationship with this interest.

Don’t spread yourself too thin when discussing how you have furthered your interest. Focus on 1-3 ways you have furthered your interest, even if you choose to list a few more ways. For instance, if you’re interested in English literature, maybe you have furthered this interest by reading certain books outside of school, participating in an essay competition, and writing short stories. Perhaps each of these topics could receive one paragraph, with the essay framed by a brief introduction and conclusion. Of course, you can get more creative, but that’s a totally valid way to set up your essay if you’re feeling stuck.

What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? (250-350 words)

If you’re the kind of student for whom community service is really important, or you’ve had a big impact on your high school, then this is a great prompt for you. Similarly, if you’ve engaged in activism, youth advocacy, or similar endeavors, then you should consider answering this prompt. Clearly explain what “a better place” means to you within your response so that the reader understands your motivations.

Specificity is key here —many students will respond generically to this prompt. Less is more when it comes to discussing your accomplishments: providing deep insight regarding one initiative you pursued on behalf of your community is far better than listing all of your achievements. In your response, focus more on how you made your school or community a better place than the awards or recognition you might have received for doing so. Stay humble!

Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California? (250-350 words)

This prompt is a great choice for you if there are aspects of your character, history, background, academics, or otherwise which haven’t naturally fit into the rest of your application but which feel crucial to your self-representation to the UC schools. Do not use this essay response as an opportunity to list your activities, list the prizes you’ve won, or discuss your impressive grades or test scores. These factors are all extremely important, but they’ll appear elsewhere in your application, so to discuss them here would be redundant.

Instead, this essay response is a place to tie your unique qualities and/or experiences to the values and expectations of a UC admissions officer. Before answering this question, thoroughly research the admission criteria for the UC schools, and consider touching upon (subtly if possible, and definitely with humility) how you fit these criteria, highlighting aspects of yourself which are not otherwise seen in your application. And most importantly, be yourself! Admissions officers don’t want to accept robots with a 36 on their ACT. Rather, they seek nuanced, intelligent, driven individuals with three-dimensional personalities. So bring your authentic self to the page.

If you need help polishing up your UC essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

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Students Also Read

How to Write the UC Essays: Analysis, Examples, and Tips

Reviewed by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 4/26/24

Stuck on your UC personal insight questions? Read on to learn how to write the UC essays!

Whether you’re an amazing essayist or dread writing them, it’s essential you put careful thought into your UC personal insight questions. After all, these essays are your opportunity to express yourself, share your most meaningful experiences and abilities, and impress the admissions committee!

Considering how important this application requirement is, you may be wondering how to write the UC supplemental essays in a compelling and memorable way. Look no further; this guide has you covered! We’ll review how to write the UC application essays , how to pick the right prompts, and provide you with sample answers to inspire you!

UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQ)

Before getting into the specifics of how to answer the UC personal insight questions (PIQ), let’s review the eight prompts you’ll choose from:

“1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. 

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. 

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? 

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? 

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?”

Students are required to answer four UC personal insight questions. The UC system has no preference over the prompts students choose. Be sure that your essays stay under the University of California PIQ word count of 350 words. 

Students hoping to transfer to a UC school will also have to answer some of the prompts. Here is a guide to help applicants complete their UC transfer personal statements. 

Many of these prompts are similar to the UC Common App questions, so you can even use your answers to the UC prompts to inspire your Common App essays or vice versa! 

Understanding UC Essay Prompts

The first step to writing the UC school essays is picking four prompts to respond to. These eight prompts for UC schools may seem intimidating at first glance, but your careful thought can help you choose those that will elevate your application. Selecting prompts at random isn’t the best strategy here.

If you find you’re struggling to come up with at least a 300-word response to any prompt, it could be a sign to choose another. If you choose the right UC college essay prompts, it should be hard for you to stop writing!

To aid you in the process, we’ll discuss each of the UC essay prompts in detail, providing you with tips on how to answer them.

Students often misunderstand this prompt because they believe leadership is a particular role or position, such as an executive member of a club, job supervisor, or head of a volunteer organization. 

Unless you genuinely fit in one of these categories, you should consider other ways you’ve shown leadership. Define the word in your own terms! If you led people in any way, you could write about the experience and what you accomplished. As you brainstorm ideas, ensure you write about the following:

• The skills you developed and used as a leader
• Why you assumed the role 
• The actions you took as a leader
• The impact you had through your actions

Ensure you only choose one event to describe. Don’t list all your leadership experiences, as this goes against the premise of this prompt. Part of the difficulty is choosing just one experience to share. However, the committee does this to learn what is most meaningful to you and to see if you can follow guidelines!

For this prompt, students shouldn’t limit themselves by viewing creativity as an artistic skill. You don’t necessarily have to be artistically inclined to be creative; all you have to do is demonstrate your ability to think outside the box or use your skills in an original way. 

Think about your passions, what you do in your free time, and how your creativity has influenced you.

Prompt Three

Students tend to struggle with prompt three. When learning how to write UC essays, some students struggle to choose the perfect experience. For this prompt, students can typically list several talents or skills but struggle to pinpoint just one to expand upon. They wonder which talent is best or most impressive. 

Begin by listing your top talents and skills. Choose talents you have put effort and time into developing. If you’re a natural singer and have done little to develop your falsetto except sing in the shower, choose another skill that required more intense practice to perfect.

Be honest, and don’t be afraid to brag a little! If you’re having trouble choosing a talent, ask your friends and family for assistance. 

Prompt Four

Prompt four may not apply to you, making choosing which questions to respond to easier! This prompt may be worth answering if you participated in a program, course, club, or workshop that helped you prepare for college and supplement your learning. 

Regarding educational barriers, reflect on academic roadblocks. Was there anything that made it difficult for you to attend school, do well in a course, or study effectively? For instance, not liking the teachers that taught the AP classes at your school doesn’t count as an educational barrier, but financial struggles could. 

Prompt Five

Prompt five is somewhat similar to four. This challenge can doesn’t have to be related to your education. But you should still share how it affected your academics and any barriers it created in your education. Don’t repeat the same challenge you described in prompt four.

Your response should give the admissions committee more insight into your background, experiences, life circumstances, and personality. The most important trait to demonstrate with your response is resilience. The committee wants to know you can overcome the challenges life throws at you. 

Everyone has a favorite subject, which is what prompt six focuses on. This response is popular among students because they often know exactly which subject to discuss! There’s usually an academic subject that students excel in and just can’t seem to get enough of, whether it’s science, music, or something else.

You likely have a topic in mind as you read this! Use that topic and demonstrate how you’ve developed your interest through additional courses, programs, extracurriculars, internships, or jobs. Talk about what you learned from participating in these activities and how this subject has influenced your college path.

Prompt Seven

Prompt seven is fairly straightforward, but you do have some leeway. There are several communities you’re a part of, so don’t feel obligated to focus only on your school or local community. Choose one that you’ve made the largest impact on; perhaps it’s a school club, your work community, or your family. 

Define community as you see fit and explain your role in it. Focus on one or two major ways you’ve contributed to this community and its impact. 

Prompt Eight

The final UC personal insight question gives you a chance to share anything about yourself that’s missing from your application or didn’t fit into the other essay prompts.

If, after reading through all the prompts, none of them allow you to share more about a trait, experience, or talent you feel makes you a strong UC candidate, use this response to share it. Don’t be afraid to brag a little here! You have free reign to discuss whatever you want to share with the admissions committee. 

UC Essay Prompts With Examples 

It’s often helpful to look at examples of personal statements to get your ideas flowing. Below are sample UC supplemental essays for each prompt to help inspire your writing. These essays can also be used as examples of UC transfer student essays, as they respond to the same prompts. 

Please note that these essays have been anonymized to protect the privacy of the authors.

Prompt One Example

Here’s one example showcasing a student’s experiences with responsibilities as they answer, “Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.” 

“While I’ve participated in several clubs where I have been given leadership titles, the one I am most proud of, and has allowed me to accomplish the most, is the role I play within my family.

From an early age, it was clear I would have to take on more responsibilities than was expected of me. After my father passed away when I was twelve years old, relatives constantly reminded me I was now the head of the house and responsible for my family. 

While I do not think they expected me to take their words to heart completely, I did. I became a leader within my own family and was more than just a big brother to my younger sibling. I knew that my sibling would look up to me for guidance and that I had to be the best role model for him. 

I took the initiative to work part-time at an Arby’s nearby to help my mother with bills, and took on various other roles to ensure my sibling grew up with the same guidance and support I did. 

I was a caretaker, a teacher, a protector, a counselor, and sometimes even a chauffeur. I got my driver’s license as soon as I turned sixteen so I could take Johnathan to all of his soccer games and play recitals.

I cannot say it was easy; sometimes, it felt impossible to take on so many roles, but I persevered. I remained dedicated to my family, perfected my time management, learned how to multitask, and remained driven because I knew my hard work would result in great rewards - the success of my family. 

Jonathan is now on track to finish at the top of his freshman year. He graduated the eighth grade as valedictorian and hopes to become a pediatric nurse in the future. 

While I cannot say I am grateful for the circumstances that led me to this role, I can say I am proud of the impact I have had on my family because of it.” 

Tips on How to Write This Essay

Here are some effective tips to help you answer this prompt:

• Choose a relevant example : Choose a leadership experience that is both relevant to the prompt and significant in demonstrating your abilities. 
• Provide context : Begin by setting the stage. Offer a brief but clear introduction to the situation, including the context, the group involved, and the challenges or goals that the team faced. Help the reader understand the importance of the leadership experience.
• Highlight positive outcomes : Emphasize the positive outcomes or changes achieved through your leadership. This could include improved team dynamics, successful resolution of disputes, or the accomplishment of group goals. 

Why This Works

This essay works because it’s unique and highly personal. It explains the role this student plays within a community that has the most meaning to them. It offers valuable insight into how this role helped them grow and develop important, transferable traits such as perseverance, selflessness, dedication, time management, and multitasking.

Understanding what UC schools are looking for can also help you craft masterful essays. Learn more about what the UC system seeks in applicants here! 

Prompt Two Example

Prompt two is, “Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.” Use this example for the second UC prompt to guide you:

“My friends have always responded to my love for debate with confused looks and eye rolls. In their minds, debate involves pressure, critical thinking, and conversation about uninteresting topics. But, for me, debate club has always been my greatest talent and favorite way to express my creativity.

I consider it to be a craft to take a seemingly dry topic, such as tariff imposition in developing nations, and become enthusiastic about it. During debate, we are only given half an hour to come up with our primary argument. Within this half hour, I must convince others of my opinion and examine the topic from every angle.

Once both sides have presented, it is my responsibility to then think of compelling counter-arguments on the spot. Debate is where I shine. I recognize that humans only use 10% of their brains, but it truly feels like I use 11% during these debates.

I have to carefully choose the language I use to sway the judges, disprove equally crafted opposing views, and out-think my intelligent and driven peers. Contrary to my friends’ beliefs, there is truly never a dull moment in debate—there is simply no time for one. 

It is a battle of wits in which both teams can only use their words as their weapons. If I do not think my arguments through, it can be like bringing a sword to a gunfight. 

I have participated in debate competitions throughout high school and have even helped my school’s team advance to the top rounds at national debate competitions. Through this experience, I have not only developed excellent critical thinking skills but have become a more confident and articulate speaker.

My love for debate has also influenced me to pursue a career in criminal law, where my creativity and skill can be used to uphold justice and ensure the safety of society—which even my most skeptic friends won’t call boring!” 

Here is how can you answer this prompt:

• Narrate a story : Frame your response as a narrative to make it engaging and memorable. Take the reader through a journey that illustrates how your creative side has manifested in different situations. Use descriptive language to paint a vivid picture of your creative expression.
• Reflect on the impact : Discuss the impact of your creative expression. This could involve positive outcomes, solutions to challenges, or the reception of your artistic work. Reflecting on the consequences of your creativity adds substance to your response.
• Be concise : Given the word limit, be concise and focused in your response. Avoid unnecessary details and stay on topic. Make every sentence count to effectively communicate the essence of your creative side.

This is a great example of the UC creativity prompt because this student explains their creativity in a way that doesn’t relate to artistic talent. They appropriately describe how they use their creativity to excel in their passion and use examples to make their story more genuine. They also share the success they’ve had because of their creativity, which further proves their skill and ability.

Prompt Three Example

The next prompt is, “What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?” Consider this example for inspiration:

“She lacked luster. She was plain-looking, with dull hair and unsymmetrical features. Her right eye seemed to droop lower than her left, giving her the appearance of a slight lazy eye. There was no sparkle in her eye, no life in her gaze. She barely seemed alive. 

She almost looked like a Tim Burton character gone wrong, although even that description was too considerate and failed to capture her true mediocrity. 

That’s how I would describe the first-ever portrait I made in middle school. While I always enjoyed sketching, it did not come naturally to me. That was until I enrolled in a summer art program offered by the City Art Lab.

During this program, I learned how to modify the pressure on my pencil to produce different textures. I learned how to add highlights and create shadows to give my sketches depth. But most importantly, I learned the importance of practice. 

I practiced my art skills that entire summer, and the transformation was unbelievable. I went from creating wonky, left-behind Tim Burton characters to realistic, detailed portraits that began to resemble black-and-white photos. 

I have taken visual arts classes throughout high school and even won an art competition held among all sophomore students. Through all of my practice, I have learned to take risks, trust my abilities, and be open to new techniques to improve my work. 

I have begun using different mediums, such as charcoal, oil, and even acrylic. While I haven’t perfected my skills in these mediums, I am confident I will be able to with enough practice and commitment. 

Having the right mentors is important too, which is why I plan on continuing to develop my art skills at UC Irvine through their robust visual arts program taught by talented and accomplished faculty.” 

Here are some tips to help you write this essay:

• Self-reflection : Begin by reflecting on your strengths and skills. Identify the talent you believe is your greatest and think about how you’ve developed and demonstrated that talent over time.
• Choose a specific talent : Select a talent or skill that is not only significant but also relevant to the program you’re applying to. Whether it's a technical skill, leadership ability, communication proficiency, or something else, be specific in your choice.
• Share examples : Illustrate your talent with concrete examples from your experiences. Discuss situations where you have demonstrated this skill, showcasing its impact and relevance. 

This response opens with a hook that catches the reader’s attention, influencing them to keep reading. Readers will likely be surprised to learn this student is just describing a sketch and not a real person.

They share their complete experience with art, show vulnerability by stating they struggled with their sketches, and ultimately show their dedication by explaining how they improved. They also end their essay well by explaining how they plan on continuing to develop their skills at UC Irvine. 

Learn more about writing college essays from a Brown graduate here! 

Prompt Four Examples

Prompt four asks you to “Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.” We’ll include two UC essay examples to help guide your writing: 

“It is the perfect course for any students that hope to become doctors—is what my junior year AP Biology teacher Mr. Wilson told me about an eight-week introductory biology course that was being offered to high school students at our local community college.

Mr. Wilson always told us about the best opportunities to pursue if we wanted to join the medical field. It was a dream of his as well, but he always said “life got in the way” and he never took it as seriously as he should have. He warned me not to make the same mistake. If I was serious about becoming a physician, I had to prove it.

So, I enrolled in the course and was ready for a summer full of 8 am laboratories, 20-page readings, and late-night study sessions instead of sleeping in, reading mystery novels on the beach, and staying up late with my friends playing video games. But, I was willing to make that sacrifice to better prepare myself for college.

It was clear from my first class that I was in over my head. I struggled to retain the readings and had a hard time keeping up during lectures. I felt ashamed and downright defeated. I questioned if I deserved to even be a physician and wondered why it seemed to come so easily to my peers. 

But, wondering and wallowing would do me no good. So, I picked myself up and strategized. I spoke to my professor to ask for some tips. He assured me most students struggle to adjust in the beginning, but his biggest tip was to review the readings the night before our lectures, make notes during, and review those notes again after class. 

While his suggestions were time-consuming, they helped me increase my grades and I actually began to enjoy the course! I graduated with an A and learned more than just cell biology and evolutionary ecology. I learned how to manage my time better, stay organized, persevere through challenges, and to ask for help when needed!” 

Use these tips to help you write an impactful essay: 

• Choose a relevant experience : Select a specific educational opportunity or barrier that is not only significant but also relevant to your personal and academic journey. This could include a challenging course, a unique learning experience, or overcoming obstacles to pursue education.
• Provide context : Begin by providing context for the educational opportunity or barrier. Explain the circumstances that made it significant or challenging, including any personal or external factors that influenced your experience.
• Highlight the significance : Clearly explain why the educational opportunity or barrier is significant in your academic journey. Discuss the impact it had on your learning, personal growth, or overall development.

This response works because it demonstrates how the student took advantage of an educational opportunity and their real experience. They show their drive, determination, and perseverance through their story of overcoming difficulties during the program. 

They also mentioned their reason for taking this course was to better prepare themself for college, which also allowed them to develop study habits to aid them. Both these points can convince the UC admissions committee of this student’s academic potential. 

Here’s another example: 

“After the first few tests in my geometry course my freshman year, my teacher, [NAME #1], noticed my passion for and proficiency with math. At the same time, my physics teacher, [NAME #2], noticed how I enjoyed challenging extra credit problems. I would visit him during the advisory period to review the problems so I could understand the concepts. Both of these teachers recognized my curiosity and desire to challenge myself beyond existing coursework. By the end of the first quarter, I had decided I wanted to take calculus as a sophomore, but I needed to complete Algebra 2 and precalculus first.

One day, I noticed [NAME #2] AP Calculus book on his desk and asked him if I could borrow it, even though the topic was well beyond what I had been studying. I worked with [NAME #1] and asked how I could accelerate my math courses so I could take calculus the following year. The largest obstacle standing in my way was time. I still needed to take a year’s worth of Algebra 2 and a year’s worth of precalculus before I could enroll in AP Calculus AB. 

Despite this barrier, I was determined to progress. I would ask [NAME #1] to give me practice material from Algebra 2, which I would study in addition to my freshman workload. [NAME #1] agreed that if I passed both Algebra 2 semester finals, she would give me credit for the class. My studying paid off. I passed and was able to take an accelerated precalculus course over the summer before my sophomore year. 

My initiative and my teachers’ recognition of my skills and abilities allowed me to advance in mathematics faster than what the school would normally allow. As a result, I am now taking Advanced Topics in Calculus as a senior, and I will be able to jumpstart my lower-division coursework as an Applied Mathematics major. I learned that good teachers nurture potential and that if I take initiative, I can accomplish anything. I have confidence that I can handle a heavy workload and look forward to new challenges.” 

This essay demonstrates the student’s ability to take the initiative and take charge of their education despite originally not being on track to take their desired courses. The author’s essay shares their passion for math, their ability to solve problems, and how they worked around an educational barrier to advance their learning. 

