Part 3: Frequently asked questions. Question: How should I think about the activities section? Give yourself plenty of time for preparation, careful composition and revisions. Clearly, UC wants you to write four different essays, and they're asking you eight different questions. Perhaps you always helped siblings with their homework and had to work hard because one of them had a learning disability, uc application essay prompts.
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Overview: The UC essay prompts, uc application essay prompts. How to choose UC prompts. Outlining your UC essays. UC personal insight question 1: Leadership. UC personal insight question 2: Creativity. UC personal insight question 3: Talent. UC personal insight question 5: Adversity, uc application essay prompts. UC personal insight question 6: Academic passion. UC personal insight question 7: Community. UC personal insight question 8: Everything else. UC personal insight question 9: Transfer. Educating nearly quarter of a million undergraduatesUCs are a home for California residents, out-of-state attendees, and international students alike. Given their attractiveness, admission uc application essay prompts competitive, ranging from 12 percent for UCLA and 17 percent for UC Berkeley to about 27 percent for UC Irvine and 51 percent for UC Santa Cruz all numbers for the fall entering class.
And every year, it gets tougher to make the cut for some of the most sought-after campuses like UCLA, which sat at 18 percent in and has been sinking since. Filling out one application allows you to apply to every UC school. Seven of the nine undergraduate campuses UCSF and UC Hastings offer graduate degrees only rank in the top schools, uc application essay prompts, with six of nine in the top Tier 1 : UC Berkeley 21UCLA 21UC San Diego 42 in the latest rankings, with UC Santa Barbara supplanting it—but San Diego has historically appeared higher Tier 2 : UC Santa Barbara 37UC Irvine 42uc application essay prompts, UC Davis 46 Tier 3 : UC Santa Cruz 81uc application essay prompts, UC RiversideUC Merced Write your Common App personal statement. Write remaining UC essays and fill out the UC Activities section which is longer than the Common App Activities section.
Repurpose your UC Activities list for Common App Activities and your remaining UC essays for Common App supplemental essays. However it would be a mistake to treat the UC application as another set of supplemental essays, or as small fry now after tackling your word personal statement, uc application essay prompts. Over the past decade, as the University of California received more applications—freshman and transfer applications for the class —the admissions committees found themselves unable to make difficult calls on students based solely on test scores and GPAs, uc application essay prompts. Uc application essay prompts questions are also a chance to show more sides of yourself than students could in previous years when applying to UC schools, when there were fewer questions asking for longer answers.
These students are or are based closely on several of the applicants with whom we have worked over the past decade-plus. Student 1: Arman. Arman, a generalist, has strong grades, earning a 4. He participates in academic team events, and is also physically active, playing intramural basketball and coaching younger children in YMCA after-school activities. Student 2: Maria. Maria is passionate about the environment, having grown up in California during the drought. She also plays tennis and has danced since she was small.
Student 3: Uc application essay prompts. Karan, an international applicant, is interested in the arts. He likes reading and cinema, and might want to study anything from Art History to English to French film. He moved around a lot so his extracurriculars are inconsistent, but he has made some short films on YouTube and has competed in parliamentary debate. Student 4: Denise. Denise, a transfer uc application essay prompts, has always been interested in technology. Though her large public high school did not have much in the way of computer science courses, she got herself accepted to STEM summer programs, where her passions were confirmed. Denise was raised by a single father and her family has not had an easy time financially for many years.
Student 5: Nadia. Nadia is passionate about politics and political advocacy. An enthusiastic competitor on the statewide mock trial and debate circuits, she has taken every class at her large public high school related to government and speech possible. Nadia struggled with low self-esteem and physical and cyberbullying when she was younger. Her older siblings often had to intervene to keep things from getting out of hand. This is uc application essay prompts still on her mind. Thank you! Your guide is on its way. In the meantime, please let uc application essay prompts know how we can help you crack the the college admissions code.
You can also learn more about our 1-on-1 college admissions support here. You answer four; there is no right answer about which ones you choose. You only have words to answer each question. This is not quite like your Common App. The Common App gives you the chance to make one single, bold, loud statement—a word personal statement—and to embellish that essay with more information in the Activities section and, in some cases, in supplemental essays. The UC application, by contrast, gives you four chances to make smaller statements. The disadvantage, here, is that you may not be able to tell a single story in all its glory, as you can theoretically do in the Common App.
But the advantage is that you have multiple chances and multiple angles to express yourself. Thinking about the UC application in those terms can lift some students out of the funk that comes from the sense that you need to express your whole self to an admissions committee in order to get in. Here are the most recent University of California freshman application 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. 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 uc application essay prompts talent or skill? How have uc application essay prompts 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. 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 stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California? Some students have the impulse to try to parcel out what they feel is their Single Important Story across several essays, since they have only words instead of We suggest not thinking of the UC application in these terms. Instead, try to offer four pieces of yourself that, when placed together, add up to make a whole. So how do you choose which four pieces to use—or, more directly, how do you choose which four questions to answer of the eight offered? But here are a few things to take under consideration as you determine which questions make the most sense for you to answer:.
