The University of California is more than Berkeley or UCLA (although those are two of the most popular colleges among our clients). The UC system is made up of nine different colleges (UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, and UC Merced), all with varying acceptance rates, admissions requirements, campus ~vibes~, and class sizes. While the UC system isn’t on the Common App (boo!) they do have a pretty cool portal that allows you to apply to all nine, with the same essays for each, with a simple click. Well, technically nine clicks (gotta check off all the boxes).
The UC supplements are called “personal insight questions,” which, like, is just their fancy word for supplement. Or maybe it’s less fancy? We can’t tell. Anyways, their personal insight questions have, yet again, remained unchanged. They give you eight options and you choose four to write in 350 words, but some of them are a little repetitive. Let’s dive in to discuss how to write each one and also give you a little ~editorializing~ on the questions we think are worth answering.
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.
When a school asks you to describe an example, that means they want to hear a story. Whatever you choose to write this one about, tell it as a story. You are going to hear us say this a lot in this blog post, so buckle in.
For this one, try not to think of ‘leadership’ in a super narrow context. You may be president of the student body (an honor to meet you digitally through this blog post, your excellency), but maybe there was a time you took charge when the family vacation plans totally fell through last minute. You might be captain of the soccer team, but maybe you’re also a babysitter extraordinaire who can wrangle a posse of 5-year-olds like an Australian Shepherd wrangles herds sheep: adorably and with a dash of sass. It’s not that you can’t write about a more formal leadership role here, we just encourage you to think outside of the box. You have four opportunities to show them who you are, and we think repeating things they already see on your activities list isn’t the best use of your energy.
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.
We love this question. And also yes, you’ll be telling a story here. Like the question says, creativity can be expressed in a lot of different ways. Just because you’re not an artist or dancer doesn’t mean you should avoid this question. If you are a creative type, absolutely answer this question that way, but we advise writing about something they don’t already know about you. Maybe you’re a thespian but you spend your free time drawing landscapes. Perhaps you figured out a very complicated math equation you saw left on a blackboard in a hall during your job as night janitor (Good Will Hunting reference) by implementing a creative solution. You could even answer this question by telling a story about how you were quick on your feet during a sports game, coming up with a perfect move or strategic choice that no one else was thinking of. Whatever you choose, make sure to hone in on a specific moment and tell us the story.
3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
This is a fun one, but it might have an answer pretty similar to the one above. Skills and talents aren’t just the academic ones on your resume or the creative things you pursue. If you’re a master chef, incredible public speaker, or budding amateur car mechanic, these are all skills you’ve been building on over time. Maybe you have a great talent for art, but maybe you’re also just really good at bringing people together, picking out color palettes for home decor, or have a knack for trivia nights. We always encourage writing the more unexpected essay – remember, these admissions counselors are reading hundreds (if not thousands) of essays, and the more unique yours are, the more you stand out. Remember, tell em a story!
4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
Questions four and five are pretty similar, but we would probably avoid talking about the barrier part, unless it was pretty significant – more on this in question five’s paragraph.
If you want to write about an opportunity, we say go for it. If you got the chance to study abroad in high school, talk about it. If you got to do research with a college professor, talk about it. Maybe you go to a rural high school that doesn’t offer APs and you got the opportunity to take classes at the nearest community college to challenge yourself more. If you’re having a hard time thinking of a unique opportunity you’ve received, probably skip this one. But if you choose this question, tell us a story about the opportunity. Maybe there was a particular day that made you feel really cool, or there was an awesome breakthrough you made. Bring us into that moment with you!
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 is very similar to the one above. We recommend not writing this one, unless you already have something you’re writing for the Additional Information section of your Common App essay. Topics may include things like a medical diagnosis like dyslexia or ADHD, a death of a close family member, having to move frequently, experiencing homelessness, being a caretaker, having parents who were incarcerated during high school, etc. This is not an exhaustive list, but we strongly advise not answering this question unless you had something significant impact your high school career.
As for writing it, you’re going to (you guessed it) want to tell a story. We know it might feel weird trying to turn a traumatic moment into a story, and we want to give you permission to not write about any of your traumas for college essays. You do not have to rehash the bad days in your life to get into college.
6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
If you only have four questions to tell the UCs what you’re all about, don’t rehash the details they already know. They know you want to study econ, but do they know about your passion for the local flora and fauna? Do they know about your secret love of Southern Gothic novels or how you love to take things apart and put them back together in your free time? Use this space to tell them a story about the academic passions you have that they don’t know about.
7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
If there’s one question on here we think you should answer 100%, it’s this one. This is a bog-standard community essay and almost every school is asking it. Just like leadership and creativity, community is more than just a formal organization. Community can be your hometown, your neighborhood, your Discord server, a fandom you’re a part of, your family, literally anything. Community is just anything that binds people together, and you’ve certainly helped one of the communities you’re a part of in one way or another.
You might write about how you convinced your street to throw a block party, or about how you’ve become close with the owner of your favorite coffee shop and now you swap recipes. You could talk about a tradition you do with your friends or family, or about the cool club you started at school. Choose a moment in time and describe, via story format (sorry!), that moment to us.
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?
This is the open-season question. You can tell them literally anything here, and because this is so broad, we kiiiinda recommend skipping it, with some exceptions, unless you’ve written something for another college essay that you can repurpose. This might be a good spot for a condensed version of your Common App, or a place for you to talk about your identity or culture. Maybe there’s an extracurricular or job that’s been really important to you that you couldn’t talk about on your app otherwise! Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a story!! Last time, we swear.
The UC app is great because it allows you to apply to up to nine schools with the same four essays, but it’s also annoying because you have to write four essays that definitely have some repetitive themes. UC, we hope you change your questions soon because we’ve been writing this exact blog post for a few years now and we think it’s time for a shake-up and some new questions. For all you darling applicants, make sure to proofread and triple–no–-quadruple edit your essays for clarity, grammar, and flow. And make sure they’re a story!! (Ok actually that was the last one)
If you need help with your UC essays, your Common App, or any other part of the college process, reach out to us today.