Ready to elevate your UC essays? Check out our video on writing perfect college essays here! 

Prompt Five Example

Prompt five asks you to “Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?”

Gain a better understanding of how to write the UC essays from this sample response: 

“I grew up in Mumbai, where the air was always warm and welcoming and carried the scent of flowers and cardamom. Everywhere I went, I heard my beautiful language being spoken by people in my village that knew my name and always greeted me with smiles as warm as the sun that was constantly out. 

Then, I moved to America. My father received a job opportunity that would provide us with more economic stability and a chance for a better life for me and my soon-to-be younger brother who was due to be born in a few months. America was not like Mumbai. 

We traded our small, tight-knit village for the bustling, large city Denver where no one knew my name, and I rarely heard my beautiful language. Instead, I heard a foreign language that always seemed too quick to catch. I struggled to string along even the most simple sentences. I missed the warmth of the sun and the smell of the air. 

When I started school in the sixth grade, I was an easy target for bullies. I had a thick accent and mismatched clothes. I was still learning how Westerners dressed, and I stuck out like a sore thumb—an expression that always confused me as a child.

But, I took ESL classes throughout middle school. I read in my free time and joined ESL summer programs every year. Soon, I was able to string along sentences with ease and Denver started to feel more like home. I started hearing a different beautiful language that I understood more and more every day. 

By high school, English became my favorite subject. I understood even the most complex Shakespeare plays and wrote compelling essays on them. My accent still lingers on certain words, but it only reminds me of the idyllic place that I come from. 

I am no longer ashamed of my roots, in fact, I smile when I hear the remnants of my accent. I also smile when I learn new English words, and am happy to say I am now the master of two beautiful languages.” 

Here are some helpful tips on how to write this essay:

• Choose a genuine challenge : Pick a challenge that is genuinely significant in your life and has had a tangible impact on your academic journey. This could be a personal, academic, or professional challenge that has shaped your experiences and perspectives.
• Detail the steps taken : Outline the specific steps you took to overcome the challenge. Discuss any strategies, actions, or decisions you made to address the obstacles. Highlight your problem-solving skills, resilience, and determination.
• Reflect on the experience : Reflect on what you learned from overcoming the challenge. Discuss how the experience has shaped your character, influenced your approach to challenges, and contributed to your personal and academic growth.

This response shares a story that is clearly meaningful to the student. It revolves around their upbringing, a major event in their life, and the challenges they faced because of this change. They show persistence and resilience and provide concrete examples of how they overcame the odds and perfected their English.

Prompt Six Examples

Prompt six asks you to “Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.” 

The best way to grasp how to write the UC essays is to learn by example! Here are two UC essay examples to help you get inspired: 

“Logophile. 

It doesn’t sound like a pleasant word. In fact, most people ask me to repeat myself when I describe myself as one. But, it is the only word that captures how important writing and reading is to me. Every definition of the word states logophiles are lovers of words, which is exactly what I am, no more and no less. 

English was always my favorite subject. My mother constantly reminds me of how I would pretend to write even when I couldn’t. It was only ever just scribbles, but she was convinced those scribbles held meaning to me. 

I would scribble on lined paper for hours until I began learning the alphabet and how to make those scribbles mean something to someone other than myself.

Throughout middle school, I spent all of my free time reading. You would never see me without a book, and I would read an average of three novels each week. 

I loved how words came together to create wonderful stories that I could immerse myself into. I marveled at the amazing gift authors had to be able to give life to words that had such little meaning on their own. I knew, someday, I would also be able to create worlds out of words. 

I took all of the English courses offered at my school and supplemented these classes with writing camps and workshops led by real authors during my summers. By my sophomore year, it was a notebook that I always carried around with me. I found inspiration in everything. 

I looked at the tan line where my biology teacher’s wedding ring must have been and wrote a story about their doomed love. I submitted it for a nation-wide junior writing competition and won second place.” 

This summer, I will be participating in a writing internship offered by a local news station. While I will mainly be writing investigative work, I hope to expand my writing skills and learn new techniques through it.

I plan on developing my skills even further at UC Merced through their Karen Merritt Writing Program.” 

Consider these tips when answering the above prompt:

• Choose a genuine academic interest : Select an academic subject that genuinely inspires and excites you. Your enthusiasm for the subject should be apparent in your writing, and the chosen topic should align with your academic interests.
• Connect to future goals : Tie your passion for the academic subject to your future academic and professional goals. Explain how this interest aligns with your aspirations and how it will contribute to your success in the program and beyond.
• Be concise : While expressing enthusiasm, ensure that your essay remains focused and concise. Avoid unnecessary details and tangents, and prioritize conveying a clear and impactful story about your passion for the academic subject.

This student not only describes why they love English and writing but also provides background information to demonstrate how long they’ve been honing their writing and reading skills. They explain how they’ve already developed their skills and how they plan on further enhancing them at UC Merced. 

Here’s another example answering this prompt: 

“Throughout literature, I see time. Thousands of works hundreds of years old have been lost, and yet some manage to survive longer than the authors who brought them to life. I read a Greek piece of writing and see in the sentiments expressed in the text that besides some trivial differences attributable to history, we’re still essentially the same. We’re all human, navigating the world and finding comfort in words.

Words have given humans the ability to communicate at extraordinary levels, which has only exponentiated in the digital age of technology and the Internet of Things (IoT). In an increasingly impersonal digital world, language makes experiences tangible - real - and enables us to break barriers of individuality and possibly even loneliness. Literature provides a sense of unity and perpetuity, allowing me to understand our history more personally when I read timeless works written by another author’s hand.

It wasn’t until reading and comparing multitudinous genres (ranging from fiction and [LANGUAGE] to Shakespearean sonnets) in sophomore English that I realized, although we come from different times, we still laugh at the same jokes, suffer similar tragedies, and have a collective sense of duty to maintain what was - and still is - deemed beautiful.

Thus, from sophomore year onward, I started pleasure reading, a hobby I’d long neglected. The first year, I managed to read 6 books, all simple digestible fiction works. The year after: 30 books, with a medley of genres from fantasy and classics to non-fiction. The next year: 50 books, with so many genres and topics that I began listening to debates and commentaries about books I’d finished, reading essays written on them and writing my own, and watching my favorite videos of Brandon Sanderson on writing.

Of all my hobbies, I must say reading affords me the most invaluable understanding of literature. Vicariously experiencing other authors’ thoughts and beliefs, I’m immersed in their minds, and whenever I finish their book, I’m back on my own timeline in history, unable to contain the inspiration that often strikes to use my words and languages to weave works of literature.” 

Why This Worked 

This student’s love of literature fuelled their narrative while demonstrating how they pursued their passions outside the classroom. 

The tangible numbers they provide on how many books they’ve read and their descriptions of how they’d engaged with the content shows their commitment to learning and exploring history and writing – their conclusion about unity and perpetuity is especially compelling. 

Prompt Seven Example

Prompt seven asks, “What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?” Here’s a sample answer: 

“We have a fourteen-day adoption policy. Animals that are not adopted within two weeks of entering the shelter are likely to be euthanized. We simply do not have the room or resources to keep them longer. Considering she’s a black cat, it’s highly likely she will not be adopted. 

That’s what I was told when I surrendered an injured black cat to my local animal shelter. I found Midnight cowering under my car during a hail storm. It was clear she once belonged to someone, she had a tattered collar, but she must have been abandoned recently. 

Her nails were beginning to grow out, and her fur was matted and unbrushed. After hearing about her chances of adoption, I researched the phenomena of black pet deaths.

Out of all of the other pets, black dogs and cats were not only the least likely to be adopted but were euthanized at the highest rates. By day thirteen, no one had adopted Midnight, so I did. 

But I knew just saving one cat wasn’t enough. So, I brought up the issue to the other members of our Animal Activist club at school. I was an executive member of the club, and my peers agreed we had to do more for the black pets in our community. So, we set up two bake sales and three fundraisers throughout my junior year of high school.

We raised over $20,000 that we donated to our local animal shelter for what has coined the “Black Pet Initiative”. With this money, all of the black pets at the shelter were groomed, professionally photographed, and given the best chances of being adopted. 

Any leftover funds were used to provide the shelter with more resources to keep their animals for longer before they were euthanized. 

Our initiative has had great success so far. Mandy, the adoption coordinator, told us there was a 50% increase in black pet adoptions so far and that she only expects it to grow as they receive more donations through the social media presence we created for them on TikTok and Instagram.”

Here are tips to help you write this essay:

• Choose specific examples : Pick specific examples of initiatives or projects that you have been involved in to improve your school or community. Choose instances that showcase your leadership, commitment, and impact.
• Provide context : Begin by providing context for the school or community environment. Briefly describe the challenges or opportunities that motivated your involvement. Clearly explain why you felt compelled to contribute.
• Reflect on challenges : If you faced challenges during your efforts, discuss how you overcame them. Reflect on what you learned from the experience and how it contributed to your personal and leadership development.

Above all else, there’s clear passion in this answer. Readers can feel how important the issue is to this student, and the personal anecdote of Midnight adds to this. The student also explains the role they played in their community, how they contributed to it, and the extent of their contributions!

These essay prompts present a fantastic opportunity to strategically position yourself as the ultimate UC applicant. 

Prompt Eight Example

The final UC prompt is, “Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?” 

Here’s an example to help you brainstorm:

“A year ago, I decided to work at my neighbor’s new restaurant that they were struggling to keep afloat. I saw it as an opportunity to help my parents pay bills and save up for a car, which I felt I desperately needed at the time. 

I only planned to work there during the summer, but my neighbors said I was an asset to their team and could continue working reduced hours during the school year if I wanted. The money was good, and I knew I would be helping out neighbors I’ve known my whole life.

So, I continued working throughout my junior year, and still work there now in my senior year. It has been a demanding job, especially as business picked up last year. I made numerous mistakes in the beginning, like punching in take-out orders as dine-in orders, dropping plates, and overbooking our waitlist.

There were days I considered quitting, but I pushed through. Over time, I learned the ins and outs of the diner. I’ve become one of the restaurant's star waitresses and have even won employee of the month five months in a row. 

Working in this industry has made me feel like a bigger part of society. I have the ability to make a person’s day better and always offer kind conversation to people who often need it most. It has made me a better listener, communicator, and harder worker.

It has been a personally fulfilling experience--there’s just something about being part of people’s celebrations and sharing moments with strangers that’s indescribable. These special moments are what inspired me to continue working in this industry, but not as a waitress. 

I hope to become a co-manager at my neighbor’s restaurant to have an even bigger impact on my community. I know getting a degree is the next step in this aspiration.” 

• Identify unique strengths : Identify unique strengths or qualities about yourself that have not been extensively covered in your application. Consider personal characteristics, experiences, or skills that set you apart and contribute to your candidacy.
• Focus on diversity : Emphasize aspects of your background, experiences, or perspectives that contribute to the diversity and richness of the university community. Showcase how your unique qualities will enhance the overall student body.
• Connect to university values : Connect your strengths with the values and mission of the University of California. Demonstrate how your goals and values align with the university's commitment to academic excellence, diversity, and community engagement.

This student shares more about their work experience and what led them to pursue a degree at a UC school. It offers more insight into the type of person they are, what they value, and how important community is to them. 

We hope these UC personal insight questions examples help you understand what UC schools look for. 

UC Essay Examples

Here are some UC essay examples to give you a better idea of what a successful essay looks like.

“Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.”

My grandfather delights in scenic diversions while traveling, and I am his willing companion on road trips. Our journeys have taken us to trails and prime fishing spots as memorable as our final destination. Information processing in my brain resembles these scenic journeys. I have dyslexia, and one of the greatest challenges I have overcome has been to find the beauty and advantage in the way my neural pathways function–never a direct route and usually a lengthy journey. 

Learning to read was an arduous undertaking for me. While my siblings learned to read with ease, I toiled along and avoided tasks that involved reading. After I was diagnosed with dyslexia, I drudged through hours of remediation and studied twice as hard as my neurotypical peers. I had difficulty attributing my success to natural ability because I worked so hard to attain it. It wasn’t until my freshman year that my mindset shifted. A guest speaker visited my school to talk about the gifts of neurodiversity. As I listened, I began to think about my own neural pathways as roadways for information. I realized that my destination is the same as someone with an ordinary brain, but information in my brain takes the scenic route. I then started uncovering the benefits of neurodiversity. Dyslexia has helped me excel in forming creative solutions to problems, and as my classes become more advanced, the processing differences become less apparent. What’s more, I’ve spent my life working hard to spot and rectify errors, reading and re-reading passages, and intensely persevering to meet my own high expectations. This has culminated in a work ethic for which I will always have muscle memory. Above all, I now confidently own my success.

As I reflect on expeditions with my grandfather, it is clear my experience on the road could never be the same as my siblings, who rode with my parents in the “fast car”. I would never trade the memories made for the time spent. As for my neural pathways, I am content knowing that my brain will always take me where the fish are biting.

“What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?”

The test covered L’Hopital’s Rule and Related Rates–a topic I felt I had mastered but would need extra time to complete. But there I was. Waiting patiently with everyone else for [NAME] to hand out the test. As a student with a learning difference, I had a written contract for accommodations: extended time in a distraction free setting, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t the first time this happened, and I knew how this story would unfold. He placed the test on my desk. I frantically solved as many problems as I could. I flew through the first half of the test, but just as I began solving related rates, I heard a disappointing “5 Minutes Left”. I frantically jotted down anything that came to mind on the remaining portion of the test, but it didn’t matter. Time was up.

I sat quietly in class the next day, enraged. Every question I completed was correct, but it didn’t make up for the unattempted problems. “79%” engraved in dark red ink. What’s worse, he wrote, “Why didn’t you try these problems?” across the page of unanswered questions. Nearly every problem I attempted on any quiz or test in his class was mathematically correct, but I ran out of time on almost every assessment. It didn’t matter how good I truly was at Precalculus.

Until then, I had a hard time advocating for myself. That day something ignited in me and I knew I carried the responsibility to advocate for not only myself but for other students with learning differences. I wrote a letter to the school which reviewed the rights of students with learning differences set forth by the ADA. The following semester, my teacher was obligated to allow accommodations in his class, and as a result, those of use with differences were allowed “equal playing time.” The grade I received that semester did not reflect my mastery of Honors Precalculus, but it was a very impactful experience. I now understand the mental burden true discrimination can have on a person, and I carry the motivation to fight it.

“Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.”

It was her fourth honor council. I sat on the committee for her third that granted her one last chance. It was mid-April–just weeks before graduation, and she would walk across the stage with her diploma. The third honor council debated for hours about the best course of action. No student had ever been given 4 chances without separation from the school. One attendee argued for her future in retaining her college admission, while another suggested her negative impacts on the school community. After hours of debate, the honor council was split. It was left up to just a few of her peers to decide her fate. We reviewed her previous violation, and then it appeared: “Any future violations of school rules WILL result in separation from the school”. I believe strongly in seeking first to understand a person’s circumstances before drawing judgment, and I think there is great value in the second chance. Unfortunately, this student was unable to take responsibility after failing on multiple counts, and we eventually decided it would be best for the community if she separated from the school. She was given the opportunity to receive her diploma with successful completion of online classes.

Hard decisions like these have been a driving factor in shaping my character and values caring for the greater good of the community. I faced discrimination as a person with learning differences, which prompted me to solve issues of inequity through leadership positions. I give back to the community by leading school discussions about acts of hate and aggression that happen on and off campus, and I strive to create diversity and inclusion by attracting new people to [CITY]. I attempt to create a well-rounded incoming class of freshmen that will better the FVS community and help to solve issues of discrimination and a lack of diversity on campus. Together, my roles have heavily aligned with my values of creating diversity and solving a wide range of issues on campus.

What Are the UC Schools Looking For In Your Essays? 

When it comes to the essay, UC schools look for specific aspects, these include:

• Personality : The essay is a great way for UC admission to get to know their applicants. They look for an applicant's voice and want to get to know more about them. 
• Diversity of experiences :  UC schools value diversity, not only in terms of ethnicity and background but also in experiences, perspectives, and talents. They are interested in students who can bring unique viewpoints and contribute to a diverse and vibrant campus community.
• Impact and initiative : The essays should highlight instances where you took initiative or made a positive impact in your community, school, or personal life. Admissions officers are interested in applicants who demonstrate leadership, problem-solving skills, and a commitment to making a difference.
• Interest in the schools : Demonstrate a genuine interest in the UC schools you are applying to. Mention specific programs, faculty, or opportunities that attract you to each campus, showing that you've done your research.

Make sure you keep the above in mind when writing your essays. You never know, it might help you get accepted! 

Tips For Writing the UC Application Essays

Reviewing sample answers and getting inspired by them is an excellent first step when learning how to write the UC personal insight questions. Once you’ve made it past the brainstorming phase, consider these tips for your UC supplemental essays:

Use “I” Statements

Throughout your personal insight questions, you should use “I” statements. Make yourself the protagonist of all your stories, and don’t use third-person narration. This can make your answers confusing, less personal, and academic-sounding. 

Your personal insight questions give the admissions committee a glimpse into who you are outside the classroom. While your stats give them a sense of your academic potential, your essays provide a sense of who you are and what you can contribute to the school community.

Be sincere in your answers. Show your enthusiasm about the topics you’re writing about, and be honest. You don’t need to have jaw-dropping, tragic, or life-changing stories to write compelling UC essays. 

Your feelings towards these experiences, what you learned from them, and the impact they had on others make your responses unique and interesting!

Get Feedback

Your friends, family, and other members of your community who know you best can offer feedback on your essays. If they feel you’re selling yourself short or your answers don’t reflect your personal story, you can revise them to be more accurate.

At the same time, however, you do not want to lose your unique voice by accepting all of the suggestions of your peers and family members. You are still the best narrator of your own story, and it may have been a long while since they applied to college.

If you’re unsure how to write the UC supplemental essays or want expert guidance and feedback, consider scheduling a consultation with an admissions counselor to ensure your narratives stand out! 

Edit, Edit, Edit

Grammar and spelling errors can distract your readers and reduce the efficacy of your words. Ensure you proofread your work several times before you submit it so your answers are clear and powerful!

For any remaining questions about the UC application insight questions, read on!

1. How Do You Write a Good UC Essay?

Writing a good University of California insight questions involves several steps:

• Choose prompts that truly resonate with you
• Brainstorm ideas before you write your answers
• Limit your options to the experiences you feel most connected to so you can portray your best traits
• Be sincere and honest 
• Use real-life anecdotes to propel your story
• Proofread your work several times
• Ask for input from people close to you, but ensure your voice still shines through

A good UC essay is crafted with care and effort! Ensure you start early, and don’t be afraid to write multiple drafts until you’re happy with your answers.

