The UC asks 8 “personal insight questions.” You will choose 4 of those questions to answer. You have only 350 words per question.

It’s important to note these are Personal Insight Questions, not essay prompts. We are not looking for thesis statements or topic sentences. Rather, we seek focus and clarity; a direct response to the question. These responses are not read for style or grammar, so try to avoid dialogue, “scene setting” and other elements of flowery writing. Instead, try to be as clear, concise, and precise as possible when writing these responses.

The UC Reader wants to know who you are, what you've done, and how you will contribute to the campus. The reader wants concrete evidence for their 14-Point Criteria for admission. The reader will be asking questions about you, such as:

• Do you take initiative or are you a follower?

• How do you know your major is a good fit?

• What are you passionate about and why?

• How do you react to setbacks and failures?”

And then the follow up question is: “How do I know that’s true?”

So you need two major parts of your essay. You need to provide specific examples and stories of your choices and the results of those choices. And you need to explain what that means about how you will contribute positively to the campus. Give clear-as-day specifics of what you’ve done.

That way the UC Reader can tell another: “This student is an impassioned leader. How do I know that? Well, he had this powerful and clear example of how he...”

To help, we've simplified each prompt as a direct "I" statement: