UIUC Essays: Prompt 4

Welcome back to another edition of our UIUC college essays rundown. Today we shall cover prompt four! 

In the space below, describe how you have made a difference in your high school or community and what you hope to contribute to life at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (100 words)

With a 100 words maximum, concision is going to be your friend. There’s not enough space for a full-blown introduction, so it’s best to just dive right in. You will likely want to structure this as two miniature paragraphs — one about your high school endeavors, the other about your plans for UIUC.

Regarding the specific word count breakdown, you will likely want to spend more time discussing your high school experience. This is perfectly fine, especially if you have a lot to touch on.

When you talk about making a difference in high school, don’t exclusively discuss organizations or officer positions, but instead focus on specific actions you engaged in. It’s okay to lead into it with something like “As class president, I…” but your specific duties are the primary focus of this section.

Here are some good examples:

• “I fundraised over Rs. 50,000 to end world hunger.”

• “I mentored special needs students after school.”

• “I organized a group to protest a school policy that would’ve cut arts funding.”

• “I tutored middle schoolers in math and science.”

• “I started an initiative dedicated to giving people anonymous compliments.”

You might need to offer a short explanation (no more than a sentence) for more obscure undertakings, but most of your actions should speak for themselves.

As for the section on contributing to life at UIUC, you might spend more time discussing this if you weren’t as heavily involved in community service during high school. If you plan on pursuing something similar at UIUC, now is a great opportunity to express that. For instance, if you started an initiative giving people anonymous compliments, you could briefly discuss your goal of alleviating stress on campus by simply spreading joy to your peers. Ideally, your past experiences relate to you future goals, which lends itself to a nice transition between the two sections.

This part of the response is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of UIUC-specific programs. Do some research on their website about the different types of initiatives and service groups on campus.

Some Final Words

It’s already been mentioned, but it’s important enough to mention again: These are the only essays UIUC will see. That means you have a huge responsibility to be personable and unique while also demonstrating competent writing style and academic focus.

While we at Edbrand sometimes encourage riskier supplemental essays, you should avoid that for UIUC. This is because you aren’t coupling these with your Common App essay, which tends to be more grounded and central to your identity.

Most importantly, make sure your essays are truly a reflection of you. Don’t try to use overly elevated language if that isn’t how you normally write. If you’re unsure whether your voice is coming across, ask a family member or friend to read over your essays; they often have invaluable advice.

UIUC Essays: Prompt 3

Welcome back to another edition of our UIUC college essays rundown. Today we shall cover prompt three! 

If you select a second-choice major other than the Division of General Studies on your application, write a second essay explaining your interest in this major, too. (300-400 words)

This prompt is similar to the previous one, so you should approach it in largely the same manner. It might be tempting to focus less on this essay, but you shouldn’t neglect it just because it’s your second-choice major. Admission officers will be able to tell if you’ve gotten lazy.

Other than that, make sure you keep our suggestions from the previous section in mind. Remember to provide adequate insight into any examples you provide, and focus on being succinct, so you can add in as much content as possible.

These are some good things to get your creative motors running! We will continue this conversation with prompt on our next blog post. So keep checking this space! Like, comment, or come meet us if you’re in doubt

UIUC Essays: Prompt 2

Welcome back to another edition of our UIUC college essays rundown. Today we shall cover prompt two! 

Explain your interest in the major you selected and describe how you have recently explored or developed this interest inside and/or outside the classroom. You may also explain how this major relates to your future career goals. If you’re applying to the Division of General Studies, explain your academic interests and strengths or your future career goals. You may include any majors or areas of study you’re currently considering. (300-400 words)

Since this is the most extensive essay UIUC will be receiving from you, it is also the most important! Your main objectives here should be conveying your passion for a certain subject and explaining how that relates to your future goals. Also focus on expressing your love for the school by touching on specific aspects of the school that you think will suit you well.

While you might be tempted to simply reference your extracurricular activities in this section, this is not enough. Admission officers can already see your activities, so mentioning them again without further elaboration would be redundant. Instead, you should hone in on something more personal, and then proceed to explain it in greater depth.

