Author: Miriam Schaffer
High school seniors planning to apply to the University of California (UC) will benefit by beginning to work on the personal insight portion of their application. The UC application now includes eight personal insight questions and applicants are required to answer four of them with a maximum of 350 words each.
The UC personal insight questions connect with UC’s comprehensive review, which is a process that the UC evaluators use to consider applicants beyond test scores and grades to evaluate a student’s academic achievements “in light of the opportunities available to them and the capacity each student demonstrates to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus.” Click here to go to the UC website and read more about comprehensive review.
Tips for Writing UC Personal Insight Answers
- Remember the goal of the essays is to help the admissions committee to get to know you better. Write answers to the questions that showcase your personality and accomplishments.
- You cannot tell your entire life story. Focus on specific instances that bring your achievements and character to light. Think of each answer as a snapshot of who you are and what you have accomplished.
- Remember the evaluators are reading lots of applications. To stand out, be sure to answer the question, and also include some specific and if possible, out-of-the-ordinary elements, so it does not seem to be the same typical answer that dozens of students submit.
- Be careful with humor. If you think something’s funny, but it’s actually not amusing, or in poor taste, your answer will be unsuccessful. Have a teacher, counselor, college advisor, or others read your work and give you honest feedback.
- Each of your personal insight responses should be read and commented on by others prior to submittal. In addition to receiving feedback on the topic, make sure you have your work proofread and have any grammatical errors corrected.
- When beginning on each answer, write down ideas that come to mind and include specific examples that relate to your ideas.
- Consider making each of the four answers different so that you are not repeating yourself. After completing all four, think about whether the answers “paint” a picture of who you are, your character, personality, achievements, and values.
- You might want to end each of the 350 word personal insight answers by explaining how you benefitted, or what you learned from the instance you have described.
- Don’t just say that you are imaginative or a math whiz, give an example, and explain why that is important and any impact it has on your life, your community, or maybe the world.
- You can conclude your answers by commenting on how you hope what you have learned will be a part of your college studies, or perhaps your future.
Get Help Writing Your UC Personal Insight Answers
Sometimes students feel stuck and don’t know how to start writing. Colleges for You works with students from start to finish. We will help you with brainstorming ideas to develop your personal insight answers, work with you on edits all the way until your work is ready to submit with your application. To get started on your UC personal insight answers, contact us. There’s a lot of work to be done to create winning work. Don’t wait until the last minute.
UC has a tip sheet to help freshman applicants with writing answers to the personal insight questions.
- Written By: Miriam Schaffer
- September 05, 2016