Can you reuse your personal statement or supplemental essays to answer one of the UC prompts? Does the phrasing of any of these questions remind you of the prompt you responded to on your Common App personal statement? Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? Does the phrasing of any of these questions remind you of a Common Uc application essay prompts supplemental essay, uc application essay prompts, or have you written something that answers the question already? perhaps 2, which asks you to describe the way in which you are creative, might overlap with this supplemental question from Rice University—The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings.
What personal perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice? Perhaps you want the admissions committee to know about your experience navigating a large high school with few academic opportunities. Most importantly: which questions speak to you? Your heart might not start to uc application essay prompts faster at every single one of these questions. Figure out which question contained that uc application essay prompts buzzword, and work on answering that one first. That will put you in a positive headspace for continuing to the other questions that may not come quite as naturally. The good news is that most word, three-paragraph essays follow a standard structure. Try to avoid that by, instead, treating them as highly-condensed essay questions.
In this paragraph, uc application essay prompts, the writer hooks us, with an image, a brief anecdote, or a snappy sentence or two. By the end of the paragraph, the writer clearly articulates their thesis statement, which will guide us through the next two-thirds of the essay. In an essay this short, the thesis statement does not always come at the end of the first paragraph. Sometimes the first two paragraphs are taken up by captivating narration of an event, and the thesis comes in the conclusion, in the successful thematic and narrative tying-up of the essay. Like many college essays, the UC questions ask applicants to reflect on a significant moment in order to demonstrate introspection and analytical insight.
Change is often crucial to that. Usually you are not the same on one side of a major life experience as you are on the other. Paragraph 3: Conclusions, including a sense of how the essay topic will influence the writer now and into the future. And, as with many good essays, this paragraph should try to lead the reader to a sense of closure, conveying a lesson and a sense of what has been learned and gained from the experience. Here, again, is Question 1, with notes from the UC Admissions website about how to think about it:. 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.
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Arman does that by showing how he made a mistake and corrected for it. It demonstrates that he understands how he is answering the question—by discussing two intangibles of leadership, honesty and empathy. Here, again, is Question 2, with notes from the UC Admissions website about how to think about it:. 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 twelve years, I have spent my weekends and summers making ceramics and painting at the community center, and when I need to relieve stress, I often sketch. These might seem like private acts of self-expression. But they have impacted the way I solve problems, particularly in my sustainability work. With the help of a science teacher, I founded the Water Conservation Club and set out to engage my peers. Art proved invaluable in these projects. The first initiative we tried was a calendar initiative for elementary school students. I visited classrooms, talked about recycling, environmentalism, and clean energy, and then asked first, second, and third-graders to draw pictures of how they could live more sustainably.
Their drawings showed them picking up trash, saving water, even going on a hiking trip with their families instead of flying across the country for vacations. Their parents arranged a carpool, they use leftover water to water the class plants, and recycle paper and plastic. It followed an anthropomorphized water drop walking around town, seeing the different ways people waste water, which affected his reservoir home. The community members eventually realize their wrongdoings and work to conserve water through taking shorter showers, turning the sink water off, and doing full loads of laundry. In either case, I could have talked to classrooms using a chalkboard or a PowerPoint.
But bringing my proclivity for art into the picture helped me reach young people who might otherwise have glazed over. She reached this structure organically, with her first draft, and it can serve as another model for how to answer these questions. All she needs is to remind us that without her art habit, those would have been more boring projects. Maria could also talk about her prospective major or how she wants to leverage art in it, but when she reached this version of the essay, it read as complete and fulfilled in its own right. Here, again, is Question 3, with notes from the UC Admissions website about how to think about it:. 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? But one day in middle school I asked my father how it worked. That summer, my dad found out about a free program at a local university on Saturdays. It would teach you the basics about computers, including how to code. Ever since, I have been learning about coding as much as I could. My high school does not have a computer science class, but I petitioned my school to let me enroll in a few classes on technology and society, including intro to computer science, at a community college.
I have also used resources like General Assembly to self-teach. I came to love working with computers and coding because each problem I had to solve goes toward building something. I also studied design and graphics on my own and used the combination of these skills to create websites for friends, family, and local businesses. While it is not a formal extracurricular activity, it is my after-school job. She begins by telling us a bit about what she got to take for granted as a young person, then points out that she pushed against the grain of truly taking it for granted.