Although your essay should not just restate extracurriculars or relevant classes, it is okay to briefly mention them as long as they provide a transition into new, more meaningful information. This “something meaningful” can be anything from an entertaining moment during one of your activities/classes to a more serious discussion of how you arrived at that passion. Just make sure your response illuminates something unique about you.

Because this essay is the most complex for this school, we recommend tackling it in smaller chunks. You’ll find that focusing on the structure of these shorter essays often does wonders for the overall cohesion of the finished product.

Introduction (100 Words Or Less)

In this section of the response, your primary goal is to indicate your prospective major, but in a manner that the school would find compelling. Some of the most effective ways to hook the reader are by using figurative language or an anecdote, but there are a plethora of other ways as well — just be creative! Also, make sure your introduction allows for enough elaboration in the body section.

Because the introduction is so crucial to the development of this essay, below are some examples of good and bad introductions with explanations.

Body (250 Words Or Less)

Your goal with the body of this essay is to further elaborate on your involvement with your respective major. It is okay to mention extracurriculars and classes in this section, but only if you couple them with explanations of how they impacted you. Consider implementing some additional discussion of your future career plans if you haven’t already done so in the introduction.

The body of your essay doesn’t have to be quite as flashy as the introduction, but it needs to be more purposeful. You might spend less time here on an extended metaphor, and instead opt to explain why your experience in a particular subject area inspired you to pursue it further.

Conclusion

No length is specified in the conclusion, because it varies depending on how many words you have already used, and to what extent your intro/body necessitates closure.

If you have a lot of space left, you might mention specific programs or clubs that fit with your major. You could also go into greater depth here regarding your long-term career goals. If you find a program at UIUC that incorporates your career aspirations — take, for example, a school-funded internship program — this is a great place to discuss it.

Otherwise, the conclusion should simply wrap up the main idea of your essay with a general discussion of your interests that you already set forth. Avoid being too repetitive; it’s better to keep your summary brief and to the point. If you began the essay with thematic material, it should resurface in the conclusion. The last sentence of the essay should be powerful enough to leave a lasting impression on the reader. This will ensure that admissions officers remember your essay

These are some good things to get your creative motors running! We will continue this conversation with prompt on our next blog post. So keep checking this space! Like, comment, or come meet us if you’re in doubt

UIUC Essays: Prompt 1

Located in the vast cornfields of east-central Illinois, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is widely renowned as one of the country’s most influential public research universities. In fact, it has ranked first in National Science Foundation award funding for six consecutive years. Many sources consider UIUC one of the top 50 universities in the world, and some have even ranked its engineering school in the top five worldwide.

When it comes to the student body, UIUC’s middle 50 ACT scores range from 27-33, while middle 50 SAT scores range from 1360-1480. With an acceptance rate of about 66%, UIUC is a fairly selective school.

One final thing to keep in mind is that UIUC is not a Common Application school. That means you’ll have to submit a separate application either on the school’s website or by mail.This also means UIUC won’t be reading your Common App essay, meaning that the school-specific essays count for even more. Read more to understand all our tips and tricks. So, lets dive into prompt 1! 

“Additional information that you believe should be included” (200 words) 

One big misconception about these sorts of “additional information” questions is that your application hinges on them. On the contrary, these questions best serve to provide more context for your high school situation if the rest of your application is inadequate in doing so. They should never be a mere restatement of information your admission officers can find in the main application.

Because extenuating circumstances range so widely, there’s no set structure to follow for this response. Instead, below we have listed a few examples of suitable topics: 

• Perhaps you had a family emergency during class 10 that severel affected your mental health. As a result, your grades suffered
• Maybe you have a special skill/hobby worth mentioning that doesn’t appear anywhere on your activities section. For instance, you can code robots and have been creating simple solutions around your house
• Maybe you moved from a small town to a big city and found it hard to acclimatize.

These are some good things to get your creative motors running! We will continue this conversation with prompt on our next blog post. So keep checking this space! Like, comment, or come meet us if you’re in doubt!