University of California

University of California Essay Prompts 7+8: Tips, Tricks, and Ideas

Welcome back for another edition of UC app essays. Today, we go through essay prompts 7&8. Let’s get to it!

Prompt 7

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

Your community, which includes your school, could be as small as your local grocery store, your nearby pet adoption center, or even the adult baseball team that practices nearby. It could also be as large as your country or your ethnicity. Remember to illustrate your role in this community and why you identify with this community the most. This will lead you to talk about your underlying motives for the service you have done, and in turn, demonstrate the positive influence you have made. Do not be afraid to talk about your actions even if they did not produce a sweeping change; as long as the effort was genuine, change is change, no matter the scale.

Additionally, touch on what you learned from others through this service action or initiative, and how you will continue to learn from other community members in the future. This is a good safe essay since most of us do some community service which means its all about composing a good essay. 

Prompt 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 is the most open-ended any question can get. Of course, you can literally write about any and everything. However, the key is to ensure that whatever form you choose for it to be, the content’s focus can be summarized into two sentences that describe the uniqueness of your candidacy.

We highly recommend this particular process for this type of open-ended essays, but this same procedure could be used for any prompt.

This is the most open-ended any question can get. Of course, you can literally write about any and everything. However, the key is to ensure that whatever form you choose for it to be, the content’s focus can be summarized into two sentences that describe the uniqueness of your candidacy.

We highly recommend this particular process for this type of open-ended essays, but this same procedure could be used for any prompt.

1. On a blank piece of paper, jot down any and every idea, feeling, phrases, and keywords that pop into your head after reading this prompt.

2. Narrow your ideas down to one topic — for example, your habit of pausing at least five seconds before you respond to a conversation in writing or in real life.

3. Outline the structure of your essay, and plan out content for introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

4. Now, before you start writing the actual essay, condense into one to two sentences how you would like the admissions officers to perceive you after reading the essay.Piggybacking on the previous example: Natalie’s ability to force herself to thoroughly gather her thoughts before responding to any question or provocation allows her to avoid gaffes and undesired animosity during heated verbal exchanges. This has not only helped her maintain strong relationships with all the staff members of the clubs she leads, but will also help her navigate the political environment that she will face in the professional world.

5. Your entire essay should be dedicated to constructing the image you devised in step 4. At least 50% should be directly or indirectly referring to elements mentioned in your two-sentence summary. This allows you to avoid spending too much time recounting various anecdotes and lose track of what kind of personality you originally wanted to portray to the admissions officer.

This concludes our UC essay series! We hope that this helped! College essays can be challenging especially when deadlines are November 30th. Come chat with us if you have more questions!

University of California Essay Prompts 5+6: Tips, Tricks, and Ideas

Welcome back for another edition of UC app essays. Today, we go through essay prompts 5&6. Let’s get to it! 

Prompt 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?

The word “challenge” is extremely broad in scope and could range from financial hardships to familial circumstances to personal illness to learning disabilities. This prompt asks you to connect this obstacle with your academic situation, so it should have had an impact on your performance in school.

“Academic achievement” stretches far beyond grades on exams. It could mean your intellectual goals or your struggle to balance homework with your part-time job, and perhaps the strain in your relationships with peers and teachers due to such time constraints. As a result, think of the challenge first before deliberating whether it could be linked to something academic-related.

Make sure to talk about what you learned from the challenge, detailing growth and maturity along the way. You may not have risen above the challenge yet, and may have even been defeated, or may be conquering it right now. In all cases, development must exist, so be sure to document them. What has become different because of this challenge? Examples here can be difficult and require you to be vulnerable. This is good for students who aren’t shy of sharing. Its fine if you cant share, just choose one of the other prompts! 

Prompt 6 

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

First, reflect on an academic subject that makes you happy to study. What have you done in and/or outside of the classroom to learn more about it? Did you watch Too Big to Fail and brought it as discussion material to your economics teacher’s office hours? How do you plan to advance in your chosen subject if you do not intend to major in it? If you could create a college class that looked and sounded like your chosen subject, what would the class be called? What would the curriculum be like?

Remember to include concrete accomplishments such as research, internship, volunteer experience, homemade project that you pitched to the school board, etc. Do not forget to explain how your love for the subject drives the work you do, because the why can easily get lost in describing the what. 

Here are some examples: 

• You continued to develop apps and games even after you took computer science in class 9. Eventually, you became good enough to land a summer internship at a recently funded startup due to your self-taught knowledge of various programming languages.

• Sociology as subject fascinated you in class 11. You read a research paper about public health policy written by a researcher in your city.  Eventually, you mustered up the courage to email the author of the paper who agreed to let you assist his research for the next few months. 