Paragraphs 2 and 3: This section shows the growth and change we look for in the middle of an essay. all the ways she worked hard to get to this place. Here, again, is Question 4, with notes from the UC Admissions website about how to think about it:. Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who are you today? The summer after ninth grade, I had the chance to attend a pre-college program in North Carolina.
It was a special opportunity because I had never before been to the United States, and I knew I wanted to go to college in the U. I have grown up around the world, in India, the U. But this program had a few spots for international students, and I was selected to attend. Students took a college-level course for three weeks. Over those weeks, I read thinkers and writers and watched films and listened to music by artists I had never heard of, from Philip K. Dick to Jean Baudrillard to Kraftwerk. As the product of a school system where math and science are prized above the humanities, I had to convince my parents that studying philosophy in books and movies was a good way to spend the summer, and I came back personally certain that it had been.
I could now see big themes and meaning in popular culture and in the books I read. And before, I was unsure of how to integrate my interest in things other people thought of as abstract: religion, philosophy, history, books, and film. My summer class showed me that ideas like religion and philosophy can serve as lenses to analyse the past and popular culture, or as the material that we use in writing books or making films. I would like to continue this journey of interdisciplinary study in college, possibly becoming a professor. The program I attended marked the beginning of my certainty about this path. Paragraph 1: This paragraph is all about the who-what-when-where-why.
Paragraph 2: This paragraph demonstrates more specifics about the program. He gives just enough information—three names and one phrase used by the professor—to show that he was mentally present and, more importantly, intellectually moved by the course. Paragraph 3: Now we get into the meat of why what Karan learned mattered to him—that change and growth. He gives several specific takeaways: he discovered the value of the humanities, and learned about what interdisciplinary study means. Again, his concreteness while discussing abstract topics works to his advantage. Paragraph 4: Karan concludes efficiently and tells us that the summer has shaped his professional ambitions.
That clearly answers the question about how he took advantage of the opportunity. There are a few other small things Karan did that are worth noticing. He paid attention—consciously or subconsciously—to the language in the question, which differentiated between opportunities and barriers. He chose to write about an opportunity, which implies privilege; his parents may have paid for this program. Here, again, is Question 5, with notes from the UC Admissions website about how to think about it:. 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? Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone? It was October my junior year, when my mom learned she had breast cancer. It was terrifying. I went to school exhausted, helped with errands, and tried to juggle classes and extracurriculars. My energy began to drop, as did my grades. Unexpectedly, it was tennis that helped me overcome this academically and personally challenging period. Since I was six, my dream was to win a tennis tournament. But I struggled with the pressure of competition. I foreshadowed my loss prior to a match, allowing nerves take over.
My body trembled; it was difficult to breathe. By the end of middle school, my losses outweighed my wins, and I no longer believed in myself. I explained my anxieties, hoping he could fix them. This is how you win. The advice was almost annoyingly simple. And yet, his Zen-like philosophy emanated every time he watched from the sidelines. He was trying to get me to enjoy tennis as I had not been able to for years. I won more, though not a whole tournament. More importantly, I took the new perspective off the court, to AP English, my toughest class, when my mind would always wander to my mom. It took me tremendous effort to write essays and comprehend the material.
I was so scattered that my teacher advised me to drop the class. I stayed in the class, focused on each step, gradually improving, ultimately earning a 4 on the AP exam. When school was out, I got my reward: I could come home and sit next to my mom, and just be with her for a while. Her key idea comes in an unexpected place, right in the middle of the essay. But then she quickly and clearly articulates how that manifested to her—low energy, exhaustion. Paragraph 2: This paragraph has a clear thesis statement—tennis helped her—and then backs into a bit of context about tennis, which is necessary for us to understand the rest of the essay. It also articulates a goal—winning a tournament—which in this case ends up being a red herring.
Paragraphs 3 and 4: In these paragraphs we see growth and change. Paragraph 5: This concluding paragraph very clearly though not heavy-handedly ties up all three challenges, telling us how the tennis philosophy served her through her school troubles. One of the toughest things about answering the Challenge Question is the risk of cliché. Often when we are facing major challenges—illness, grief, loss, anxiety, etc—we are dealing with emotions beyond the scope of language. That means that the language we use to talk about it, with other people, with therapists, and in an essay, can sound like platitudes. Maria does a good job here of acknowledging that the words her coach gave her were not enough. Here, again, is Question 6, with notes from the UC Admissions website about how to think about it:.
If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? 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? Nadia has a strong response to this question that we will use as an example:. The academic subject from which I draw the most inspiration is US Government and Politics. My interest in the subject encouraged me to enroll in the Advanced Placement course. One of the topics discussed that spoke to me most is the power of political participation. There, I spent four months answering phone calls, filing papers, and reading letters, and learned the importance of community relations, social skills, and organizational skills needed to thrive in politics.