2. Can UC Essays Be Over 350 Words?

No, your UC essays should be 350 words or fewer.

3. Do UC Essays Have to Be 250 Words?

There’s no minimum word count for the UC essays. However, you should aim for your answers to be at least 250 words so you can adequately answer the prompt. 

4. How Many UC Essays Are There?

You’ll be given the choice between eight essay prompts, of which you must answer four. 

5. What Should I Not Do When Writing UC Essays? 

When writing UC essays, you shouldn’t mention the school’s name if you’re applying to more than one in the system. Additionally, you don’t want to fudge any details, randomly select essays to write, repeat anything from your personal statement, or exceed the word limit. 

6. What Do UC Admissions Look for in Essays? 

UC schools are looking for applicants who demonstrate their personality and strong character through anecdotes and experiences. Ensure your responses show your passions, interests, values, and what makes you unique. 

Final Thoughts

After reviewing how to write the UC essays in depth, you should be able to craft compelling responses. Ensure you choose the right prompts, pick experiences that portray your most favorable traits, and prove you’ll make an excellent addition to the UC community!

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How to write the university of california essays, updated for 2024-2025, 2024-2025 essays:.

All eight UC undergraduate colleges use their own application rather than the Common or Coalition applications. Consequently, they provide a unique set of prompts for students applying to the UC system and offer the following directions;

• “You will have 8 questions to choose from. You must respond to only 4 of the 8 questions.
• Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.
• Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you, but you should select questions that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.”

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?

Explanation:

As stated in “Things to consider,” this prompt is asking about your experiences in a leadership role and what you’ve learned in that capacity. How did you make a positive impact through your role (whether formal or informal), and what was the lasting change you created? The impact does not have to be monumental; in fact, it could be a positive interaction you’ve had with your team or with members of the community that changed you or the people around you for the better. Some great examples to reflect on are caring for a family member(s), resolving a conflict, or stepping up in an organization you’re already a part of.

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?

For this prompt, think outside the box and reflect on unique and memorable ways in which you exercise your creativity. Provide a specific example that illustrates your creative expression. As stated in the prompt, your response is not only limited to artistic endeavors—you can recount the experience of solving a math problem you were stuck on for hours or incorporating a different approach to address an issue in a club or an organization you’re a part of. You should not simply demonstrate creativity by what story you tell, but also how you choose to tell it. In a compelling and descriptive way, walk your reader through the experience, your thought process, and how you implemented a creative approach to resolving the conflict or problem.

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Things to consider: If there is a talent or skill that you’re proud of, this is the time to share it.You don’t necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?

Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule?

This is the space where you can write about how you’ve developed the skills and talents that are unique to you. You do not need to have received awards, distinctions, or accolades in order for a given skill or talent to be significant. The prompt is seeking your own evaluation of your greatest talent, and it’s okay if your response isn’t about a skill that an admissions officer may expect based on your resume. Don’t be afraid to write about an unusual or unique talent or skill! Additionally, note that the second question is just as important as the first—the admissions committee wants to understand your journey in developing this talent or skill over time. Don’t be afraid to share some of the failures or growing pains you overcame along the way. Consider the following questions as you tackle this prompt: What is your first memory of exploring this talent/skill? How have you developed it over time, and how does this bring you joy? Do you see yourself continuing to hone your skill/talent in college, and if so, how?

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that’s geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you; just to name a few.

If you choose to write about educational barriers you’ve faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who you are today?

This prompt is very open-ended and deliberately vague in defining educational opportunities or barriers, allowing students to answer in a variety of different ways. At the same time, students should note that the most important aspect of the prompt is its emphasis on self-motivation. Whatever experience you highlight should clearly showcase your determination, autonomy, and initiative.

You may recount a proactive step you have taken to continue your education or challenge yourself. Alternatively, you may choose to write about an obstacle you faced and how you overcame it to learn something new, discover your passion, or develop resilience. However, students should be careful to avoid cliches or common tropes as they answer this prompt—for instance, the Covid-19 pandemic may have posed significant academic challenges for you to overcome, but there are likely thousands of other students who had a similar experience and who will write about it in their essay. Make sure that whatever you choose to write about is unique to you and that it won’t get lost in a sea of similar essays.

Finally, reflect on what you learned from this experience. Consider how it has shaped your academic journey, your personal development, or your future goals. This reflection demonstrates your ability to learn from experiences and apply those lessons moving forward. What did you learn by overcoming the obstacle(s), and how did that change your approach to life? Did that inspire you to make a change within your community? Do you see yourself in a role that will continue knocking down those barriers to help others?

When I was eight years old, I stopped speaking. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to say—I just couldn’t say it. Words clung to the back of my throat, and I felt as though I was choking on a ball of anxiety. The therapist handed my parents books and articles on “selective mutism,” as they sought to help me find my voice again, but the dense psychological analyses did little to assuage the feeling of shame that accompanied my silence.

The challenge of being voiceless defined my early academic experience, turning simple tasks like answering a question or reading aloud into insurmountable obstacles. As I worked with a therapist, I inched toward progress. Small victories like whispering to a friend felt monumental. I learned to cope with my debilitating anxiety through deep breathing and visualization, and slowly began speaking one sentence out loud per day, then two, then three.

By high school, my voice was still quiet, but I had found the will to speak up. In a moment of determination (and perhaps impulsiveness), I signed up for the mock trial team. Though the first year was terrifying, mock trial taught me to use my voice to advocate—not only for others, but also for myself. As I delivered opening statements, argued my positions, and even coached budding mock trial-ers during my second and third years, my passion for advocacy chased away my fear of speaking. I became a formidable voice in the mock trial courtroom—and outside of it.

Overcoming this challenge taught me that perseverance and patience can turn even the quietest voices into powerful ones. Today, my voice is my greatest strength—a tool I use not only to express myself but to inspire and help others find their own. As a member of the UC community, I intend to join a legacy of students and graduates who used their voice to demand freedom, peace, justice, and change. I will not only speak up, but I will speak out for those who—like my younger self—can’t speak for themselves.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you’re currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family?

We’ve all faced challenges, big and small, so it can be tricky to choose just one to reflect on. You should focus on recent history rather than on an obstacle you overcame when you were young and may not remember with as much clarity. The two key words in this prompt you should focus on are “personal” and “overcome.” The challenge should be uniquely formative in your journey and one that you have overcome and thoughtfully reflected back on. Try to avoid writing about a generic challenge—anything from failing a test to missing the winning goal. Only select something of this nature if you feel that you can write about one of these topics in an original and engaging way.

Once you choose the obstacle or setback you want to discuss, talk about your feelings in a mature and emotionally intelligent way, selecting an experience that demonstrates your potential to thrive in and learn from difficult situations. As with any other prompt, try to show, rather than tell, as you write about this growth. You could potentially juxtapose two situations: one in which you failed, and a later one in which you implemented what you learned the first time around in order to succeed.

Avoid issues which you haven’t fully processed and still view with bitterness or hopelessness. Remember, you are trying to demonstrate growth and maturity, not wallow or complain.

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

Things to consider: Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can’t get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

You can approach this essay the way you might approach a supplement from another school asking “why this major?” Students applying to the UC system choose a major before they start school. While you don’t have to stick to this major forever, you should definitely do some soul searching before applying to determine what major would be the best choice for you. Think about what you enjoy in school, what you see yourself doing in the future, and what sparks your curiosity and passion. You don’t have to choose something super niche or esoteric to make yourself seem smarter or more unique. Show your genuine, nerdy, and passionate side!

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place—like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

This essay is a great opportunity to show admissions officers your values and help them imagine how you would function within their college community. To make a lasting impression on your admissions officer, describe a time you made an impact on your community, rather than listing the many ways you were involved. Think about how your community would have been different without you and why your impact was unique. Be sure to offer quantitative information wherever possible.

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Things to consider: If there’s anything you want us to know about you but didn’t find a question or place in the application to tell us, now’s your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

From your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for UC? Don’t be afraid to brag a little.

This essay is basically a free for all, but don’t take that as an excuse to write just anything. If you use this prompt as one of your four essays, it should help paint a more complete picture of you as a UC applicant, student, and person. While it is okay to brag in this essay, keep in mind the caveat “a little.” This essay should be just that—an essay, not a list of all of the accomplishments you couldn’t fit elsewhere in your application. You can, however, dive into a passion project you executed that didn’t exactly fit with any of the other prompts, a competition you won that has a great story to go with it, or a talent you are developing that you think really sets you apart.

To become a strong scuba diver, to plumb the deepest waters and discover the most elusive sights, the most crucial skills are not swimming or agility or even gaining the strength to carry unwieldy equipment. They are finding equilibrium, harnessing the breath, and accessing one’s own innate strength to find calm.

Equalizing is essential for safety and comfort underwater, yet the practice is equally relevant on land. As an ambitious student and activist seeking to create systemic change through policy, I strive to communicate my findings in order to expand our collective consciousness of oft-overlooked issues and enact change. Like in diving, I’m passionate about digging deep to gain a thorough understanding of marginalized communities. As rewarding as these pursuits are, the process is not without significant pressure.

I frequently plunge into settings both unfamiliar and risky: I’ve addressed school boards pleading to protect LGBTQ+ students and dove into protests championing equality for all students, no matter their gender expression and identity. I’ve faced obstinance and have been told that the policies I advocate for offend my small town’s values. Despite the resistance, I’ve succeeded in installing a gender-neutral bathroom in every wing of my school and a gender-neutral changing room in our gym.

Advocating for underserved and marginalized communities has become my primary passion, and I hope to learn more about legislation and the broader landscape of policy implementation in college and beyond.

Whenever I find myself grasping for a lifeline, I remember the lessons I learned as a scuba diver, equalizing as I descend into higher-pressure water, a skill that is both a physical necessity and a mental discipline. Equalizing requires focus, calm, and attunement to one’s surroundings. To transform fear into empowerment, I recall my instructor’s voice: breathe out—hard, fast—and trust yourself. In order to strengthen communities, you must strengthen yourself first. I trust my knowledge, my tenacity, and myself—and I trust that I will be an excellent fit to lead equally driven students at UC.

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Last updated April 17, 2023

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Blog > UC Essays > How to Answer the UC Essay Prompts

How to Answer the UC Essay Prompts

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Alex McNeil, MA Admissions Consultant

Key Takeaway

Taken collectively, the University of California receives more college applications every year than any other set of institutions in the world.

As a proud Californian, I can't help but love the UCs. Where else do you find such a massive, well-funded, geographically dispersed system of top-quality public education?

California rules.

Ok, got that out of my system. Time to talk about how you can actually get into the UCs by mastering those devilish "personal interest questions," better known as the UC essays.

UC admission is an increasingly pitched battle

I know I just went off about how good the UCs are. But the reality is, they aren't what they used to be from at least two perspectives: cost and ease of admission.

Did you know that tuition at UC Berkeley in 1980 was $2,600 per year? Today the cost of attending is $19,000 and more than $50,000 yearly for out-of-state students.

Equally alarming is the shift in admission rates over that time. In 1980 only  9,000 students  applied to Berkeley. In 2021 more than 85,000 applied. Today the admission rate at Berkeley is just over 11%. These same trends have unfolded at the other UC campuses, as well.

So students who want to attend Berkeley, UCLA, or any of the UC schools will need to bring their A-Game.

That means, of course, killing it academically throughout high school. Test scores no longer matter for UC admission, as the UC collectively decided to throw out SAT and ACT scores in the evaluation process.

Indeed, UC admission comes down to a few factors: grades, recommendations, and essays.

I have no control over your grades or your recommendations (although I do talk about recommendations elsewhere). I hope, however, to have a positive influence on your UC essays.

That's what this post is dedicated to, anyway. This is a long post, so let me give you a quick roadmap.

First, we’ll go over the basics: what the UC essays are, what all they require of you, and how they’re evaluated.

Then we’ll move into talking about the three “rules” (read: strategies) that I encourage all students to follow to write the best UC essays possible.

Finally, I’ll go through each UC essay prompt in turn. I’ll break down what every single prompt is asking you to do and give you brainstorming and outlining exercises to get you started. I’ve also included UC essay examples for all eight prompts so you know what you should look for in your own.

Okay, ready? Let's get into it.

What are the UC Essays?

The UC essays are a set of 8 prompts from which applicants must select and answer four. These prompts provide you an opportunity to show UC admissions committees exactly who you are.

The UC website  introduces  these prompts in this slightly bizarre way: "Imagine UC was a person. If we met face-to-face, what would you want us to know about you?"

OK, don't love the idea of imagining a massive institutional system as a singular person, but there it is.

Instead of picturing the UCs as a person, try approaching your UC essays with a few institutional values in mind. Things like intellectual curiosity, community-mindedness, innovation, leadership, and altruism should underlie your essay writing.

Why? Because those are the values central to the University of California system. The University of California’s motto is, “ Let there be light ,” and the Office of the President sums up the University’s mission with these three phrases : We Teach. We do research. We provide public service.

Since you’re applying to join this institution, your essays are the perfect place to demonstrate that you belong there.

Now, back to the essays themselves.

UC Personal Insight Question Word Limit

Each of the four essays you select has a maximum word length of 350 words. That means that you’ll be writing a maximum of 1,400 words for your UC essays.

But don’t worry about perfectly meeting this word limit for every single essay. You should shoot to hit at least 275 words for each essay, though.

If you’re using a word processor, 275 words is just over half a page single-spaced or a full page double-spaced. If you’re on the upper end of the word limit, you should be about 3/4 page single-spaced or almost 1.5 pages double-spaced for every single essay.

As long as you’re within the word count, though, what matters most is the quality of your essays.

How Important are Personal Insight Questions?

As the UC explains, the UC Personal Insight Questions play an important role in UC admissions decisions.

The UC system emphasizes that all the prompts are evaluated equally; that is, no prompt is more or less valuable to answer than any of the others.

With that information in hand, you should feel comfortable choosing the four prompts that best suit your needs. Don’t worry about an admissions officer analyzing why you chose the prompts you chose. Just choose the ones that let you tell your story in the fullest and most strategic way possible.

Also be comforted by the fact that the UCs explicitly state that there isn’t a right or wrong way to answer each prompt. Now, some ways are definitely better than others (and we’ll get to that in a minute). But UC admissions officers won’t go into your essay with an already-established idea of what your essay should be about.

But just because you have some flexibility with the Personal Insight Questions doesn’t mean that you should just write whatever you want. They’re an extremely important part of the selection process, nearly equal to the importance of one's grades and academic performance.

Each individual UC campus gives different weight to the essays in the decision process. You can click through each campus to read more about that on the UC’s website . But no matter which campuses you’re applying to, your admissions officers will base their admission decision, at least in part, on your essays.

Phew! So as with any college essay, the stakes are high.

But what makes UC essays a bit challenging is the fact that they are completely different animals than the Common Application Essay or school-specific supplementals (if you want to read more about either of those, check out our Resource Hub). UC essays require a totally different approach to presenting your narrative.

Before we get into our strategies for approaching your UC essay narrative, it’s important to look more specifically at how the UCs evaluate your essays.

UC Points of Comprehensive Review

One of the reasons college essays are so hard to write is because it’s difficult to know what’s expected of you. You write your essays as well as you can, you submit them when you’re ready, and you hope for the best.

On the other side of the admissions portal is an admissions officer who you’ve likely never met. They don’t know you, so all they have to go on is what you and your recommenders have put on paper.

Similarly, colleges don’t typically put out rubrics or outline exactly what they want to see of you.

Well, most colleges don’t. Thankfully for all of us, the UCs do.

In a list called the “Points of Comprehensive Review,” the UC system describes in detail each part of their application review process. If you are really interested in this stuff, it might benefit you to read through the UC's own information on a page called " How applications are reviewed ."

But I’ll summarize them for you here.

First off, the UCs, like the vast majority of colleges, evaluates your academic performance within the context of your school. For example, if your school doesn’t have any AP or IB classes, your application will be evaluated differently than someone whose school does.

Other points of review are also relatively standard among admissions committees. These include factors like GPA, the number and level of rigorous classes, and class rank.

The UCs also look for students who have demonstrated commitment to and excellence at particular subject areas or special projects. That means things like going to your local college to take a more advanced math class or working with your city to study pollution in your nearby stream—things outside of the classroom that show initiative and impact.

If you’re following along on the UC’s How Applications are Reviewed list, then you’ll see that numbers 10-12 are bulky. They’re also the places where your UC essays can shine the most light and have the biggest impact, so pay close attention.

Number 10 lists off a number of considerations, including things like special talents, achievements, intensive studies or explorations, leadership, community service, and intellectual vitality.

Number 11 references the impact you’ve had on your school community, including special projects related to academics, school events, or programs.

Finally, number 12 states that the UCs also factor in how impressive your accomplishments are relative to your personal and family background.

If it’s your senior year, you can’t do much about where you fall on the first half of this list. Factors like GPA, class rigor, and extracurricular performance are, at this point, somewhat out of your control.

But these soft factors also play an important role in determining whether you’ll be admitted. How you talk about your accomplishments, your role in your community, your leadership skills, and your identity matters.

That’s why your essays matter. And that’s why it’s important to write them strategically.

Scroll to the bottom of the page if you want to jump straight to our prompt-specific guides, but we think it’s helpful to first go over three rules that will keep your UC essay strategy on track.

Writing the UC Essays

The UC essays are entirely different than your Common Application essay or supplemental essays. In particular, the most important thing you need to know about the UC essays is that they require a different tone and structure than the other, more personal essays required by many schools.

But if you do the UC essays right, they can also serve as the groundwork for all your other writing. This is because UC essays are relatively straightforward and to-the-point. You tell a story, highlight what steps you took to make a change, and reflect briefly on what it all means.

Going through this thought process for every UC essay you write can give you great material for your personal statement and supplemental essays. So take the process seriously, not only for your UCs but also for your other applications, too.

Before we go through the prompts, and definitely before you begin writing, we need to go over three strategies that will give your essays the best shot possible.

Here they are—are a few "rules" that will help you tackle the UC essays.

Rule #1: UC Essays Should Cut Straight to the Point

In non-UC personal college essays, it is generally OK to be reflective and abstract. Of course, the best personal essays are defined by their attention to detail. But many personal essays land on ambiguous and uncertain footing. There is often no clear-cut conclusion or lesson, and for those essays, that's OK.

But the UC essays do not follow the same rubric.

You simply cannot write a UC essay in the same way you write a Common App personal statement. This is because the UC essays are evaluated partly on their directness and specificity. They are not exercises in creative writing or in unvarnished reflection.

Each UC essay should tell a straightforward story from your life. They should highlight an experience, what you learned from it, and (sometimes) how the experience will shape your future.

