A Step-by-Step Guide to the University of California Application
A college application is a book you have to write — you are the main character while admissions officers are the readers. So, what you have to do is make you as the main character appealing to the readers of your application. To make this possible, what you need to do is align all objective facts about yourself with subjective facts. Through this process, the key is expressing who you are as a person. However, the characteristics of yourself need to be attractive to the admissions officers, who want to select students that are best suited for their universities.
Today, we’re focusing on UC’s application portal. The UC application portal consists of 1) About you (personal information and background), 2) Campuses and Majors 3) Academic History and Test Scores, 4) Activities and Awards, 5) Scholarships & programs, and 6) Personal insight (essays). The Activities and Awards section is made up of objective information, while your personal essay will be made up of subjective information. Furthermore, the sections you can significantly improve in your college applications are the activities and essay sections. Therefore, today we’re going to help you present yourself as an attractive candidate to admissions officers in the clearest and consistent way possible in these two sections.
1. What is the UC Application?
The UC application processes applications for all 9 campuses that are part of the University of California: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, UCLA, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.
UC applications have two distinct characteristics. The first characteristic is that you need to check the campuses and majors of UC you want to apply to. That will be the first step of completing the application. The second characteristic is that UC applications require personal statements from students. You have to choose 4 prompts from out of 8, and write a 350-word response for each. We will provide detailed tips for writing the personal essay in the last part of our article today.
2. Filling out: The Academic History Section
The Academic History section is where you provide your academic scores. First, have your school transcript ready. Refer to the transcript and report the classes you took and the grades you received from them.
- When starting applications, you won’t have received grades for the classes you took during your senior year of high school. So, fill in the classes you are taking right now and the classes you plan to take in the future.
- “High school level classes” are not solely limited to classes that are provided by high schools, and can refer to any classes that are part of the high school curriculum.
- If you failed and had to retake a class to pass it, you should enter both grades.
- Before moving on to the next stage of the application, review the section again to make sure all the information you put in is correct!
3. Filling out: The Activities & Awards Section
The Activities & Awards section is where you have to write about the extracurriculars you were part of. You can write about any and all activities that you participated in during high school, and they don’t have to be school-organized activities.
UC applications require students to classify activities and awards between these 6 categories: Award or honor, educational preparation programs or other coursework, extracurricular activity, volunteering/community service, and work experience. The “education preparation programs” refer to academic activities during high school or activities that aim at preparing students for college.
- Prioritize when choosing
UC admissions state explicitly that they prefer quality over quantity. So, rather than listing as many activities as possible, selectively choose activities by prioritizing. Prioritize the activities you showed the most dedication to, and the ones that can convey who you are. The bottom line is to choose activities you spent the most time and effort in, and whose motivations show your values and interests.
- Be concise
You only get 350 characters, so don’t feel the need to write in complete sentences. Also, don’t repeat what you already wrote in the role/organization and descriptions box. You already have 60 characters to explain what your role was in the role/organization box!
Being concise also means making sure what you wrote conveys impact in a compact manner. Try not to be redundant, which means not repeating the same, abstract verb multiple times. Use detailed verbs that explain what exactly you accomplished. For example, don’t just write “help” — did you create material for the student you tutored? Or, did you provide guidance in academics and emotional support as a mentor? “Participate” is another abstract verb. Did you coordinate activities for club members, or plan volunteering activities? Dig deeper into each abstract verb!
- Emphasize impact
A great way to emphasize impact is to use numbers. If you participated in volunteering, how many families did you help or how much money did you raise? For example, writing that you “distributed over 300 meals to 200 families” is much more detailed and impactful than saying you “distributed food to the poor”. Additionally, you can illustrate how selective certain activities were, especially the ones that are part of the award or honor category. Don’t be shy and provide detail on how many other students participated in a competition.
Try to emphasize impact through leadership experiences you had as well. Leadership experiences are not limited to when you were the president or editor-in-chief. Think and write about the specific responsibilities you were in charge of.
- Don’t exaggerate
It’s easy to feel tempted to exaggerate certain aspects of your activities because they don’t feel impressive enough. But admissions officers will check to see if your application is consistent with recommendation letters and transcripts if you are accepted. Colleges can rescind offers of acceptance, so be honest!
Another way a lot of applicants unknowingly exaggerate is when they write about how they contributed to large-scale agendas they are passionate about, such as climate change or world poverty. However, writing that you helped slow down global warming in a high school activity can act as obstacles to admissions officers understanding exactly what you did. So, choose to be as detailed, rather than trying to sound as impressive as possible.
4. Writing the personal essay
The 8 essay prompts are provided in the UC application homepage. For your convenience, we have them listed here:
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.
2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem-solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
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?
6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
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?
- Choosing the prompts
Step 1: Check to see if there is any prompt that is identical to essays you’ve written for other colleges.
Colleges often require extremely similar prompts from students, whether it is intellectual passion or contribution to communities. Skim through all 8 prompts, and see if you’ve written a similar essay for Common App or other universities in the supplemental essay section. That way, you can limit the time and effort you put into each essay and instead focus on polishing a few outlines that you use for multiple applications. If you’ve found an identical college essay, summarize it into a few points and rewrite it into a 350-word response.
Step 2: Are there keywords of each prompt that stand out to you?
Each prompt contains keywords, which we listed down below for you. Read through the keywords and the questions they entail, and see if any of them catch your eyes. Do any of them remind you of experiences you want to delve into?
Keywords of Each Prompt:
Questions Prompts Entail (Source: UC Admissions)
Step 3: Brainstorm ideas and jot down outlines
If there are more than 4 prompts you want to write about, brainstorm ideas and jot down brief outlines to narrow them down. This process ensures that you don’t repeat the same episodes or convey the same values in multiple prompts, which is something you definitely want to avoid.
- Write the personal essays beforehand
When you start your application, you will only have 30 minutes to enter the essays. So, prepare all the answers to the questions in a separate document and simply copy and paste! Also, remember to proofread your essays and receive feedback from others.