My duties were similar to that of my internship, where I addressed complaints from students and moderated them directly to the administration. One example was when a group of students approached me regarding the lack of a mock trial class at our school. I gathered signatures, wrote a letter of request, and took the matter to the principal. My community participation led the school to offer a mock trial class to all middle and high school students. At the University of California, I intend to pursue a major in Political Science to further my understanding of politics and the impact of each individual on policymaking. Furthermore, I am compelled to participate in student government upon my acceptance to UC schools in order to exercise my interests in a much larger and diverse community of students.
Sometimes it is the right choice to use dramatic language to talk about a dramatic issue. She developed an interest in politics, and went about chasing that career. Paragraph 1: This is an example of an essay that opens with its thesis statement. She also tells us that her interest stemmed from the intersection of theory and real-life application, which means that we can expect her essay to discuss the real-life application of politics. Paragraphs 2 and 3: And indeed it does! Off the bat, Nadia tells us about working for Dababneh in paragraph 2, and in the ensuing paragraph, about her student council work. Giving us two different experiences is great because it shows a pattern of interest in the subject.
That tells the admissions committee not only that there was change and growth, that key quality the middle of the essay must convey, but also that Nadia is aware of that change and growth and can make narrative sense of it. Paragraph 4: Nadia concludes with a natural spin-it-forward take. A few people have asked about the UC Application Service for the upcoming application cycle Fall The information will become available in July UC Application will open on August 1, Submit the University of California Application by the November 30 deadline. In mid-December, applicants will receive an email invitation to the Applicant Portal with login instructions. Make sure you check all email folders to ensure you are receiving emails from us and they are not being marked as spam. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced … Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, … What would you say is your greatest talent or skill?
How have you developed and … Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked … Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to … Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this … What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? Things to … Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you …. DA: 36 PA: 1 MOZ Rank: Application Writing Prompts. For the purpose of your Cincinnati application, writing ability is demonstrated in both The Common Application essay and University of Cincinnati personal statement.
It is important to put your best foot forward through these responses in order for the admissions staff to draw a full picture of why you would DA: 85 PA: 83 MOZ Rank: First of all, sad face for getting rid of my favorite prompt ever click here for a love letter I wrote to the authors of the now-extinct UC prompt. Perhaps, on a Habitat for Humanity school trip, you became the head cook, whipping up everything from pancakes to chicken fajitas while galvanizing a team of sous chefs to pitch in. The point is, try to isolate a single leadership moment, and bring it to life with vivid details. Describe where you were, what was happening around you, and what you were feeling.
Discuss what challenges you faced, and what you ultimately learned from the experience. You may think that this question was geared towards the artistically inclined, but take a closer look. The wording offers many potential definitions that veer away from traditional conceptions of creativity and actually, it asks you for your personal definition! Creativity lies in your outlook: seeing the opportunity to use one of your skills in a novel situation; looking at a problem from a new angle to find the solution that no one else could see.
This question is, in reality, ideal for the more scientifically oriented to create a more well-rounded profile. Creative types, on the other hand, might want to proceed with caution since, really, every question is an opportunity to show off your talents and describe your artistic endeavors. So, you claim that gardening, or Calculus, or painting is how you show your creative side. So, then immerse the reader in this activity with you. If you enjoy gardening, describe the plants, their qualities, and how you make your horticultural choices; are you drawn to the aesthetics or are you botanically inquisitive? If you love to paint, show the reader where you paint, what you paint, and why you paint, describing the colors, textures, materials—the essential process behind your art.
Write descriptively so that the reader can feel as if he or she were experiencing your creative passion with you. So if you choose to respond to both of these questions, make sure to highlight distinct skills in each. The good news is: finding your subject should be easy! You just need to answer this question: what makes you proud? Think about the stories that your friends and family like to share about you. Think about moments when your hard work paid off. If the memory of your first swim meet victory still makes you smile, draw us into your rigorous training schedule; describe the aspects of the sport that motivate you to wake up early and push yourself.
What were your challenges? What has this experience taught you? This narrative should have a clear timeline that traces your growth from the past to the present and into the future. Show not only that you have grown, but that you will continue to grow as you take your first steps into adulthood. This question is tricky because it has two parts. So first break the question down: You can write about either A. How you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity OR B. How you have worked to overcome an educational barrier. You are not being asked to write about both parts of this question. Just write about one. If you have participated in an afterschool program, internship, honors program, or a special class that was meaningful or inspiring to you, you will want to think about choosing option A.
Maybe it was an afterschool program for young, aspiring lawyers, or an advanced history class that you took at your local community college. This is an opportunity for you to showcase your ambition and highlight the kinds of challenges that engage and excite you.
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