Part of writing direct, to-the-point UC essays is also about effectively reading and understanding each prompt. The prompts often contain multiple parts and can have confusing wording. I’ll walk you through each one, but it’s important that you know the why behind doing prompt analyses.

Consider prompt #5 as an example: "Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement? "

This is not an invitation to tell a long story about the feeling of being privileged and bereft of topics for your college essay.

Instead, it's a time to talk about an acute problem (either persistent or temporary) and the actions you took to overcome it. The prompt also asks: How did it affect your academic achievement?

We can answer this prompt well if we do three things in this specific order:

• Explain a specific problem. Be a good journalist and expand on who, what, where, when, and why?
• Talk about the solution. What did you do to deal with your problem?
• Talk about the effect the problem had on your academics.

I know this might seem self-evident. But countless students have (and will continue to) roast themselves on prompts like this because they neglect to address a third of it. Every single part is important. The order in which you write about each part is important.

In case I haven't been clear: The UC essays require straightforwardness. Answer the prompt. Directly.

Rule #2: Try to Write the UC Essays First

It can be hard to navigate the transition from a reflective personal statement to the UC essays. That's why I usually have my students tackle the UC prompts first.

There are two benefits to this.

First, the UC applications are due earlier (November 30th) than most other schools. At up to 1,400 words collectively, they're a pretty major undertaking. So it's great to get going early, otherwise you’ll be stressed and write worse essays.

Second, I usually find that in the process of writing the UC prompts, my students discover the germs of the stories that they want to write about for their common application or for school-specific supplemental essays.

(Prompts about intellectual vitality, in particular, end up being easy to translate over to supplemental essays, and the prompts that ask about personal background can help you think about the stories that are most important to you.)

The UC essays are an exercise in concision. You will need to pare down your writing so that only the most essential details are present. If you rise to meet the challenge of the UC essays early, the rest of your essays will benefit from a war chest of succinct and powerful turns of phrase, sections of exposition, and whole paragraphs that can be transplanted at will into other essays.

Your UC essays lay out your stories, actions, and lessons. Your personal statement and supplementals can take these stories and run with them.

Rule #3: Select Prompts that Balance Your Narrative

Let's go back to that chunky block quote taken from the UC website for a second.

In your essays, they are looking for...

Special talents, achievements and awards in a particular field, such as visual and performing arts, communication or athletic endeavors; special skills, such as demonstrated written and oral proficiency in other languages; special interests, such as intensive study and exploration of other cultures; experiences that demonstrate unusual promise for leadership, such as significant community service or significant participation in student government; or other significant experiences or achievements that demonstrate the student’s promise for contributing to the intellectual vitality of a campus.

You can't be all of these things. But you can be at least four of them, because that's how many essays you get to write.

Have you ever played a video game where you had to balance your character's attributes? Turn up the speed, adjust down the strength, balance out the agility. It's kinda like that. You have a fixed number of "points" that you get to put into each category.

In this context, those categories might look like: creativity, intellectual vitality, leadership, resilience, compassion, and community engagement, just to name a few. They’re the kinds of values that we talked about way back at the UC motto and mission statement.

My advice: take a hard look at your application, figure out where your greatest strengths are, and lean into that area with two of your essays. Then, with the other two, show your diversity.

In other words, your essay narrative allotment should look like this:

Essay #1: Show a strength

Essay #2: Emphasize that same strength

Essay #3: Add some spice—throw a different topic in there.

Essay #4: Add even more spice—focus on a different fourth topic.

So if you're a really strong student, maybe you'll pick prompts #4 (academic opportunity) and #6 (intellectual passion). Those two should give you enough space to write expansively about your intellectual interests, research experience, and plans for study in college.

Then to show that you aren't just a bookworm, you can pick up prompts #1 (leadership) and #2 (creativity). The first will allow you to show the side of yourself that are externally engaged. The second will give you a chance to show you have multiple intelligences and diverse interests that go beyond a narrow academic scope.

Finding this balance is one of the keys to success in UC admissions.

OK, there are the rules: write in a straightforward style that answers the prompt directly, focus on your UC essays first, and choose four prompts that let you balance your narrative.

How are you doing? Need to take a snack break?

When you’re ready, it’s time to go through all eight of the UC prompts.

Here we go!

UC Essay Prompt #1: Leadership

The first UC essay prompt asks you to reflect on a "leadership experience." Whether or not you’re a team captain or manager at a restaurant, you can still answer this prompt. A leader can be any individual who shows initiative and effort, even if you’re working in isolation to change your community for the better.

Either way, this prompt is about "inter-relations." It’s a tool for getting at the question of how you relate to others. If written well, it can really help to humanize you in the eyes of the committee and show that you don’t just exist in your community—you contribute to it.

Let’s look at the exact wording of the prompt and dive a little deeper into how you can answer it.

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

So this prompt is asking for two main things from us:

We need to “describe an example of” our “leadership experience.”

But it’s can’t be just any leadership experience. It needs specifically to be an experience where we:

a) “positively influenced others”

b) “helped resolve disputes”

c) or “contributed to group efforts over time”

The example you choose doesn’t have to address all three of these criteria, but it should address at least one.

Also notice that the prompt isn’t asking you to talk about the biggest or most monumental way you’ve led people. It’s simply asking you to describe a time you’ve taken on a leadership role and influenced the people around you.

Your “leadership experience” could look a lot of different ways. Here are just a couple of examples:

• Taking the lead on a group biology project
• Resolving a dispute between your friends or siblings
• Improving the process for packing hygiene kits for the community organization you volunteer with
• Encouraging your debate teammates to practice more regularly
• Organizing your choir peers to sing for the local retirement home

Whatever your experiences have been, this prompt asks you to think about the specific instances in your life when you have taken the lead and had a positive influence on the people and communities around you.

What this prompt is good for: The UCs value student initiative and leadership. This prompt can be a great way to show how you aren’t afraid to have an impact.

Prompt #1 Brainstorm Activity

To answer this prompt, begin by brainstorming some areas of your life where you’ve shown leadership. Remember that UC essays should be direct, to-the-point, and focused on the action steps you took. As you’re brainstorming, focus on examples that allow you to demonstrate actions and lessons.

Once you have a sense of your options, remember UC Essay Rule #3: you need to balance your overall application narrative. Narrow down your options by picking an example of your leadership that works in tandem with your other essays to create a holistic picture of who you are. Doing so will help the UC admissions committees learn about the most important parts of you.

Prompt #1 Outline Activity

Once you’ve chosen an experience to write about, it’s time to start planning out your essay. As we explain in our UC essay guide, the most important rule to remember when writing UC essays is that you need to be direct and to-the-point.

Writing a UC essay is completely different than writing your Common App personal statement or your supplemental essays.

Instead of writing creatively to tell a deeply meaningful story, your UC essays need to lay out exactly what the situation was, what you did to impact the situation, and what the overall outcomes were.

In the case of UC Prompt #1, let’s return to the criteria of the prompt:

Describe an example of your leadership experience

Explain how you positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts.

Your essay structure will likely depend on the specific leadership experience you’ve decided to write about.

But a good structure to use might look something like this:

I. Introduction: Introduce your leadership experience by briefly explaining how the experience came about.

II. Middle: Address the specific details that led you to positively influence others, resolve disputes, or contribute to group efforts. Write about these details in a logical (likely chronological) way, and emphasize the action steps you took.

III. Conclusion: Reflect on the implications of your leadership. How did people react to your influence? What lesson did your leadership experience teach you? What was your overall impact?

As you write, keep your sentences clear and straightforward. Make sure the story you tell is clearly-organized and action-oriented.

UC Prompt #1 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #1 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #1 Final Takeaways

You don’t need to have moved mountains to pick this prompt. Even if you were alone in your bedroom mapping out neighborhood routes to canvas for a politician in your community, your initiative and actions have undoubtedly affected the people around you. The UCs want to hear about those leadership experiences, so pick the ones that stands out best to you, and write about it in a way that emphasizes actions and outcomes.

UC Prompt #2: Creativity

This is another prompt that can be approached from both conventional and unconventional angles. The most straightforward way to answer this prompt is by addressing artistic creativity. Are you a sculptor or a musician? Maybe this is where you talk about your creative process or what you feel when you make art.

But your answer can also imagine “creativity” more broadly. One of the best answers I ever saw to this prompt was about soccer. The student linked his analytical creativity (the tactical mind of a soccer captain) to the organic, in-the-moment creativity expressed through play.

Let’s look at the specific wording of the prompt.

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

The central question this prompt asks you is:

• Describe how you express your creative side.

That means that your essay isn’t just going to be a description of your history playing the cello. Instead, your essay should focus on how it is that you express your creativity.

The prompt also gives us a few hints to get us started. “Creativity,” the prompt explains, can manifest itself in a number of ways: problem-solving, original or innovative thinking, or artistically.

Because the prompt allows you to write about more than traditional artforms or creative practices, you have a little bit of freedom with what you write about.

Here are just a few examples of how people might express their creativity:

• Playing an instrument
• Acting in theatre
• Doing comedy
• Building model trains
• Writing and testing code
• Writing prose or poetry
• Creating online or digital content
• Engineering structures or circuits

The list goes on and on. If you can make the case that your activity allows you to express a creative side of you, then you can write about it.

What this prompt is good for: Colleges love creative thinkers. Creativity, innovation, and problem-solving are all characteristics of people who aren’t afraid to make art and make a change in the world. If you want to show admissions officers that you’re one of those people, then this may be a good prompt for you.

Prompt #2 Brainstorming Activity

If you’re already deeply involved in a creative activity like music or theatre, then your topic choice for this question might be obvious.

Or maybe you’ve already quickly decided on a more unconventional creative topic to focus on.

But if you still can’t decide, then try out this brainstorming chart.

Hopefully you’re able to think up a few options. If not, then no worries! Maybe this prompt just isn’t the best one for you. You have seven others to choose from, so you still have lots of other options.

Prompt #2 Outlining Activity

If this prompt is the right choice for you, then you may find it helpful to outline a rough structure before you start writing.

With creativity essays especially, it can be difficult not to get distracted by personal expression and creative writing. But remember that all UC essays, even this creativity one, prioritize directness, so keep your focus on answering the prompt.

Here’s an example structure to get you started:

I. Introduction: Introduce what your creative activity is and what your history with it has looked like. You could also introduce what your “creative side” looks like.

II. Middle: Go in-depth on how, exactly, you express your creative side through this activity. Use specific details and action steps.

III. Conclusion: Briefly conclude by emphasizing what this creative expression has allowed you to do.

UC Prompt #2 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #2 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #2 Final Takeaways

Your creative activity doesn’t have to be a traditional artform. But you do need to make it clear a) what your “creative side” looks like and b) how you express that creative side through this activity.

UC Prompt #3: Exceptional Skill

When we think of skills, we might gravitate toward those singular abilities (juggling, playing an instrument, writing) that we have honed over time. But what you write about doesn’t just have to be something worthy of a talent show.

Here is a list of other, equally valid skills you might have: communication, listening, dream-interpretation, rock-skipping, phone repair, or doing a headstand. These other kinds of talents can be just as interesting and revealing.

Do these seem dumb? I admit: it might make for a bad essay to wax poetic about how you learned to balance on your head. But if talking about balancing on your head allows you to go deep into your quest to learn about physiology and exercise science, then we might be onto something.

What matter less than the specific talent you choose is the way you choose to write about it. If nothing immediately comes to mind for you, then it might be better to choose one of the other seven prompts. But if you do have something you want to write about, then run with it.

Let’s analyze the prompt and go over how you can write an essay that stands out.

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Of the UC prompts, this one is fairly to-the-point and straightforward. It simply asks you to answer three direct questions:

What is your greatest talent/skill?

How have you developed it over time?

How have you demonstrated it over time?

So the talent or skill you choose probably shouldn’t be something you learned on a whim and have only done once in your life. Maybe you learned that you’re really good at flying a hot air balloon but have only done it one time because you don’t own a hot air balloon. Okay, that might actually make for a good essay. But would it fully answer the prompt? Probably not.

Anyway, the talent or skill you choose should reveal something about yourself—or, more specifically, one of your core strengths—to the admissions committee.

What this prompt is good for: The skill you select can shine light on a deeper character quality or a commitment to learning and improving. From that angle, this prompt can be a good opportunity to showcase perseverance and stick-to-it-ness.

Prompt #3 Brainstorming Activity

Before you work through the following chart, let’s briefly expand on the difference between “develop” and “demonstrate.” I think you could interpret these terms a few ways, but I would say that this is the main difference:

Develop: How did you learn you were capable of this skill? What have you done to improve your abilities? How did you stick with the skill despite any odds?

Demonstrate: How do you show your talent or skill to others? How does it affect the people or world around you?

Prompt #3 Outlining Activity

Thankfully, Prompt #3 also provides a fairly straightforward way for you to organize your essay response. If it makes sense for you, you can outline your essay in exactly the same order the questions are presented in the prompt:

I. Introduction: Introduce your greatest talent or skill. Be detailed about what exactly it is that you can do.

II. Middle:

• Elaborate on how you developed this skill. Describe specific action steps you took to improve your abilities.
• Elaborate on how you demonstrate this skill. Describe specific action steps you’ve taken to share your skill with others.
• Don’t forget the “over time” part of the prompt, either. Your essay should emphasize how these factors have existed throughout time.

III. Conclusion: Conclude by reflecting on what you have gained from developing and demonstrating this skill.

UC Prompt #3 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #3 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #3 Final Takeaways

Prompt #3 isn’t for everyone, but it can be a great way to write about something memorable, highlight a special skill that few people possess, or demonstrate a significant perspective or ability to persevere.

UC Prompt #4: Opportunity / Barrier in Education

Alert: read. the. prompt. This alert is important for all UC essays but especially this one. This prompt is not an invitation to talk about any old opportunity or challenge in your life. It is specifically about how these have touched down on your education .

The UC provides some instructive info about this prompt. They say that "an educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better  prepared you for college ." With this extra guidance, you have some flexibility in your topic choice.

If you enrolled in a foreign school and underwent a year of intensive language immersion, you might choose this prompt. But it doesn't need to be so grand. You could write about an internship you took that helped you clarify your research focus. Or you could go through what it was like to deal with the stigma of having an IEP.

Let’s walk through each part of the prompt, and then we’ll explain how you can best approach it.

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

This prompt can be confusing because it’s a “fork in the road” prompt, which means that it’s asking you to choose one of two different options. And the options it gives you are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Because the prompt puts an “or” in between these two options, we know that you do not have to answer both. You can choose to focus on one or the other.

Option 1: Educational Opportunity

For this option, you’ll need to do two things:

Describe a significant educational opportunity you’ve been presented.

Describe how you took advantage of it.

Option 2: Educational Barrier

For this option, you’ll also need to do two things:

Describe an educational barrier you have faced.

Explain how you worked to overcome it.

Note that the prompt says “ worked to overcome it.” That means that you don’t necessarily have to have solved every single part of the problem you experienced. What the admissions committee really wants to see here is effort. If your educational barrier is that you’ve moved several times throughout high school, then that’s not something you can solve. What you should focus on instead is how you found a way to persist and do your best in spite of the challenges.

What this prompt is good for: The advantage of this prompt depends on which direction you take the fork in the road. If you choose Option 1, then the advantage is that you get to elaborate on a cool opportunity you’ve been presented and show how well you can take advantage of what’s in front of you. If you take Option 2, then you have a legitimate and thoughtful way to explain any educational hardships you’ve experienced, and you can show that you are resilient and capable of improving.

Prompt #4 Brainstorming Activity

If this is the prompt for you, then something will probably immediately come to mind. If not, it’s better not to force a non-opportunity or non-barrier to fit into those boxes.

“Opportunities” might include things like: an internship or research opportunity, a particularly amazing teacher you connected with, a special guest lecturer, an educational trip with school or family, a study abroad trip, an educational extracurricular activity, and more.

“Barriers” might include things like: school or family situations that led to grade blips, parts of your personal health or mental health journey, experiences with learning differences, and more.

If something in this list resonated with you or sparked any ideas, then try moving on to the outlining activity. But if you’re still coming up blank, then you might consider choosing another prompt.

Prompt #4 Outlining Activity

The biggest thing to remember when writing this essay is to focus on actions . This fact is important in all UC essays but especially this one. The prompt very specifically asks you to describe the steps you’ve taken to “take advantage of” or “overcome” the experience you’ve decided to write about.

I. Introduction: Introduce the educational opportunity or educational barrier you want to focus on.

II. Middle: Describe the action steps you took to take advantage of the opportunity or work to overcome the barrier.

III. Conclusion: Reflect on how the opportunity or barrier and your response to it has shaped where you’re at today.

UC Prompt #4 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #4 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #4 Final Takeaways

This prompt isn’t for everyone, so don’t try to force it. But if you’ve experienced an impactful opportunity or want to explain some academic challenges you’ve overcome, then it can be a great way to let the admissions committee know. If you write this essay, just be sure that you’re keeping your focus on academics and emphasizing your actions.

UC Prompt #5: General Challenge

I think this is one of the best prompts to answer among the UC essays. Why? Because everyone faces challenges, even if we don't want to admit it.

From my perspective, this prompt can be worth double points. First, you get the opportunity to write a great essay about engaging with a problem. But second, you get to show off the additional maturity it takes to dig deep and admit to a committee of strangers that your life ain't so perfect.

Just remember, remember, remember: your job is not to elicit pity. It’s to show your maturity and resilience in dealing with adversity.

Let’s break down the prompt and talk about how to write it.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

We have another three-parter here. The prompt asks you to do several things:

Describe your most significant challenge

Describe the steps you took to overcome that challenge

Explain how that challenge affected your academic achievement specifically

It's important to keep the wording of the prompt in mind. Notice how the prompt says “the most significant challenge you have faced.” It’s not asking for a day-to-day challenge or, worse, a challenge that’s actually a brag in disguise (”I worked too hard on building my award-winning robot!”).

It’s asking you to be vulnerable in sharing a deeply impactful challenge you’ve faced. And not just any challenge, but one you’ve dealt with enough to try to overcome. This should not be an essay about your ongoing efforts to deal with existential malaise. Your problem should be clearly identifiable, and you should also be able to point out how you have managed it.

Finally, you need to address how the challenge has touched back on your academic performance or experience.

What this prompt is good for: If you've faced any major challenges, this prompt can help share that story with an admissions committee. It’s also a great prompt to answer if you specifically had a big lapse in grades due to something that happened in your life.

Prompt #5 Brainstorming Activity

To make sure you’re hitting all parts of the prompt, consider filling out this chart. If you’ve faced a complex challenge or multiple challenges, you may also find it difficult to distill your experiences into a concrete example. If that’s the case, try being as specific as you can and filling out more than one row on the chart until you find something that you feel most comfortable with.

