The University System of California University (UC) is the most prestigious education system in the United States. It consists of 9 universities, 6 of which are recognized as the best in the country. More than 250 thousand students study at UC schools and you can become one of them. To do this, you will have to make a lot of effort. Candidates are asked questions that are different from those presented in the Common App. The essay should be really strong, as there are a lot of candidates for one place.
But don’t worry. We are here to help you cope with this task and get the education you dream about.
UC Personal Insight Questions: What is that?
Your college application must be prepared flawlessly. The task is facilitated by the fact that it consists mainly of numbers. You need to indicate your average score, SAT results, the number of AP classes you have completed, the number of years you have been involved in sports. So colleges select the most interesting students who may be of interest to the campus. But you must understand that sometimes the numbers are not enough. The admission committee wants to understand what kind of person you are, how you look at the world, why you chose this particular institution. The transcript is not able to convey your thoughts and feelings. But the essay can.
These short articles up to 350 words are not at all like the ones you’ve written at school. At school, essays are devoted to the analysis of other people’s papers, but now you need to write about your own life. The commission wants to see how you describe people, places, feelings, how you reflect the situation around you.
We offer to study 8 questions that are needed to prepare a UC essay. We will compare these tips and analyze them to the details. So you can write a personal statement to delight the admissions officers.
UC Essay Tips: Is There Anything In Common?
In an essay for a university, you need to write 4 essays, answering 8 questions. We offer to understand what is common and different between them.
Current UC Essay Tips
- Tell us about your leadership experience when you managed to positively influence another person, find a way out of the conflict, or contribute to the group.
- Everyone has creative skills, but they express it all in different ways. Someone solves problems, others apply innovative thinking or express themselves through art. Describe how you do it.
- What skill would you call your main talent? How did you work on its development over time?
- Describe your encounter with the educational barrier and how you took the opportunity to get a good education.
- What was the most difficult and important problem in your life? Did you manage to solve it? By using what? How did this affect your academic achievements?
- You probably study a lot of academic subjects. Which ones inspire you? Are you doing something to support your interest in learning? What?
- What contribution have you made to your school or community?
- Why do you consider yourself a strong candidate for the University of California? Describe the reasons without repeating the contents of your application.
After reading these prompts, it becomes clear that topics 1 and 7 are dedicated to your interaction with the outside world. The second and sixth topics affect your inner world, situations due to which you have become what you are now. Other topics describe your achievements, what you are proud of.
You should understand that these categories are quite broad. And you can narrow the topic by talking about what is really important to you. Choose questions from the group that is closest to you. Remember that you should have something to tell. That is, it’s not just thoughts on the topic, but your real-life experience.
Prompt 1: The leadership experience
Why does UC need your essay?
When you go to college, you should be prepared for the fact that the environment will be completely new. You will constantly encounter different situations related to study and communication. Therefore, UC needs to make sure:
- That you are mature enough to communicate with different people
- That you can show ingenuity and resourcefulness to solve problems
- That you don’t panic at the first difficulties and maintain sound thinking
In this essay, you need to explain the dilemma you are facing. Next, write what solution you found for her, how difficult this path was, and what helped you in the end.
Prompt 2: Creative skills
UC wants to know:
- That you already created something both in your academic life and in your personal life
- That you consider creative skills important and you know how to develop them
- That you notice, how the results of your creative activity affect you and the world
Start your essay by defining your creativity. Do you do drawing, music, or maybe organize performances? No need to think that the list of creative activities is limited only by this. A creative approach is applied in all situations when you need to generate thoughts and theories. So explain what you spend your time on. Next, tell why you are doing this. For yourself or for others? What gives you inspiration and motivation to continue? In the third part of the essay, think about the future. How will your creativity help you in the future? How do you see its development?
Prompt 3: The greatest talent
Your achievements are what helps you be proud of yourself. Each new difficulty is overcome easier because you know that you can cope and maintain composure. At the same time, you need to show that your values and ideals are mature enough, that you are an adult and adequately assess your capabilities and advantages. There are things to be proud of but not suitable for an introductory essay.
Prompt 4: Educational opportunity
Most likely you’ve already written about your educational opportunities in a resume or transcript. But the commission wants to delve into this issue, to find out how important for you the academic career is and how you relate to successes and failures. You’ve definitely covered a lot of ground, so don’t hesitate to show that.
Studying in college, you will face a huge number of opportunities. And it depends on you how you leverage them. There will be failures because there are many good students and they will compete with you. Describe in an essay how you act in such situations and what helps you find inspiration.
Prompt 5: Significant challenge
Each of us copes with conflicts, barriers, failures. The only question is how we deal with them. The more mature a person is, the better he succeeds. It is such a student that college is looking for. Describe your crisis experience. Did you manage to find a custom solution? If not, why? Was this situation repeated and what did you do this time?
Your life has definitely had such an experience. Make sure you can talk about him and feel comfortable. Sincerity and honesty are greatly appreciated and will help you reveal your identity.
Prompt 6: Inspiring academic subject
The university is interested in enthusiastic and purposeful students. Those who know what they want and understand how studying in the US will help them achieve this. Therefore, it will be great if you have a favorite academic subject and you pay enough attention to it. Perhaps even outside the school.
But this does not mean that you must have such an item. It’s normal that students look for themselves, try different classes. You can describe this experience, be sure to talk about the conclusions that you made. The commission wants to see that you leverage every opportunity for your own development and analyze it.
Prompt 7: Developing your community
All colleges value communities very much. Every day you will communicate with a large number of people, both in classes and classes and in extracurricular activities. UC is looking for students who can find a common language with people.
To prove that you are capable, think about your experiences with other people. Even if it was not what you would like, describe why. It also matters.
Prompt 8: Your advantages
There is nothing complicated here. Universities need students with unique and amazing stories. The school wants to know why the grades in your transcript are not perfect – what did you pay attention to if you didn’t study? It is also important that in each class there are more students with different talents and abilities. Pastime in such a team is really inspiring.
Be honest and sincere. The commission wants to know about the person you really are. Ask your friends and relatives, think about what makes you an interesting person and distinguishes you from the crowd.
Professional writing service
Preparing for admission is a very difficult and responsible task. All students face jitters, even if they are confident in their abilities. Sometimes writing an essay for the University of California seems like an overwhelming task, although this is the most common assignment. If you really want it, you will get this place. Even if you order finished paper. Our professional authors are well acquainted with all the requirements and know what the commission wants to read. We will prepare an essay for you and help you make your dream a reality.
