UC Essay Examples: If you’re applying to any University of California campus as an incoming freshman, then note. You have a special challenge ahead of you. Applicants to one of the University of California campuses must write four short essays.
Also, the UC essay examples shown below reveal will give you more insight. However, know that both essays have their strengths and weaknesses. Thus, read them carefully and learn from them.
The essay is in response to the UC application’s Personal Insight Questions. However, don’t get nervous about this. Because this article will guide you.
Understanding the Uc Essay Prompt
Before you are shown some Uc essay examples, please note. You can start writing the Uc by understanding the Uc essay prompt. And this is can be done by asking yourself the following questions to see if this prompt is right for you:
- Is there a part of you that’s unique that you haven’t been able to talk about in other parts of your application?
- Also, have you started any initiatives or clubs that you would like to further highlight?
- Furthermore, what is your passion?
- Also, what has been your biggest inspiration?
- Lastly, how do you spend your free time?
Strategizing and Writing a Good Uc Essay
Before you are shown some Uc essay examples, please note. You can strategize and write a good Uc essay by following these procedures:
- Choose a topic that can help distinguish you from other applicants.
- Also, once you’ve written your essay, note. Make sure that your response can’t fit any of the previous prompts.
- Furthermore, it’s important you highlight a part of yourself.
- Also, elaborate on your goals and interests.
- Lastly, convey why you would be a valuable addition to a University of California school.
Additional Tips for Tackling the Uc Essay
Before you are shown some Uc essay examples, please note. Follow these tips to also tackle the Uc essay:
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Make the Choice that’s Right for You
The UC essays have provided options. Thus, make sure you choose the four questions that will make you stand out!
Also, focus on showing who you are and what makes you unique. However, if you don’t have a story that fits a particular prompt, choose a different one. T
Also, note that the UC essays need to emphasize why you’re a must-have candidate. Thus, make your selections accordingly.
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Don’t Repeat Your Activities List
The University of California application system provides 20 slots for you to talk about your extracurricular activities. Also, 20 for volunteering experiences. Furthermore, 20 for employment opportunities. And another 20 for awards and honors.
Thus, that’s up to 80 different possibilities that you can list. As such, it’s all the more important to be sure your UC essays don’t overlap with the information that you’ve described in those sections.
Also know that admissions officers have very limited time. And don’t want to read about the same topic, so make sure you cover new information!
Uc Essay Examples
Below are some of the Uc essay examples:
Example 1
For one of her Personal Insight essays, Angie responded to question #2: Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem-solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistic, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
Here is her essay:
I’m not great at drawing. Even after taking the required art classes in elementary and middle school, I don’t really see myself becoming a famous artist anytime soon. I’m most comfortable creating stick figures and notebook doodles.
However, my lack of innate talent hasn’t kept me from using drawing to communicate or entertain through cartoons. Now, as I said, the artwork itself isn’t going to win any awards, but that’s only part of my creative process.
I draw cartoons to make my friends laugh, to make my siblings feel better if they’re having a bad day, to poke fun at myself. And I don’t make cartoons to show off my artistic ability; I make them because I think they’re fun to create, and (so far) other people enjoy them.
When I was about seven or eight, my sister got dumped by her boyfriend unexpectedly. She was feeling really down about it, and I was trying to think of something I could do that would cheer her up.
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So I drew a (pretty bad) likeness of her ex, made better by some rather unflattering details. It made my sister laugh, and I like to think I helped her through her break-up, even if only a little bit.
Since then, I’ve drawn caricatures of my teachers, friends, and celebrities, ventured a little into political cartooning, and started a series about my interactions with my idiotic cat, Gingerale. Cartooning is a way for me to be creative and express myself.
Not only am I being artistic (and I use that term loosely), but I’m using my imagination to create scenarios and figure out how how to represent people and things. I’ve learned what people find funny, and what is not funny.
I’ve come to realize that my drawing skills are not an important part of my cartooning. What is important is that I’m expressing myself, making others happy, and doing something small and silly, but also worthwhile.
SOURCE?:
Example 2
For one of his University of California Personal Insight essays, Terrance responded to option #6: Describe your favorite academic subject and explain how it has influenced you.
Here is his essay:
One of my strongest memories in elementary school is rehearsing for the annual “Learning on the Move” show. The fourth graders put on this show every year, each one focusing on something different. Our show was about food and making healthy choices.
We could pick which group to be in dancing, stage design, writing, or music. I chose music, not because I was interested in it the most, but because my best friend had picked it.
I remember the music director showing us a long row of various percussion instruments, and asking us what we thought different foods would sound like.
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This was not my first experience in playing an instrument, but I was a novice when it came to creating music, deciding what the music meant, and what its intent and meaning were.
Granted, choosing a güiro to represent scrambled eggs was not Beethoven writing his Ninth Symphony, but it was a start.
In middle school, I joined the orchestra, taking up the cello. Freshmen year of high school, I audi
tioned for and was accepted into, the regional youth symphony. More importantly, though, I took two semesters of Music Theory my sophomore year.
I love playing music, but I’ve learned that I love writing it even more. Since my high school only offers Music Theory I and II, I attended a summer music camp with a program in theory and composition.
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I learned so much, and I’m looking forward to pursuing a major in Music Composition. I find writing music is a way for me to express emotions and tell stories that are beyond language. Music is such a unifying force; it’s a way to communicate across languages and borders.
Music has been such a large part of my life—from fourth grade and on—and studying music and music composition is a way for me to create something beautiful and share it with others.
SOURCE?:
In summary, please take note. The UC essays hold a lot of importance in conveying what makes you tick while helping admissions officers understand how you will fit into their campuses.
While you can’t tailor your essay individually if you apply to multiple UC schools, note. Your essays can still demonstrate why you’re a strong and passionate student. And illustrate the ways you will bring value to the schools that admit you. Good luck!
StudentsandScholarship Team.
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