Prompt #5 Outlining Activity

This essay is one that you may not write in the exact same order as the prompt lists the questions. Since your challenge likely affected your academic achievement before you began taking steps to overcome it, it may make sense to discuss your academic challenges before your action steps.

If that’s the case for you, your outline may look something like this:

I. Introduction: Introduce the challenge and the effect it had on you.

• Describe how the challenge affected your academic achievement specifically.
• Describe the specific steps you took to overcome the challenge and improve your situation.

III. Conclusion: Reflect on what you learned from this experience.

UC Prompt #5 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #5 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #5 Final Takeaways

Don’t feel compelled to share anything you’re not ready to share. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: you do not have to write about trauma to get into college. In fact, writing about challenges that you haven’t begun to heal from can result in essays that miss the mark.

But at the same time, you may find that you want to write about a challenge to explain part of your personal background or transcript. If so, this prompt can be a great opportunity to share your story.

UC Prompt #6: Intellectual Vitality

Calling all nerds! I almost always recommend that my students answer this prompt, and I’ll recommend that you should consider it, too.

Why? If you've been reading closely, you may have noticed by now that many of these prompts come back to academic experience. It's no mystery: the UCs care above all about their academic culture.

This is the only prompt from the list that directly asks you about your academic proclivities. Go for it. Even if you aren't someone who strongly identifies as an academic, you should make an effort to talk about what inspires you in and outside the classroom.

Intellectual vitality can draw admissions officers into your interests and show them why you’re such a great fit for the UCs’ vibrant academic cultures. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to show what a curious student you are.

Here we go—I’ll break down the prompt and give you a few ways to choose the right subject.

6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

After the fairly complicated wording of prompts #4 and #5, this fairly straightforward prompt is a breath of fresh air.

In terms of answering the prompt, you have to do a few simple things:

Think about an academic subject. That means it can’t be just any topic—it needs to be academic and relate to a subject taught in college.

The subject should be one that clearly inspires you.

Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

So your essay should describe an academic interest that inspires you, and you should explain how you have taken your interest and run with it either inside or outside of school.

Part #3 leaves you with a lot of flexibility with the definition of “furthered.” You may interpret “furthered” to mean simply that you learned more about the subject, or it could mean that you took your knowledge and applied it to the real world. You may have advanced your knowledge by taking more classes related to the subject, or you may have taken the initiative to learn things outside of school.

With the prompt broken down, the real challenge comes in picking the right topic and writing about it in an interesting way.

What this prompt is good for: I recommend that everyone writes this essay because it’s a great way to show admissions officers that you are ready to tackle the intellectual challenges of college. The UCs are internationally recognized for their academic rigor, so showing that your intellectual vitality can match that of the schools is important. Additionally, it’s a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate fit for a particular major or general area of study you are interested in.

Prompt #6 Brainstorming Activity

Everyone learns. One of my students answered this prompt by talking about how his economics class helped him get into equities trading. As he learned more about regional markets as part of his trading strategy, he found that he became more engaged in the classroom too.

As long as you can relate your interest to an academic discipline, your options are really limitless.

If you’re applying with a specific major in mind, your academic interest can relate to that subject or not.

The key to choosing a topic, however, is that you have to be able to show concrete steps you took to “further this interest.”

Here’s a chart to help you brainstorm.

Prompt #6 Outlining Activity

I. Introduction: Introduce your academic subject. (Make sure it’s academic .)

II. Middle: Elaborate on how you furthered this interest. Explain whether it was inside or outside (or both) the classroom. Focus on specific details and action steps.

III. Conclusion: Conclude by focusing on how your intellectual vitality has benefited from this journey. You may also look forward to how you want to continue this academic or educational journey in the future.

UC Prompt #6 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #6 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #6 Final Takeaways

You should probably write this essay. It’s one of the best options you can choose because you can’t go wrong in demonstrating academic interest and fit. Just be sure that you focus on an academic topic and write about the concrete steps you took to “further” or advance your understanding of the topic.

UC Prompt #7: Community Betterment

Just as you have flexibility in defining “leadership” in prompt #1, the key to this prompt is to define the concept of "community." Community could refer to any scale of human organization. Your family. Your group of friends. Your graduating year. Your high school. Your town. Your state. The country.

It doesn't matter what level of organization you focus on. What does matter is that you have a compelling action to talk about. How did you improve your community? The change could be a cultural or material one. It could affect a small number of people or an entire city or state.

Before you begin writing, it will be helpful to analyze this deceptively simple prompt.

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

This simple question, only fourteen words, is actually asking you to do quite a bit of work. Let’s break it down.

First, you have to choose a community to focus on.

Next, you have to describe what actions you have taken

And finally, your actions have to be ones that have specifically made your chosen community a better place.

There are millions of ways you could approach this question. But what determines how you approach it is the community you choose.

If you’ve done something world-changing, then this is the place to write about it. But if you haven’t, don’t worry. Even small, local impacts within your family, friend group, or school community can have a deep impact on admissions officers.

What’s important to show is your care for and willingness to engage in your community.

What this prompt is good for: I find this one a bit boring to write, but it’s usually worthwhile. It shows off a great characteristic: altruism. The UC system is looking for students who are outwardly engaged in the problems of today. This prompt can provide an opportunity to align yourself with that value.

Prompt #7 Brainstorming Activity

Since you have lots of options because you’re undoubtedly part of lots of different communities, you may find it helpful to brainstorm what different community options might look like.

Start by writing down all the communities you can think of. Remember that “communities” can be more apparent (home, work, church, athletic, music, city communities) or they can be less apparent (friend groups, a specific classroom, an online community, a community of people with similar interests).

For each community you come up with, brainstorm the impact you’ve had. And if you don’t think you’ve had an impact—think again! Even actions as small as encouraging a member of your Spanish small group to speak aloud can have a huge impact.

Once you’ve determined your impact, think about what actions you took to get there. Be specific and detailed.

Finally, reflect on any relevant lessons you’ve learned.

When your brainstorm is complete, try picking out the community in which you’ve a) had the biggest impact and b) taken the clearest action steps.

Prompt #7 Outlining Activity

Based on what the prompt is asking you to do, a good essay structure may look something like this:

I. Introduction: Introduce the school or other community you’ve chosen to focus on. Describe your specific role in that community.

II. Middle: Explain a) what you understood the problem(s) to be, b) what specific actions you took to address those problems, and c) the ways in which your actions made the community better off.

III. Conclusion: You can reflect more on how or why you made your community better, what it’s like to be in a better community, or what lessons you learned as part of the process.

As always with UC essays, don’t forget to focus on the specifics.

UC Prompt #7 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #7 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #7 Final Takeaways

If you’re having trouble deciding between the prompts, this one is another good bet. It’s likely that you’re part of more communities than you realize. As you write, just be sure that you define the specific community you’re writing about and describe your action steps in detail.

UC Prompt #8: Open Prompt

I don't want to offer a ton of commentary here. I believe that most possible essay topics are covered by the first 7 prompts, and I usually try to steer my students toward those. But on a case-by-case basis, I think prompt #8 can be the right call.

That may be the case especially if you feel like a part of yourself hasn’t been fully represented in the other prompts. Or if you’ve written another essay or supplemental essay that you feel is necessary to understanding your story, then you may also consider this option.

But if not, don’t worry about not answering this prompt. The UC admissions committees explicitly state that all prompts are weighted equally, so you won’t be penalized if you do or don’t choose prompt #8.

If you do feel like it is the right choice for you, then let’s take a look at what it’s asking of you.

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

This prompt lists a few requirements:

“Beyond what has already been shared in your application” implies that whatever you share in this essay should not appear anywhere else in your application.

You also need to choose something that “you believe makes you stand out”

But it can’t just be anything that makes you stand out. You should stand out specifically as “a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California.”

Like other open-ended prompts, you’ll have to make your case for why the essay topic you choose is important. Don’t just plop any ole essay in here and hope that it works. You’ll need to meet each of these expectations to write a good and effective essay answer.

Take another look at the Points of Comprehensive Review if necessary.

What this prompt is good for: If you feel like anything in your application is left unsaid, then this is your chance to say it.

Prompt #8 Brainstorming Activity

Since this prompt is so open-ended, a brainstorming activity probably wouldn’t be very helpful to you. It’s one of those “iykyk” prompts—if you know that you have something else to write about, then you already know that this is the prompt for you.

But as you’re reflecting on your topic choices, remember UC Essay Rule #3: Select Prompts that Balance your Narrative. Whatever you include here should be a piece of information that is essential to balancing out your application narrative.

Prompt #8 Outlining Activity

You have a similar kind of flexibility with how you structure your essay, as long as you’re adhering to each of the three parts of the prompt.

With those components in mind, your essay may look something like this:

Introduction: Introduce your topic in a way that makes the topic clear.

Middle: Describe any action steps you took in a way that makes it clear a) why this topic makes you stand out and b) why this topic makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the UCs.

Conclusion: Conclude by driving home why this topic is important to your story.

UC Prompt #8 Example Essay

You can find an example essay for UC Prompt #8 on our UC Example Essays post.

UC Prompt #8 Final Takeaways

If four of the other seven prompts work well with your story, then you might just want to skip past this one. But if you feel like there’s really something else you need to say, then just make sure you’re meeting all the requirements of this open-ended prompt.

Final Thoughts

The UC essays are exercises in precision, strategy, and honesty.

You need to understand your own strengths and weaknesses as an applicant, then carefully pick the prompts that support those. Then, you need to write clearly and directly, telling four stories that help the committee get to know you.

It's really hard. But doable, I promise. Hopefully this guide has been helpful! If so, check out our other college essay guides and the Essay Academy course for guidance on your other college essays. Until then. 👋

Liked that? Try this next.

"the only actually useful chance calculator i’ve seen—plus a crash course on the application review process.".

Irena Smith, Former Stanford Admissions Officer

We built the best admissions chancer in the world . How is it the best? It draws from our experience in top-10 admissions offices to show you how selective admissions actually works.

First-year requirements

• Subject requirement (A-G)
• GPA requirement
• Admission by exception
• English language proficiency
• UC graduation requirements

Additional information for

• California residents
• Out-of-state students
• Home-schooled students

Transfer requirements

• Understanding UC transfer
• Preparing to transfer
• UC transfer programs
• Transfer planning tools

International applicants

• Applying for admission
• English language proficiency (TOEFL/IELTS)
• Passports & visas
• Living accommodations
• Health care & insurance

AP & Exam credits

Applying as a first year

• Filling out the application
• Dates & deadlines

Personal insight questions

• How applications are reviewed
• After you apply

Applying as a transfer

Types of aid

• Grants & scholarships
• Jobs & work-study
• California DREAM Loan Program
• Middle Class Scholarship Program
• Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan
• Native American Opportunity Plan  
• Who can get financial aid
• How aid works
• Estimate your aid

Apply for financial aid

• Tuition & cost of attendance
• Glossary & resources
• Santa Barbara
• Campus program & support services
• Check majors
• Freshman admit data
• Transfer admit data
• Native American Opportunity Plan
• Apply for aid
• You will have 8 questions to choose from. You must respond to only 4 of the 8 questions.
• Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.
• Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you. However, you should select questions that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.

Keep in mind

• All questions are equal. All are given equal consideration in the application review process, which means there is no advantage or disadvantage to choosing certain questions over others.
• There is no right or wrong way to answer these questions. It’s about getting to know your personality, background, interests and achievements in your own unique voice.  
• Use the additional comments field if there are issues you'd like to address that you didn't have the opportunity to discuss elsewhere on the application. This shouldn't be an essay, but rather a place to note unusual circumstances or anything that might be unclear in other parts of the application. 

Questions & guidance

Remember, the personal insight questions are just that—personal. Which means you should use our guidance for each question just as a suggestion in case you need help. The important thing is expressing who you are, what matters to you and what you want to share with UC. 

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn't necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family? 2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career? 3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? Things to consider: If there is a talent or skill that you're proud of, this is the time to share it.You don't necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?

Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule? 4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced. Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that's geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you; just to name a few.

If you choose to write about educational barriers you've faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who you are today? 5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement? Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you've faced and what you've learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you're currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family? 6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. Things to consider:  Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can't get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community? 8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California? Things to consider:  If there's anything you want us to know about you but didn't find a question or place in the application to tell us, now's your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

From your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for UC? Don't be afraid to brag a little.

Writing tips

Start early..

Give yourself plenty of time for preparation, careful composition and revisions.

Write persuasively.

Making a list of accomplishments, activities, awards or work will lessen the impact of your words. Expand on a topic by using specific, concrete examples to support the points you want to make.

Use “I” statements.

Talk about yourself so that we can get to know your personality, talents, accomplishments and potential for success on a UC campus. Use “I” and “my” statements in your responses.

Proofread and edit.

Although you will not be evaluated on grammar, spelling or sentence structure, you should proofread your work and make sure your writing is clear. Grammatical and spelling errors can be distracting to the reader and get in the way of what you’re trying to communicate.

Solicit feedback.

Your answers should reflect your own ideas and be written by you alone, but others — family, teachers and friends can offer valuable suggestions. Ask advice of whomever you like, but do not plagiarize from sources in print or online and do not use anyone's words, published or unpublished, but your own.

Copy and paste.

Once you are satisfied with your answers, save them in plain text (ASCII) and paste them into the space provided in the application. Proofread once more to make sure no odd characters or line breaks have appeared.

This is one of many pieces of information we consider in reviewing your application. Your responses can only add value to the application. An admission decision will not be based on this section alone.

Need more help?

Download our worksheets:

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How to Write an Impressive UC Activities List

A comprehensive guide to filling out each uc activities category, plus sample entries.

Part 1: Overview of the UC application Activities & Awards section

Part 2: uc application extracurricular activities examples, part 3: steps to create impressive uc activities & awards entries, part 4: faq.

If your child is applying to any University of California (UC) campus, they’ll need to complete the UC Activities & Awards section. The UC application essays invite students to authentically express themselves and showcase their writing abilities in four “personal insight” prompts. The Activities & Awards section, the other key component of the application, asks students to provide a comprehensive, detailed list of the experiences they’ve had outside the classroom.

Since the UC Activities & Awards section is periodically updated, this guide covers the most current version. As of May 2024, students may include up to 20 activities and write up to 600 characters of description for each entry, depending on the category they have selected.

Why is the UC Activities & Awards section important?

Selective colleges and universities, including the UC schools, want to admit students who have specialized in extracurricular pursuits and distinguished themselves among their peers. The UC Activities & Awards section helps admission officers measure the depth and breadth of activities a student has taken on and assess how a student would contribute to the culture, diversity, and community of a UC campus. It’s as important as the essays.

The UC application encourages students to include activities which show “commitment, responsibility, leadership, and most of all, genuine interest.” In this guide, we’ll unpack and explain the UC Activities & Awards section, and give concrete, specific advice, plus examples and strategies, to help your child maximize their chances of getting accepted to a UC school.

UC Activities & Awards section vs. Common App Activities section: Key differences

Simply put, the UC Activities & Awards section is longer. That’s why your child should complete the UC Activities & Awards section first, since they can then pick and choose which activities to include in the Common App Activities section .

Part 2: UC Application extracurricular activities examples

The UC Activities & Awards section allows for 20 entries across 6 categories. There are no limits on how many activities students may enter per category. Although we encourage students to enter activities for all 6 categories, it is normal for some categories (such as Awards or Honors and Extracurricular Activities) to have more entries than others. Further, the UC application specifically advises that students shouldn’t try to fill up all 20 entries just for the sake of having lots of activities. Adcoms at UC schools will value quality over quantity, and students should choose to write about activities that “demonstrate commitment, responsibility, leadership, and (….) genuine interest.” Each category will contain fields in which your child can input the following information:

The name of the activity/program/award

When they participated in the activity (i.e., during which grade)

The number of hours spent on the activity per week and the number of weeks spent per year (not asked of Awards or Honors)

A description of the activity and the student’s responsibilities/achievements, limited to a 250-character response and/or a 350-character response, depending on the category (see examples below for the character allowances for each category). Writing in complete sentences is not necessary, and abbreviations may also be used, as long as there’s no chance a reader would need to look up their meaning. It’s helpful to think of these descriptions as more similar to a resume description than an essay.

Note that since grade level and time spent are given their own fields, your child doesn’t need to waste precious description characters in order to convey this information. Instead, they can focus on describing what they learned and accomplished.

What if my child didn’t participate in a large number of activities?

Students come from different walks of life, which naturally present different circumstances and opportunities. Some students will have more time and opportunities than they know what to do with. Others will know exactly what they’d do if they had the time, but they seldom seem to find the chance to engage in those activities. Thankfully, UC application readers are very aware of this fact and won’t hold your student’s lack of opportunity against them. Students who did not have the time or opportunity to participate in many extracurricular activities should explain why that was the case. They should also share how they spent their time and explain how they made the most of the opportunities available to them. Application readers realize that the high school years are a formative period and that students are gaining valuable life experiences during that time—even if they were unable to engage in a wide selection of extracurricular activities along the way.

Let’s break down each category and consider some excellent examples of student entries.

Awards or Honors

UC’s Definition : Any awards and honors you've received that mean the most to you.

Our advice: The higher the level of competition, the more impressive the award. We recommend starting with national- and state- level awards, and then working down. School-specific awards are usually the least impressive. Your child will be able to select an award’s level of recognition (e.g. school, state, national, etc.) and whether it’s academic or non-academic in nature.

In this category, your child will be given an additional 250-character field to describe their award’s eligibility requirements. This is where they’ll offer context such as how recipients are chosen and how many other students earned and competed for the award. They might also note how often students at their school earn the award. Then, in the 350-character description box, they should detail what they did to earn the award, including how much time and effort they invested.

Student example: Let’s examine a real student, who we’ll call Kurt, to see how he ranked his awards and added helpful contextualizing details, such as the competitiveness/prestige of the award and how other students at his school performed.        