We hope this helps! UC deadlines are November 30th. Come chat with us if you have more questions!

University of California Essay Prompts 3+4: Tips, Tricks, and Ideas

Welcome back for another edition of UC app essays. Today, we go through essay prompts 3&4. Let’s get to it! 

Prompt 3

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

Although it would be easy to list all the awards you have won in the activity you are best in, this prompt is looking for something deeper and more meaningful. It is perfectly fine to describe an activity you are dedicated to, but also think about the character and personality traits that tie into the activity, such as tenacity, honesty, and compassion. The key is to elucidate why this activity is worth putting all your time into, and how your personality strengths are exhibited through this activity. Describe the beauty and the meaning of the activity, convincing the admissions officers that this activity rightly takes precedence over everything else.

Do not be put off by this prompt if you have not won any big awards. All the prompt asks for is what you think is your greatest talent or skill.

Make sure to also address how you have developed and demonstrated this talent. Do you put in small amounts of practice every day, or strenuous hours for a couple short periods each year? Why do you allocate your time this way? How have you shown off your talent or skill to other people? Have you won competitions, done performances, gotten into showcases, or shined artistically? Here are a few examples:

• As a guitarist who has not yet won any big competitions, you visited the local non profit school to entertain students each week without fail. There, you found great meaning in your guitar playing — sharing your love of music with others.

• A star on your school’s basketball team, you have been playing ever since you were seven. As the captain, you have settled numerous feuds between players, as well as spiked team morale toward the end of the seasons. In this case, you could discuss the valuable leadership and teamwork experience you have gained through playing on the team.

Prompt 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 life. For example, participation in an honors enrichment program or enrollment in an academy geared toward a profession, or even a particularly enlightening conversation with an adult — just to name a few.

If you choose to write about educational barriers you have faced, what personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How has the process shaped you as a person? An added plus would be talking about passing it forward and helping those in your purview obtain the knowledge you did from your experiences.

We hope this helps! UC deadlines are November 30th. Come chat with us if you have more questions!

University of California Essay Prompts 1+2: Tips, Tricks, and Ideas

The University of California (UC) school system is the most prestigious state university system in the United States, and includes nine undergraduate universities: UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Riverside, UC Merced, and UC Irvine. Six of these campuses ranked in the top 50 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 college ranking, most notably Berkeley at 20 and UCLA at 24. Total enrollment at University of California schools sits above 250,000, with each campus having around 25,000 undergraduate students.  

University of California schools have their own application portal, and the deadline is November 30th, a full month before the Common Application is due. Every school is included in this application, so it is easy to apply to multiple UCs, finances permitting. The application requires you to answer four of the eight personal insight questions, with a 350-word limit on each prompt. The prompts may seem a lot but with some organization and thought, they can be easily cracked. Here at Edbrand, we are happy to help! To start, just remember:

  1. Do not rush into prompts at first glance. Make sure that you have jotted down potential ideas for all but the ones you want to avoid, and ultimately write about the one with the most substance.
  2. Your answers should be able to highlight what is most important to you.

Prompt 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

Here, the admissions officers want to see your leadership experience as more concrete than a “president” or “treasurer” title on your resume. They are looking for how you have fostered mentorship, creative tension, and group action in your organizationLeadership roles are not limited to titled positions or to the school environment.

For example, just because you were only a member in the chess club does not mean you cannot have taken leadership in organizing a tournament or fundraiser. If you have indeed occupied a leadership role, convince the admissions officers that you have used the position to positively influence others. 

Prompt 2 

By defining creativity as, but not limited to, problem-solving, novel thinking, and artistic expression, this prompt expands creativity to encompass all academic fields. Therefore, do not be put off by this prompt if you are not in a traditionally “creative” role (i.e., artist or poet). The prompt’s emphasis on problem-solving allows you to draw narratives from (seemingly) mundane everyday tasks such as creating a contraption to massage your tennis elbow.

Here are some examples:

• In math, devising a non-textbook method to proving theorems

• In politics, integrating new quantitative methods in technology to gauge voter proclivities

• In English, scouting for “locations of inspiration” to write your next short story

• In history, writing a journal piece detailing a unique way to view Hitler’s invasion of Poland

• In science, finding ways to offer affordable care to HIV patients

All these examples, if explained well, demonstrate creativity. Ideally, you would want to finish your essay by detailing how you will apply such creative thinking in college and beyond.

This concludes our UC essay series! We hope that this helped! College essays can be challenging especially when deadlines are November 30th. Come chat with us if you have more questions!