Award #1:  U.S. Presidential Scholar What are the eligibility requirements for this award or honor?  1 of 161 students recognized by a presidentially-appointed committee as one of the nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors. Only 2 students selected from my state, of 150+ eligible. First student chosen from my school in 40 years. (249 characters of 250 allowed) What did you do to achieve this award or honor? I was invited on the basis of my high SAT scores. I spent 20+ hours preparing application materials, including multiple essays and self-assessments. Once chosen, I traveled to Washington, D.C. for a weekend award presentation and national summit for all recipients. (264 characters of 350 allowed)

Award #2:  National AP Scholar What are the eligibility requirements for this award or honor?  Granted to students in the US whose average AP Exams score is 4 or higher, and who score 4 or higher on 8+ individual exams. Approximately 39,000 students nationally earned award in same year. I’m the first National AP Scholar ever from my school. (248 characters of 250 allowed) What did you do to achieve this award or honor?   I earned scores of 5 on seven unique AP Exams and 4 on two unique AP Exams. Took online AP French class sophomore year (not offered by my high school) to accelerate progress toward award. (185 characters of 350 allowed)

Award #3:  Two-Time State Debate Champion What are the eligibility requirements for this award or honor?  Won back-to-back state championship titles in Varsity LD Debate in sophomore and junior years, the first student ever from my high school and the fifth ever in my state to do so. (178 characters of 250 allowed) What did you do to achieve this award or honor?  I bested over 30 competitors from more than 20 high schools, committing on average 12 hours each week for four-month seasons to practice and compete. I only had access to hour-long practices, whereas most of my competitors had in-school debate classes and multi-day practices. (275 characters of 350 allowed) 

Educational Preparation Programs

UC’s Definition: Any programs or activities that have enriched your child’s academic experiences or helped them prepare for college. Examples include programs such as Upward Bound and Gear Up. The UC application includes a drop-down menu of common programs.

Our advice: Many successful applicants never participated in one of these programs, so there’s no need to worry if your child leaves this category blank. This section allows your child to briefly describe the program and their experience, and to highlight the college-ready skills they developed. Any contribution your child made that went above and beyond their program’s requirements deserves mention.

Student example: Here’s an example from a student called Esmeralda. Notice how Esmeralda doesn’t just describe what she did as part of Upward Bound, but also highlights how she sought responsibilities and leadership experiences.

Program #1: Upward Bound Briefly describe the program. Attended at Cal State Fullerton, including 18 Saturday leadership development seminars & 90+ hours of academic advising, study skills workshops, and scholarly habits clinics. Expanded college prep programming for fellow high schoolers by collaborating with CSF students to create & deliver 2 workshops about college residential life and financial aid. (350 characters of 350 allowed)

Extracurricular Activities

UC’s Definition: Hobbies, clubs, sports, or any other activities not mentioned elsewhere in your application

Our advice: For many students, this will be the biggest section, as it’s a very broad category. It’s not uncommon for this category to take up over 25 percent (5 out of 20) of the available entries. 

Your child should lead with the activities they’re most passionate about (and those should naturally be activities they’ve invested the most time in). In describing activities, your child should highlight any leadership roles, what they learned and accomplished, and any major growth milestones, especially if they’ve done the activity for all four years of high school. 

Student example: Here’s how Shayla handled her extracurriculars. Notice how Shayla not only quantifies her level of commitment, but also describes leadership experiences she held and how she helped her team/group to succeed.

Extracurricular #1:  Swim Team, Captain What did you do?  I was elected by 50 teammates as Captain in junior and senior year. I competed in all strokes and types of events, but eventually specialized in sprints and sprint relays. I founded a new peer-to-peer mentoring program, pairing up freshman swimmers with junior and senior mentors to support transitions to high school. (318 characters of 350 allowed)

Extracurricular #2 : Jazz Band, Lead Tenor Saxophone What did you do?  I was the lead tenor saxophonist for my school’s jazz band. Of weekly rehearsal time, 6+ hours were spent on independent practice. I performed at regional jazz festivals and helped the band win the highest ratings in junior and senior year. I performed 14 solos, the most of any member in a group of 18. (301 characters of 350 allowed)

What’s the best way to choose the order for listing activities?

When determining the order to list items in the Activities and Awards section of the UC application, your child will want to start by thinking about which items are the most impressive, and which items best represent who your child is. For example, your child may have held a leadership position in a school club (we’ll call that “Activity A”). If that club is something they only participated in for one year way back in ninth grade, then Activity A isn’t truly representative of your child and their interests. On the other hand, they may have held a secondary position in a club they were involved in for all four years (“Activity B”). Since Activity B better demonstrates their interests and the active role they played in the club, it would be advantageous to start with Activity B.

Other Coursework

UC’s Definition: These are academic courses other than those in the UC’s required A-G subject areas . Courses in philosophy, religion, business, and other subjects often fall into this category. 

Our advice: Your child should include any non A-G courses that are directly relevant to and aligned with their interests, goals, or motivations for applying to the UC system.

If your child was involved in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), for example, they should include any courses they took related to business, as it reflects a deeper commitment to their interests.

In the description section, your child should note where they took the course and describe in detail what they studied (e.g. the major units and themes of the course; books read; skills learned) and what they produced and accomplished. Your child can quantify accomplishments by noting grades, but qualitative accomplishments are important and helpful, too. If their teacher praised their capstone or other major project, your child should consider adding a quotation or a callback to that moment.

Student example : This is an example from a student, Anish. Notice how Anish uses active verbs in his descriptions, describes his courses in specific detail, and quantifies his accomplishments.

Course #1:  Moral Philosophy Briefly describe the course.  Semester-long seminar at my school. Read, analyzed, discussed foundational works in field, including Kant, Bentham, Mill & Locke. Only freshman in class. Earned A (top 25%); completed 10-pg. capstone project on deontology & utilitarianism with focus on applications to education policy. Teacher noted, “One of the most original papers I’ve ever read.” (350 characters of 350 allowed)

Volunteering/Community Service

UC’s Definition: Activities you’ve donated time and effort to without getting paid. Tutoring, volunteering at food banks/soup kitchens, and fundraising for charity are common examples. Unpaid internships also go in this category.

Our advice: Many students have long records of community service involvement, so we advise prioritizing activities based on three criteria:

The level/duration of commitment made

The depth of impact

The level of leadership/responsibility taken on. Your child may have plenty of leadership experience and responsibility to write about here, even if they didn’t hold an official leadership role.

Impressive community service activities involve multiple years of commitment, and measurable, tangible impacts on the community, beyond simply the number of hours volunteered.

In this category, your child will be given an extra 250-character field to describe the organization that they worked with. Then, in the description field, they should note what they experienced, learned, and accomplished, as well as any leadership role or major project, initiative, or fundraiser they organized.

Student example: This is a successful student, who we’ll call Harry. Notice how Harry emphasizes his leadership and ties it to a quantifiable impact.

Organization #1:  Food for Thought Food Bank Please describe the organization, program, school, or group:  Food for Thought Food Bank works to end hunger in the greater Fresno area, providing needy families with free food and knowledge on low-cost, healthy eating. (157 characters of 250 allowed) What did you do? Stocked & inventoried food bank shelves, assisted in distributing items to customers, solicited donations every holiday season. As Student Coordinator, recruited 10 students from high school to assist at food bank, providing an additional 200 volunteer hours. Spearheaded project to include gluten-free items, which over 30 customers regularly used. (349 characters of 350 allowed)

Work Experience

UC’s Definition: Any paid job or internship that your child held for a significant amount of time (i.e., getting paid once to babysit the neighbor’s kids probably isn’t worth mentioning here). Remember that unpaid internships fall under the Volunteering/Community Service category.

Our advice: Not every student will have had a paid job or internship in high school. Summer jobs or part-time jobs after school or on weekends are usually worth including, especially if they help strengthen a student’s personal brand (e.g. if your child is interested in a teaching/education career, a summer job working as a camp counselor or daycare employee would reinforce their passion). However, even work experience that’s seemingly unrelated to your child’s academic or professional interests is likely worth including, as it can go a long way to demonstrate responsibility, maturity, interpersonal skills, and other key qualities that colleges seek in an applicant.

In this category, work experience is broken down into two components: a 250-character company description and a 350-character description of your child’s job responsibilities.

The company description should be matter-of-fact: the industry, the mission of the company, products/services built, size of the company/geographical presence, etc. The job responsibilities section should be highly personalized and tailored to showcase your child’s specific, measurable accomplishments and contributions.

Student example: Here’s how one student, who we will refer to as Claire, effectively described her summer job working as a theater technician. Claire’s description not only conveys the essentials facts and responsibilities of her role, but also spells out how she contributed to the theater’s success.

Workplace #1:  The Shubert Theatre Please briefly describe the company or organization where you worked. Public performance venue in New Haven, CT serving over 130,000 residents. Founded in 1914, the Shubert has hosted over 600 pre-Broadway caliber shows. The Shubert has featured many premier actors, including Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, & James Earl Jones. (250 characters of 250 allowed) Job title:  Technical Intern, Lighting & Sound What were your job responsibilities? 10-week internship under supervision of Technical Director, working on lighting & sound for full-length, multi-day performances of “Motown the Musical” & “War on the Catwalk.” Despite being youngest member of 16-person crew, I designed & executed lighting & audio for 3 scenes for live performances to audiences of 1400. Local paper rated shows 5/5. (350 characters of 350 allowed) 

Looking for UC Personal Insight Question examples? Subscribe below to gain instant access to 50 full-length example essays covering each prompt, plus an in-depth analysis of each essay to learn what UC admissions committees are looking for.

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Phase 1: Pre-write

Create a Microsoft Word Document, Google Doc, or other easy-to-use file to draft everything. Your child shouldn’t write their responses from scratch in the actual UC application portal—they don’t want to risk losing their work if the webpage crashes or closes. Additionally, they need to see their activities written out neatly in one place so they can easily visualize how to rank and organize everything.

Phase 2: Draft

Your child should start by writing down as many activities and details as possible for each section. Your child needn’t worry about writing down insignificant or inconsequential activities/details at this step, as they’ll analyze everything later and decide what should go on their final list.

Full sentences aren’t necessary—it’s fine to use fragments, phrases, and abbreviations to a reasonable degree (“with” is preferable to “w/,” for instance, but your child shouldn’t waste space spelling out “National Honor Society” in the activity description when they can say “NHS”).

Additionally, your child should still follow grammatical conventions, aside from use of fragments (which are acceptable in this section). For instance, don’t let them make spelling errors or forget about comma rules or splices.

Phase 3: Analyze and rank 

Once your child brainstorms all possible activities that they could include, it’s time to identify which are the most impressive and reflective of who they are. They should focus on evaluating each item against a few different criteria:

Does this activity represent who I am and what stands out about me?

For how long was I involved with this activity, and how much time did I invest in it?

Compared to other people who did this activity, how much did I accomplish? (Or how impressive/prestigious is this award, based on its level of competition?)

To what extent was I a leader in this activity, and how many measurable outcomes and accomplishments do I have to show for it?

Phase 4: Sharpen and polish

Once your child has a list of 20 or fewer items and has evaluated each item for impressiveness and authenticity, it’s time to dig into the descriptions.

Does each description include key details, like leadership positions and measurable/quantifiable accomplishments?

Does each description include contextualization to show how your child stands out compared to their peers?

Does each description include precise action verbs that make it clear to the reader exactly what your child did?

Is each description below the character limit and also free of extraneous, irrelevant information?

Phase 5: Ask for edits and feedback

Since the UC Activities & Awards section can make or break your child’s chances of getting in, your child should consult with a teacher or trusted advisor. External readers can help catch errors and flag unclear language.

Phase 6: Incorporate edits and feedback

Based on feedback, your child should incorporate edits and make any necessary revisions. Make sure to leave time for this and to avoid submitting the Activities & Awards section at the last minute.

Phase 7: Finalize and submit

Your child should use the UC application portal to copy and paste information into the appropriate places. All of the hard work is done, so now it’s just about assembling the finished product. Always double-check everything before clicking submit! 

What’s the best strategy for developing written descriptions for each activity?

Each activity category has its own requirements and strategies that will work for coming up with unique descriptions. For example, with Educational Preparation Programs, the descriptions will be pretty straightforward; they only require a brief description of what the program entailed and its main focus and impact it had on your child. However, if they have an Extracurricular Activity item to list, they’ll want to cover their experience and what they accomplished, but they’ll also do well to elaborate on the type of role they held, what they learned from the experience, where they see this activity taking them in the future, and the impact it had on them as an individual. Regardless of the category, it’s always going to be important to share how the activity affected your child as a person and the ways they expect it to impact their future.

Do I need to fill all 20 UC activities?

Answer: We don’t recommend listing 20 activities just because you have the space to do so. It’s most important that your activities are meaningful and relevant to your child. If you’re thinking of adding an activity that doesn’t clearly fit within that description, it’s best not to include it.

How many UC activities should I have?

Answer: There’s no hard and fast rule about the exact number of activities you need. While you can include up to 20, you should prioritize those activities that are meaningful to who you are. It’s better to list 12 activities with substantial relevance rather than add 8 more just to fill up space.

Do hobbies count as extracurricular?

Answer: Absolutely! Anything you are actively engaged in and that contributes to the complete picture of you can be considered an extracurricular activity. However, you need to think about how UC admissions officers will view a hobby. It should be something you do regularly that shows curiosity or initiative.  

Does it matter what order you put UC activities in?

Answer: Admissions officers read hundreds of applications and likely won’t closely scrutinize all of your activities. We recommend putting your most impressive activities near the top—especially ones that showcase your leadership abilities or that had a significant influence on the people involved.

Will my extracurricular activities be verified?  

Answer: UC will randomly choose applicants to verify elements of their application. If you are selected, you will be given instructions on what they will accept. They will want to verify any extracurricular activities you included on your application. Suitable documentation can be things such as a letter from a teacher or coach, transcripts, certificates, or awards. That said, your child shouldn’t worry too much about calculating the exact number of hours they dedicated toward each activity listed in their application. As long as their calculations aren’t vastly exaggerated, the numbers won’t raise any eyebrows.

How many years of activities should I list?

Answer: There’s no exact time frame you should pick activities from. Again, you should choose activities that showcase an interest or leadership ability. However, don’t reach back earlier than your high school years to find an activity that you think will impress an adcom (unless it’s something you began when you were younger and continued into high school).

My activities are hard to explain within the character limits. Will I ever have a chance to elaborate?

Answer: Many students complain of the difficulties of showing how well-rounded they are within such a short character count. Remember that your ability to follow instructions is something that can make or break your application. 

During the interview stage, you are likely to have a chance to elaborate on your activities, as adcoms will ask you about them at this time. Be concise in your written descriptions. You will have time to provide more context and detail later.

About the Author

Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on college admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into top programs like Harvard, Stanford, and MIT using his exclusive approach.

THERE'S NO REASON TO STRUGGLE THROUGH THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS ALONE, ESPECIALLY WITH SO MUCH ON THE LINE. SCHEDULE YOUR COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION TO ENSURE YOU LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE.

Tips to Write Great UC Transfer Application Essays

The University of California (UC) system, the most prestigious public education institution in the world, attracts tens of thousands of freshmen and transfer applicants each year. The freshmen admission is highly competitive across UC campuses, particularly at UC Berkeley and UCLA. For example, UCLA alone received more than 110,000 freshmen applications in 2018 who competed for roughly 15,000 seats.

Although many local residents have chosen the UC transfer route for financial reasons, we want to highlight that for many students who didn’t fair well academically in high school, the UC transfer route is a more viable and efficient pathway to receiving a UC degree. The transfer admission rates in recent years at UC Berkeley and UCLA have ranged between 20 to 25%, which are much higher than their respective freshmen admission rate.

Beginning last fall, UC and the California Community College system began an agreement to expedite the often convoluted transfer process. The agreement builds on a 2015 program that created "transfer pathways," listing which classes community college students should take to qualify for enrollment in 21 of the most popular majors on UC campuses, such as chemistry, English, mathematics and film.

Students who complete the curricula for their desired major, as designed by the agreement, and meet the minimum GPA requirement will be guaranteed admission into the UC system. If students are not admitted to their number one campus, the system will instead place them at another campus that has space in the chosen major.

What are Personal Insight Questions? And why do they matter?

So you have followed the transfer pathway at your local community college, and you have managed to achieve a decent GPA. How can your application stand out? The answer is simple: your application essays or, in the UC application term, your answers to the Personal Insight Questions.

“These questions are about getting to know you better — your life experience, interests, ambitions and inspirations. Think of it as your interview with the admissions office. Be open. Be reflective. Find your individual voice and express it. While this section of the application is just one part we consider when making our admission decision, it helps provide context for the rest of your application.”

In other words, your essays are the only way to add character to an otherwise punctuated list of accomplishments. Essays are your best shot at demonstrating personality, explaining how you perceive the world, and describing your most compelling motives. These ideas tend to get lost in a general transcript. The essay is a looking glass into the greater “why” of your candidacy.

The requirements of Personal Insight Questions for transfer applicants are as follows:

One required question you must answer.

You will also need to answer 3 out of 7 additional questions. All of these 7 questions are equal and are given equal consideration in the application review process. There is no advantage or disadvantage to choosing certain questions over others.

Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.

The Required Personal Insight Question:

Please describe how you have prepared for your intended major, including your readiness to succeed in your upper-division courses once you enroll at the university..

Different from freshmen applicants who can choose “undecided” when it comes to a college major, transfer applicants have to declare the major(s) they are interested in pursuing. Consider the following when brainstorming ideas:

How did your interest in your major develop? What classroom learning experiences (such as working with faculty or doing research projects), and/or experiences from outside (such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student or community organizations) have helped shape your interest?

What other influences (culture, community, family, etc.) have steered you toward this major?

How is your intended major tied to your long-term goals?

If you are applying to multiple campuses with a different major at each campus, you need to approach this question from a broader perspective.

The key here is to demonstrate that you are ready—academically, intellectually, and psychologically—to succeed in the upper-division courses for the declared major once you enroll at the university. Further, since you are applying as a transfer student who is considered more mature than a high school senior, it is important to discuss how continuing the study of this intended major at a four-year college helps you pursue your career and life goals.

Additional Questions (Choose 3 of 7)

1. describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time..

This prompt is explicitly for describing your leadership experience in more detail than the “president” or “team leader” title on your CV or resume. College admissions officers are looking for ways in which you fostered mentorship, resolved tension, and organized group effort in the environment surrounding you, e.g., school clubs or teams, community events. You want to draw upon strong examples in which you made a positive impact on others. Remember: Leadership roles are not limited to titled positions or to the school environment.

Example 1: You reinvigorated interest in a club that had initially been losing members.

Example 2: You inspired a friend or classmate to take a leadership role.

Example 3: You organized community events to help promote a cause you deeply care about.

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

This prompt lends flexibility to how you applied creativity to academic fields, extracurricular endeavors, and beyond. If you are artistic (e.g., painter, illustrator, poet, photographer, etc.), you can certainly write about being creative in your artwork. But don’t be discouraged by this prompt if you are not in such traditionally “creative” roles . The prompt’s emphasis is strongest on problem-solving and innovative thinking. Maybe you created your own program to help organize information, or maybe you created a rack to help hold your sports equipment. The opportunities here are broad.

Example 1: There was a leak in your home toilet that your parents were about to call a plumber to fix, but you figured it out.

Example 2: You figured out an alternate solution to an academic problem in class that differed from your teacher’s.

Example 3: You grew up in more than one culture and were adept at blending multicultural elements in your artwork.

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Don’t make the mistake of simply listing the skills or talents you’ve developed. The real trick to writing a great response to this prompt is by tying character and personality traits to the activity. Describing your specific traits (e.g. tenacity, humility, grit, and compassion) that helped you hone your talents is just as important as the skills or talents themselves. Elaborate on why this activity is worth it to you, and how your character is exhibited through this activity. You also want to address how you have cultivated this talent to display just how much work it took to get to where you are.

Example 1: How a character trait of yours made acquiring a skill possible.

Example 2: How developing a talent revealed a part of your personality that you didn’t recognize prior to practice.

Example 3: How developing certain skills helped you strengthen your character.

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

This prompt contains two different but related topics: a significant educational opportunity or an educational barrier. You can write about either topic, or address both if they are related in your case. Try not to get bogged down in what an “educational opportunity” is. Define an educational opportunity as anything that has added value to your educational experience and has better prepared you for college. It can be more recent, something you did while attending community college. For example, if you have taken several advanced online classes related to your major, this would be a great place to share why you did it and what you have learned.

If you choose to go down the educational barriers route, think of barriers broadly. It can be academic (e.g., dealing with a weak academic subject), cognitive (e.g., a learning disability), socio-economic (e.g., if accepted, you would be the first person in your family going to college), or cultural (e.g., being a recent immigrant to the U.S. adapting to the new living and learning environment). Then, more importantly, what personal characteristics or skills did you rely on to overcome this barrier? How has the process shaped you as a person? How do you plan to use what you have gained in the future?

Example 1: Describe a situation where you went above and beyond an assignment’s requirement in order to enrich yourself.

Example 2: Describe how you have managed to deal with a weak academic subject and become a better learner as a result.

Example 3: Describe how you have managed to overcome a learning disability and how the process has changed the way you view academic success.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

This prompt has two parts: the most significant challenge and its effect on your academic achievement. The word “challenge” can apply to a very broad range of events. Maybe you struggled in a certain course. Maybe you had to deal with health issues, family issues, or financial struggles while simultaneously completing your coursework. It is OK to use this prompt to explain why you may have done sub-par in a particular area of your academics. Or perhaps, your UC application back as a high school senior was unexpectedly rejected; you learned to accept the rejection and have been working tirelessly for the transfer. Whatever topic you choose, you want to describe the learning and growth that you experienced was involved. Be sure to share the ways or aspects in which you matured along the way. What’s most interesting to college admissions officers is “what changed due to this challenge?”

Just like our “educational opportunity” definition given for the previous prompt, “academic achievement” goes far beyond your GPA. It could mean your intellectual goals or your struggle to balance homework with your part-time job. We recommend thinking of the challenge first before deciding whether it could be weaved into something academic.

Example 1: Describe working a part-time job while trying to deal with your rigorous academic workload.

Example 2: Describe how prejudice or stereotype in your community or a specific field may have held you back from pursuing an interest but didn’t.

Example 3: Describe how a certain peer pressure from your school and/or family has changed you and affected you academically, and the steps you have taken to overcome it.

6. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Similar to previous prompts, the definition of “community” should not by stymied. Your community includes your school, the community college you are attending, maybe a local park, or maybe your city’s library. Community could also be more abstract, like the culture or ethnicity you identify with. With this in mind, remember that your writing must illustrate your role in the community you have defined. Why do you identify with this community the most? Questions like these should lead you to demonstrate the positive influence you have made. It’s important that you stay genuine. Do not overstate your impact. Remember the metaphor of the butterfly’s wings: small change is still change.

Example 1: Describe a volunteer position or project that really made you feel like a member of your community.

Example 2: Use metrics to define your impact on your community.

Example 3: Describe how you assisted a teacher in the class and helped enhance the learning experience of others.

7. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admission to the University of California?

This is the most open-ended prompt. You can literally write about most anything. If you want to get creative with your writing, this is where to do it. This isn’t the best prompt to talk about academic achievement or community service, as there are better prompts for those topics. What you write for this prompt should also not be repetitive of the other three prompts you have chosen. Instead, use this prompt to write an aspect of you that the admissions officer would never know based on other parts of your application. This is your wildcard. Use this prompt to be as creative as you can while not being too outlandish. Here are some examples from our students who did well with this prompt:

Example 1: An excerpt of a novel you were writing.

Example 2: How a religious belief has influenced you.

Example 3: A hobby or personal interest that hasn’t been shown on any other part of your application, but is an important part of who you are.

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How to Write the “Greatest Talent or Skill” UC Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Vinay Bhaskara in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Avoid re-stating your resume, how to choose your talent or skill, look for unconventional uses of your skill, how to structure this essay, notice overlaps with other essays.

The third University of California personal insight question asks students to respond to the following prompt: 

“What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? (350 words)”  

For this question, your response is limited to a maximum of 350 words. In this article, we will discuss how to avoid the most common pitfall, choosing a topic that makes your essay stand out, and structural considerations. 

For more information on University of California’s other supplemental essays and writing dos and don’ts, check out our posts on how to write University of California essays and on great University of California essay examples . 

The most common pitfall for the third University of California (UC) personal insight question (PIQ) is that students just restate their resumes rather than discussing why the activity matters and how it has impacted them. This also commonly happens in PIQ # 1, the “leadership” essay, but PIQ #3 is by far the most notorious for this mistake.

Students will often provide a list of things they did in a particular activity like they would on a resume, but, unfortunately, this can make for an incredibly boring college essay. The good news is that there are several strategies that students can use to write a strong response to this prompt that strengthens their admission prospects.

One way to write a unique and engaging response to this prompt is by choosing to focus on an intangible talent or skill. 

Typically, when people think of talents, they think of things they are good at like math, debate, journalism, writing, or even something sports related like jumping – all of which are tangible hard skills. But intangible soft skills, such as interpersonal skills, can make for strong essays particularly because they are not one of the expected, common responses.

Admissions Officers frequently see essays centered around skills like science, research, or coding. In contrast, essays about intangible skills, like resolving conflict or persevering in the face of challenges, provide students the opportunity to write an unexpected and interesting response, as well as a more deeply personal essay that highlights success strategies that boost a students performance.

Highlight Your “Spike”

This essay is a great chance to highlight your “spike” , or a specific field or domain that you are passionate about and skilled in. Students with spikes are seen as the individuals who will be leaders in their fields, demonstrating and deepening their talents and interest in their spike throughout their academic career. 

When doing this, it’s important to explore why you have built that talent, or that spike, and why you’re passionate about it. What makes this essay strong is not that you have a spike, but instead, why the topic related to your spike is interesting to you and why you enjoy it.

Another potential way to make your essay stand out is by writing about a smaller, unconventional way that you use your skill.  

For example, if research was the talent you chose, you could write about a typical use of that skill, like doing scientific or medical research. Alternatively, you could instead write about an unconventional use of that skill, like leveraging research skills to help a family member navigate the immigration system. 

This can be especially strategic if you already have more conventional examples of that skill on your resume, as this essay can then demonstrate another side of you.

As you structure this essay, it can be helpful to write about one anecdote while weaving in examples of how you built up your talent over time.

Some students choose to write about multiple shorter anecdotes for this PIQ, but this structure often does not work for a 350-word essay. This is because much of the allotted space is used to establish the plot of the multiple anecdotes, leaving not enough room remaining for the most important part: personal reflection.

Using multiple anecdotes can work better for longer essays, like the Common App personal statement which has a word limit of 650 words.

This particular prompt shares similarities with some other college essay prompts, most notably Common App Prompt #1 , “Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

Depending on the schools you are applying to, you may find that you can successfully overlap parts of a UC PIQ #3 response with an essay for Common App Prompt #1, but keep in mind that you will not be able to write both essays identically due to the differences in the prompts and word limits.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, tips for applying to uc berkeley.

I'm really interested in the University of California - Berkeley and would love some advice on the application process. Are there specific things I should focus on to make my application stand out at UC Berkeley?

Absolutely! Applying to UC Berkeley or any other UC school does involve a unique approach since the UC system has its own application platform separate from the Common App or Coalition App.

Firstly, keep in mind that UC Berkeley is test-blind, so SAT/ACT scores will not be considered in the admissions process. So what does UC Berkeley look for then? Academic achievement and passion in particular fields are key.

Berkeley values strong academics, so it's crucial to do well in the most rigorous courses available to you. They're less interested in a 'well-rounded' student than one who is deeply passionate about a few things, what we call a 'spike'. So, focus your activities and achievements around your primary areas of interest.

Arguably the most important part of your UC application are the Personal Insight Questions (PIQs). UC Berkeley doesn't see your Common App essay - they only see these four short essays (350 words each, chosen from 8 prompts), so they're a key part of your application. Remember, each essay is a mini-story, where you're the main character who is changed by the end of the story. You should aim to show personal growth or insights with each story.

Additionally, UC Berkeley, like other UC schools, has a comprehensive review process, which means they consider factors beyond academics and extracurricular activities. These factors might include overcoming personal challenges, achieving in the face of economic struggles, or influencing positive change in your community. If you have experiences in these areas, they can be very valuable to include in the application, especially in the PIQs.

Finally, refer to the robust online resources provided by the university on what they look for in applicants and tips for applying. It can give further insight into how to best present your application.

Remember to apply between October 1st to November 30th during the UC application filing period, and best of luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

How to Write Your UC Activities List

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 1. The Epic List of Activities List Verbs

2. The BEABIES Exercise

3. the values scan.

• 10 Tips for Making Your Activities List Awesome
• Activities List FAQs
• Great UC Activities List Examples

If you’re looking for tips on how to write an awesome activities list for the University of California application system, you’ve come to the right place.

The UC Activities List is the dedicated space on the UC application where you list and briefly describe how you’ve spent all of your time outside of class. In addition to your grades, your test scores, and your responses to the UC Personal Insight Questions, this is your chance to stand out and show how you’ll likely contribute once you’re on the UC campus of your choice.

The UC application will ask you to split your activities list into…

Award or honor

Educational Prep Programs

Extracurricular activity

Other coursework

Volunteer / Community Service

Work experience

You get to list up to 20 for any of these categories.

Why is the UC Activities List so important?

While your Personal Insight Questions show who you are, your activities list shows what you’ve done. Keywords: leadership, responsibility, impact.

The UC Activities List is more comprehensive than the Common App Activities List . Why? Because the UC Activities List gives you up to 20 blanks for inputting your activities and awards, and up to 350 characters of space for describing each activity.

However, the Common App only gives you space for 10 activities (and 150 character descriptions), as well as 5 honors and awards.

Pro Tip: If you’re applying to the UCs and Common App schools, make your UC Activities List first, then choose your top 10 for the Common App and cut down the 350 characters descriptions to 150 characters as needed.

Looking for some amazing examples of Personal Insight Questions? We’ve got you.

While many students simply list their activities in a straightforward manner, I’d like to persuade you to spend a bit more time on this part of the process. Why?

“Extracurricular activities can be a great opportunity to see how an applicant has self-directed their passions and interests,” says Jorge Delgado, Associate Director of International Admissions at Brandeis. “There are only so many hours in the day so seeing how a student has involved themselves outside the academic arena is a great way of understanding their potential fit for a university campus.”

The more competitive the school, the more important how you’ve spent your time outside of class will be.

Why should you spend 30 minutes up-leveling it?

Your activities list can make a big difference in your application. 

Want proof? Compare these two:

Created art and organized club.

Founder, Art Honors Society @ Lincoln High

Organized and ran bi-weekly meetings, set up field trips to the local museum of modern art, brainstormed and created group art activities including world art day and a kaleidoscopic art installation on campus, wrote and sent newsletter to members.

Most students write a pretty good activities list description and then they stop there. But it doesn’t take long to up-level an activities list from pretty good to great .

Here’s how to make it happen.

BUT First, an example description:

Example of a Common App Description (150 characters)

Commission member, Buncombe County Government Discussed issues facing Durham youth, coordinated outreach projects to combat gun violence, provided input on local problems, volunteered regularly. (148 chars)

Example of an expansion for a UC Description (350 characters):

Commission member, Buncombe County Government Promoted efforts to combat gun violence, mental health challenges, and food insecurities. Regularly updated by city officials about the nature of our work. Attended conferences hosted by other city youth councils to build leadership skills and community involvement. Volunteered 60+ hours for Mobile Market, Habitat for Humanity, and Kids Voting. (347 char)

This student does a great job of maximizing the space allowed in the UC application to talk about what they did, what responsibilities they held, and the impact they had in the organization.

Want to learn how to write a great description like that? I’m glad you asked. That’s what we’ll dive into in just a second. But real quick…

UC FInancial Aid Calculator

One last thing before we dive into UC Activities List descriptions: I want to make sure that you know this UC Financial Aid Calculator exists, since paying for college is (obviously) a really important part of the process to consider.

Cool. Let’s dive back in.

Three Tools for Up-Leveling Your UC Activities List

1. the epic list of activities list verbs..

You probably need stronger verbs in your activities list. How do I know? I’ve seen hundreds of Activities Lists and most need stronger verbs.

Compare this somewhat general description by a student who was in the debate club.

Member, Debate Team Debated topics, attended tournaments, researched topics.

Shall we break that down right quick?

Debated topics (um, redundant)

Attended tournaments (we assumed?)

Researched topics (I hope so!)

BTW I am so much nicer and less sarcastic in real life—just employing it here to make a point.

Here’s a much clearer, more interesting, and varied description: 

Member, Rosary High Debate Team I lead research and case writing, mentor younger debate students, organize mock debates, host an annual debate tournament. See Add’l Info for Awards.

FRIENDS, LOOK AT THOSE VERBS: 

“lead” (BOOM)

“mentor” (YES)

“organize” (SIZZLE)

“host” (POP)

That’s what I’m talking about. I’m like, “Oh, now I get what debate looks like to you.” But wait, what makes a verb stronger ? 

A stronger verb… is more specific. 

Example: “taught” is fine, but did you coach, mentor, train, or demystify ?

A stronger verb… often provides more information. 

Example: “organize” is fine, but did you arrange, catalog, compile, or systematize ?

A stronger verb… just sounds better.

A few examples I like: mediate, publicize, administer, or plagiarize (I’m kidding about plagiarize).

I know, some of you are probably wondering: “But Ethan, which verbs should I use?”

COLLEGE ESSAY GUY'S EPIC LIST OF ACTIVITIES LIST VERBS 

Heads up: Using this list for ten minutes will up-level your Activities List verbs, and thereby your descriptions. 

But wait. We’re not done yet. Here’s the second tool for up-leveling your Activities List:

What’s the BEABIES exercise? Simply the B est E xtracurricular A ctivity B rainstorm I ’ve E ver S een.  

It’s great for developing better content for your activities list.

Instructions : Spend 5-8 minutes filling out a BEABIES chart per activity on your list to generate plenty of content for your Activities List descriptions. Use the 25 questions below the chart for ideas.

After a few minutes, your chart may look something like this:

25 Questions to Help You Brainstorm More Content for Your UC Activities List 

What I Did (Day-to-Day): 

Did I list all my tasks, or just a few? What’d I forget? Go back and check. 

Did I list tasks I completed that fell slightly outside the scope of my responsibilities?

Did I leave off any awards? Any uncommon achievements?

Problems I Solved: 

Did I consider the internal problems I solved—any personal challenges?

Did I name the external problems I solved for my friends or family? School? Community?

Was I tackling a much larger (perhaps global) problem?

Lessons I learned & Values/Skills I Developed:

What were some of the soft skills I learned (patience, communication, etc.)?

Did I learn any specific software (Photoshop, Final Cut Pro)? Languages (Spanish, C++)? Survival skills (how to start a fire or clean a fish)?

What am I better at now than I was before?

What would I have done differently?

Impact I Had (On Self, School, Community and/or Society)

Did I consider the impact this had on my family? Friends? School? Who else benefited?

What impact did this have on me personally? Did this change my life/perspective? How?

Applications to Other Parts of School/Life: 

What skills did I develop and lessons did I learn that will make me a better X (tutor, debater, advocate, volunteer, programmer, fill in the blank)? How so?

What did I do to build on and take what I learned to the next level?

What surprised me about this experience?

How might I continue this activity during college and beyond?

FYI: Spend 10-15 minutes filling out a BEABIES chart using these 25 questions and (bonus) you’ll have enough content for pretty much any extracurricular activity essay, too.

Here’s the third tool for up-leveling your Activities List:

The Values Scan is a great way to make sure your core values are apparent throughout your application.  If you haven’t completed the values exercise, you can do that here. It’s an awesome (and quick) way to figure out what your 3-5 core values are.

You’re about to use it to make your Activities List EXPLODE with depth and variety. How? Like this:

Pick one of the UC activities list descriptions you’ve written and ask of it these three questions: 

Which values are clearly being revealed in the description? 

Which values are kind of being revealed, but could probably be revealed more clearly in the description?

Which values are not in the description at all yet, but perhaps could be included?

Take this description as an example, written by a student who was secretary of her Red Cross Club:

Responsible for taking minutes, updating calendar and active member list, communicating with advisors, acting as a liaison to our local chapter.  

Okay, now ask those three questions:

1. Which values is this description clearly revealing?  

I see the author is: 

Organized: “taking minutes” and “updating calendar”

Responsible and collaborative: “communicating with advisors” and “acting as liaison”

Do you see others? Maybe! But this is a good start. Okay, next ask...

2. Which values could be revealed more clearly in the description?

Reading the example above, I’m curious if the author might demonstrate leadership more clearly. She hints at some responsibilities, but I wonder if she could delete “updating calendar and active member list” in favor of a detail more clearly demonstrating leadership skills. 

I might ask the student if she can think of something she did that might demonstrate leadership. (If not, that’s okay! This is a process of asking questions and seeing what variety might be possible. But we’re not in the business of making stuff up—see warning note below.) I’d also wonder if the description could more clearly demonstrate the author’s commitment to health—this is the Red Cross, after all—or perhaps social change. 

Finally, ask: 

3. Which values are not in the description at all yet, but perhaps could be?

To determine the answer for this student, it helps to know the author. I happen to know one of this author’s core values was adaptability . So I asked her: Did working with the Red Cross help you become more adaptable? If so, how? What detail might show this? 

Once you’ve written a new draft, hand your activities and awards list to a trusted editor. They should have your Values Exercise nearby for reference so they can assess how well you’re demonstrating your values. Here’s an example:

Indian Tabla Self-taught via YouTube videos; played drums at community meetings for worker rights awareness; helped my sister become proficient.

I see these values:

Ambition: “Self-taught…”

Social change: “Played drums at community meetings for worker rights awareness”

Family, helping others: “helped sister become more proficient”

See how that works? And you’ll get even more room than this student did, so take your time and rock those values.

Goal: Include 2-3 values per activity. If you can achieve this, just think: your list could demonstrate 20 or 30 values! That’s rad. But don’t drive yourself crazy with this . If your Activities List shows a nice variety of 10 or so values, that’s enough. Really. 

Once you’ve got some great verbs and some great content, here are:

10 Tips for Writing your UC Activities List

You get 350 characters: how do you make the most of them? Here are some tips:

1. State role and organization name in top box (60 characters), so you don’t waste characters in the lower, 350 character box(es).

Instead of:

School newspaper I am the editor for the school newspaper

Editor of International Column, School Newspaper Responsible for brainstorming, revising, and supervising articles by other writers for my column…

2. Trim ruthlessly.

Because the space you’re using is so limited, the words you choose are incredibly important. 

Actually, let me rephrase: Because your space is limited, your word choice is important. 

One more time: Limited space demands precise wording. 

See what I did there? I cut my character count from 92, to 61, to 37, and the information communicated is still just as clear. 

And are you still using complete sentences? If so, stop. No need here.

So instead of:

I raised money to donate to a school in India by selling t-shirts and bracelets.

You might end up with:

Arranged advertising events, organized fundraisers, and presented to student body at assemblies (400+ students).

3. Aim for variety, making sure your verbs aren’t redundant.

Instead of: Instructed, helped, taught children tennis (how are these three different?) Try: Instructed in proper technique, while imparting lessons in sportsmanship, health and integrity.

4. Use the present tense if it’s something you still do (and past tense if you no longer do it.)

Instead of: I gave tour campus tours and provided info on school history, student activities, and boarding life. Try: I give campus tours and provide info on school history, student activities, boarding life.

5. Emphasize tangible, measurable impact. 

Notice for example the “400+ students” inclusion in tip #2 above. This comes as a result of asking questions like “Whom did your activity help? How many people? How much money did you raise?”

Raised money for children in Africa .

Through bake sales and car washes, we raised $3,000 to provide three uniforms and financial aid scholarships for students attending the Joseph Waweru Home School in Kenya: http://www.exop.org/home_school.html

6. If your role was simply “member” or “participant,” it’s okay to just list the activity. 

In other words, instead of writing Participant, MLK Day of Service You can just write MLK Day of Service

7. Include any responsibilities that demonstrate leadership skills.

Instead of: I swim on the swim team . Try: Responsible for leading swim practices, planning fundraising events, assisting in recruiting process .

8. What if there isn’t much to say or it was a one-time event?

Instead of: Tutored students . Try: Provided support to fourth graders with particularly difficult math concepts .

This works because you’ve explained the significance of the activity: why the event mattered (and to whom).

Or you can…

9. Describe selectivity. This is key if the reader might not understand the achievement your activity represents.

Example: 1 of 2 student leaders elected by my peers to represent our class of 450 .

Another example: Received 1st place out of 300 competing teams .

10. Avoid extreme language. 

Instead of: ... to help all those in need (or) to end poverty in the world Try: ... to help those in need (or) ...to fight against global poverty

See how the student in the first example used these tips?

Common Questions about the UC activities list

Q: What if I didn’t do much for the activity and I don’t have much to say? 

A: If you aren't participating in many or any extracurriculars, ask yourself: why? And I’m not assuming you should be, I’m really asking… why? Perhaps a better, less confronting way of asking this is: What values have become more important to you than extracurricular activities? 

Do you have to work or provide childcare for your family, for example? Do you have and enjoy an intense academic load? Has a particular health or life challenge prevented you from getting more involved in extracurricular activities? Or maybe you practice gymnastics eight hours a day?

If so, mention this in your Additional Comments section , as that will help admission officers see your Activities List within the context of your life experiences. 

Q: What if I feel like I haven’t done “enough”?

First, stop comparing! It’ll drive you crazy. Next, some questions to ask:

Have you remembered everything you’ve done? Try sitting down with a parent or friend who can help you remember stuff you might’ve forgotten you did.

How could you explore some things that are important to you, gain some experiences, or learn some new skills in the time left before your application is due? Heads-up: admission officers can usually spot it when a student is loading up activities in 12th grade just to pad their activities lists. That’s not quite what I’m talking about doing. If you have a few months before it’s time to apply, however, ask yourself, “What can I do that I’d enjoy doing?” But if you’ve remembered everything and you’re submitting your application soon...

Focus on what you can control. Use the resources above--the Epic Verbs List, BEABIES and questions, and Values Scan--to describe what you did in a way that’s clear and varied. 

Q: Is it better to have a few really strong activities (less is more) or should I list everything I’ve done (more is more)?

I find counselors are divided into two camps on this: “less is more” and “more is more.” Here’s a quick comparison chart:

When I asked Brian Liechti of Warren Wilson College what he prefers, he said, “It depends! I would rather see meaningful, current activities that also show up elsewhere in an essay or a letter of recommendation. This adds weight and validation to what a student includes as an activity and I know it was a more impactful experience. But uncommon activities can add flair and character, especially if those activities are also represented on campus.” 

In short, the choice is yours.

Q: What if a multi-dimensional activity is impossible to describe in 350 characters?

A: Write a short description in the Activities List, then put additional information into the Additional Comments or Academic History sections. Here’s an example of such an activity:

Creator, AquaVR Researched, brainstormed, created 3 prototypes for virtual reality scuba gear. Recognized statewide. Developing app with Siemens. (See add’l comments.) 

That little note at the end signals the activity’s richness while directing the reader to find out more in the UC Additional Comments section. For more information about how to use the UC Additional Comments and Academic History sections, click here.

Now for some examples. Here are a few great example descriptions to help drum up some inspiration for writing your own activities list:

A few UC Activities List Examples that Work

Educational prep programs.

Yosemite Backpacking Excursion

Learned survival skills and took part in leadership training. Orienteered and rationed food for a 10-day backpacking trip from Half Dome to Glacier Point. Explored ecology of Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep. Coordinated hiking routes and organized base camp cooking, sleeping, and traveling supplies. Rappelled down the Sunnyside Bench Route. (339 characters)

Narrative Writing Workshop

Attended a workshop that focused on narrative writing. Discussed the difference in tone between stories written by O’Connor, Twain, and Chopin. Developed personal portfolio of poetry, short stories, and non-fiction narratives. Peer-edited other participants’ written work. Published a fictional short story in end-of-workshop print journal. (340 characters)

Independent Study

Researched, presented thesis as Interim Semester project on Singapore’s aging population. Created actionable plan to improve living conditions for elderly. Utilized census data to analyze socioeconomic status in relation to population demographics. Designed interactive website cross-referencing average age of inhabitants with poverty rates. (342 characters)

VOLUNTEER & COMMUNITY SERVICE

Intern at Children’s Institute Otis Booth Campus

Please describe the organization, program, school, or group (250 characters):

Works across LA to help impoverished children who are exposed to adversity (emotional abuse, violence, neglect, or other forms of trauma). Serves over 26,000 children every year by providing early education, behavioral health, and family services. (247 characters)

What did you do? (350 characters)

Brainstormed after-school programs to increase creative productivity. Analyzed the interests of local young people. Investigated strategies for promoting academic/extracurricular interest among disaffected youth. Presented data to supervisor and worked with coordinators to implement YouthWorks, an initiative to engage impoverished children in LA. (348 characters)

Member of Civics Committee

A student-led committee devoted to educating 40 9th graders in Cook County to strengthen their productive leadership and civic engagement. Each student works a minimum of 20 hrs/wk to develop strong relationships and instill a desire to give back. (248 characters)

Provided mentorship to 9th graders at Lincoln Park HS. Led discussions about exercising responsible citizenship. Responsible for assigning tutors, coordinating social events, and sending out weekly updates to committee advisors. Organized GirlsGetUp event to promote social, ethical, and political literacy for 300+ middle school girls in Chicago. (347 characters)

Street Soccer Program

Targeted towards 6-18 year olds who make up 33% of impoverished youth. In 10 years, it has positively impacted 15,000+ youth in 14 US cities by improving youth communication, collaboration, self-confidence, and mutual respect. (226 characters)

Advocated for funding a Street Soccer USA program with the County Fair Fundraising Committee. Collaborated with Committee to create programming for children in Chatham County. Coordinated a meet-and-greet lunch with NC Courage to inspire participants. Planned 4 soccer games. Supervised referees, staff, and volunteers from pick-up to drop-off. (344 characters)

American Water Works Association, Volunteer

International nonprofit dedicated to providing water to those who need it. Membership 4,300+ utilities that supply ~80% of US drinking water. Advocates for sustainable water, shares knowledge about filtration, and fosters civic engagement (239 characters)

Volunteered at Centre for Caregivers events. Led a presentation on how to support public health initiatives through civic engagement. Held weekly discussions about sustainable water development. Surveyed local farms to determine potability of groundwater. Helped write proposal to create better water filtration infrastructure in Duval County. (343 characters)

Global Partners for International Orientation

Introduces international students at Brinton HS to American cultural, social, and political life. Provides 4 events per semester for the 20 permanent international students. Designs training programs for Global Partners in 5 other schools. (239 characters).

Assisted 6 new international students with class registration and adjustment to school. Created bi-monthly meetings for students to voice concerns and explore cultural differences/similarities. Organized peer-mentorship program for first semester. Hosted an orientation day for incoming students to learn more about American campus life and culture. (349 characters)

WORK EXPERIENCE

Shingari's School of Rhythm, Administrative Assistant 

Please briefly describe the company or organization where you worked. (250 characters) 

Teaches Bollywood cinematic dancing and instills a love of Indian culture. Serves ~2,000 students. Recognized as Best Intro Bollywood dance studio by The Centerwork: Bollywood Dance Magazine . Locations in Houston, LA, San Francisco, and Chicago. (245 characters)

What were your job responsibilities?

Answered calls and welcomed guests at customer service desk 3 days/wk. Managed financial accounts, recorded attendance, and organized inventory. Drafted site data to assess the efficacy of current dance curriculum. Lead discussions with hundreds of students, parents, and teachers about program offerings and payment concerns. (326 characters)

Childcare, Babysitter

Independent babysitting service. Hired by local parents, teachers, or family. Regular babysitting jobs at 14 separate households in the Chicago suburbs. Services are advertised on several local list serves and safesitter.com for interested families. (250 characters)

Worked 3-5 days/wk taking care of two children, ages 1 and 3. Responsibilities included feeding, transporting, and regulating bed times. Took care of children 4-6 hours each day. Learned value of patience, self-reliance, and time management. Provided authority, structure, and stability for toddlers. Gave parents time to relax and focus on work. (347 characters)

Jones-Davis High School Student Store, Manager/Cashier 

Provides office supplies, school textbooks, snacks, meals, drinks, and branded school gear for purchase. 100-150 items sold each day and profits given to the administration for school improvement projects like a new community garden. (233 characters)

Developed student store policies, reviewed resumes, and hired accordingly. Announced new gear arrivals and communicated financial updates to student body Treasurer. Worked twice a week as cashier. Coordinated a project the Environmental Club publicize details about how much methane was released in the production of each food item. (333 characters)

ZogSports LA County Intramural Soccer, Referee

Online sports community with 120,000+ players in 7 metropolitan areas. Connects people through physical activity and community outreach. Donated over $3.4 million to 2000+ charities since 2002. They offer anything from soccer to touch football. (245 characters)

Volunteered as a soccer referee at Zogsports in Chicago for 2 summers. Refereed 20 games per summer, 2-3 times per week. Connected with diverse young people and formed lasting friendships. Improved mental/physical health. Learned to be a team player and a caring, reliable person committed to creating connections through difference. (333 characters)

Korean Compassion, Korean-to-English Letter Translator

Recruits volunteers to translate letters from a Korean correspondent. 12,000+ volunteers working to strengthen relations between Americans and Koreans. Details: https://www.compassion.com/act/volunteer/roles/us-korean-translator.htm (232 characters).

Volunteered for one year as a remote worker (via computer).  Translated letters sent by supporters. Received a Volunteer Service Certificate for devoting 60+ hours of service. Developed Korean writing and translation skills. Formed lasting relationships with 2 impoverished Korean children and provided them with an empathetic support system. (343 characters)

AWARDS & HONORS

Academic All-American, Speech and Debate

What are the eligibility requirements for this award or honor? (250 characters) 

Must have ≥750 NSDA points, completed ≥five semesters of HS, demonstrated outstanding character, and maintained a GPA of 3.7 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent). 2000 speech and debate students are awarded Academic All-American each year. (238 characters)

What did you do to achieve this award or honor? (350 Characters) 

Award was based off cumulative winning record throughout all four years of HS (54 wins, 13 losses), along with a consistent standard of academic excellence. My qualification for NSDA Districts in NC demonstrated my growth in public speaking. This success, coupled with consistent leadership/productivity at practices earned me recognition. (339 characters)

Player of the Tournament, Lincoln Heights Invitational

Consistently placing in the top 5 of three or more events, while demonstrating sportsmanship, cordiality, and good-willed team spirit. Only one athlete receives this award each year. Chosen by 5-member board who run the Lincoln Heights Invitational. (250 characters)

I participated in the Girls 100 Meter Dash, 400 Meter Dash, and Pole Vault. Placing 2nd, 3rd, and 1st in these events qualified me for recognition. This strong showing was the result of 2-3 hours of intense practice every day. Throughout the tournament, my leadership and kind treatment of my competitors earned me recognition and respect. (340 characters)

Carl Schubert Trophy, New York City Cricket Championship

A competition between public HS cricket teams in NY. 50 teams entered the 2019 tournament. Each team plays 4 preliminary rounds and moves onto sudden death. Winner must have a winning preliminary record, play 10 games, and defeat final opponent. (245 characters)

What did you do to achieve this award or honor? (350 Characters)  

Winning was the result of our positive, healthy team culture as well as grit and determination, on and off the pitch. Our winning record (13-4-1) in the regular season qualified us for the tournament and practicing 3 hrs/wk conditioned us for a strong showing. Our mental toughness and dynamic resilience pushed us past our competitors. (337 characters)

Brett J. Harman Award, Naval Academy 

Given annually to the Navy wrestler who demonstrates selfless character in both thought and action. The Academy, in conjunction with the wrestling team coaching staff, chooses one wrestler out of a team of 20-25 to win this award each year. (240 characters)

Wrestling was an outlet for me to challenge myself physically and invest in emotionally. My development during my 4 years on the team earned me respect from my teammates and coaches. The 20+ hrs/wk I devoted to wrestling and my ability to celebrate the successes of my teammates demonstrated empathy and love in an unconventional setting. (338 characters)

3rd Place, Whitewater Open Canoe Downriver Nationals

Took place on the Arkansas River in Colorado. 9 mile course with Class 4 rapids. Two-person teams and a total of 23 teams competing in 2019. Medals awarded to the top 5 finishers and we finished 3rd overall, beating 20 other teams to the finish line. (250 characters).

Training required a rigorous, 6-month practice schedule. We trained on class 3 and 4 rapids on the Nantahala and Watauga Rivers. A regular practice meant braving the weather and paddling 2-4 hrs/day. Effective communication, composure during challenging river sequences, physical toughness, and quick-thinking were integral to our strong finish. (346 characters)

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Commission member, Buncombe County Government

Promoted efforts to combat gun violence, mental health challenges, and food insecurities. Regularly updated by city officials about the nature of our work. Attended conferences hosted by other city youth councils to build leadership skills and community involvement. Volunteered 60+ hours for Mobile Market, Habitat for Humanity, and Kids Voting. (347 char)

Founder and President of Model United Nations

Pitched club to school administrators and established 1st official Model UN chapter in Fayetteville, NC. Organized weekly team meetings and coached students for conferences. Awarded "Outstanding Delegate" at the Washington University Model UN Symposium and the Georgia Tech Model UN Conference in 2019. (302 characters)

Intern at the Los Angeles Superior Court

Assisted an LA District Attorney by drafting briefs and assisting with client interviews. Gathered data on local cases regarding education, family, and children’s rights. Attended seminars organized by judicial officials. Learned about the function, history, and role of the Superior Court. Collected, summarized, and tracked relevant news articles. (349 characters)

Research Assistant at the UCLA Psychology Department

Assisted Dr. Negin Ghavemi with a study exploring the relationship between gender, age, and sexual identity. Studied LGBTQ+ inclusion in local schools, looking particularly at the incorporation of non-heteronormative experiences in Southern sex education syllubi. Published findings in the Undergraduate Research Journal of Psychology. (335 characters)

Indian Classical and Bollywood Dancer

SSR Scholarship, VMASC 1st Place Cinematic Dance, KCCNA 3rd pl. in folk, VMASC 1st Pl. Classical Dance, KALA Kalolsavam 1st Pl. Group Dance. One of the 5 dancers selected from ~500 applicants to be featured on Studio 860’s annual International Dance Day video. Choreographed and performed an original dance routine at the 2018 Indian Dance Fest. (345 characters)

Strings Orchestra

Cellist in the school orchestra for 4 years. Showcased in concerts/performances and mentored younger students. 1 of 4 students selected by orchestra director to perform with Duke University String Ensemble at annual winter Blue Devil Fundraiser. Invited to perform with the local jazz quartet Rivendell Brothers at their Eno River Festival debut. (347 characters)

OTHER COURSEWORK (OTHER THAN A-G REQUIREMENTS)

edX and Coursera Courses on Global Health Equity

Completed 3 college courses on Global Health Equity. Learned about health disparities, particularly in relation to cultural gender norms. Investigated Rwandan female reproductive health and drafted an actionable plan for improvement. Interrogated the efficacy of medical education in the US and discussed the importance of technological development. (349 characters)

Graduate of Harvard U's Public Speaking Course

Studied speeches by MLK, Socrates, Winston Churchhill, and James Baldwin. Mastered improvised speech through extemporaneous speaking drills. Learned how to deliver compelling arguments through presentations and individual coaching. Incorporated theatrical skills to make speech delivery more expressive. (304 characters)

Chinese 1 to Chinese 4

Studied Mandarin at Chinese Sunday school to expand cultural understanding and further love for language after testing out of Chinese at school. Improved speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills. Selected as a finalist by NC State’s Confucius Institute for their HS Chinese competition and won Best Talent award. (320 characters)

Introduction to Python

Explored the differences between Python, Java, and C++. Researched programming syntax and basics of Python, designed algorithms to practice using Python’s functions. Coded hangman, tic-tac-toe, conversation-, and 20 questions using Python commands. Collaborated with classmates in Robotics 101 to design a group code for an automated robot. (340 characters)

Ryman Arts Program

Took drawing lessons, sketched still life drawings, and painted models with top 100 HS artists in Southern California. Fine-tuned painting skills by working on joint projects with participants. Attended seminars about job opportunities in the arts. Displayed final portfolio in curated show at the Southern California Museum of Art. (333 characters)

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