THE ILUMIN UC ESSAY PROMPT GUIDE: BREAKING DOWN THE 8 UC ESSAY PROMPTS

With eight prompts to choose from, writing essays for four UC Personal Insight Questions can seem like a daunting task. Where do I start? What do I talk about? Which prompts do I tackle? We’ll address these questions and take a look at the UC essay prompts, one by one. 

Let’s start with the basics. There are eight prompts; you have to write answers to four different prompts of your choice, with a maximum word count of 350 words each, which is not a lot of space. Since you’re constrained by the word limit, we recommend that students answer the prompt directly in the first three sentences and then describe the process or give specific examples in subsequent paragraphs. Since these essays are so short, students can tend to write too much background information and not get to the point. So remember, answer the actual prompt question within the first three sentences of your response.

Let’s breakdown the actual prompts below: 

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.  

We call this the leadership prompt. Even though the question is asking about your leadership experience, you need not have a specific position or title to use this essay question. Thus, the prompt can feature essays that talk about major fundraising and volunteering events that students have organized, but essays can also focus on experiences such as mentoring a fellow classmate who was having trouble in a subject you excelled in. Leadership is as simple as noticing a problem, choosing to do something about it, and acting to make things better. You don’t need a title to take those steps.

Prompt 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.  

This is the creativity and problem solving prompt. Notice that the question is not limited to experiences in the visual or performing arts; the question is asking when you have used creativity. Problem solving, innovation, and new strategies are all valid topics for this prompt. 

Prompt 2 is one of our favorite prompts because it captures many different experiences. Engineering and computer science students in particular usually skip over this prompt thinking it must be art-specific, but upon closer examination, these students find many activities that they could expand upon with this prompt. At the same time, business students can use this prompt to talk about social media marketing strategies they used or other innovative methods that they’ve applied to their ventures and projects. 

Prompt 3: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?  

This is the skills prompt; students can talk about anything they are good at and proud of. While students may think about major related skills--such as coding, research, musicianship, artistry--be sure to also consider soft skills. People skills such as networking, pitching, negotiating, are all fair game. Athleticism is also something you could write about here. Of course, being able to mention awards here is helpful, but a narrative about how you practiced the skill and how you’ve used it can be just as strong. 

Prompt 4: Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

We call this the “educational extras” prompt. We recommend that students use this prompt to talk about educational opportunities instead of focusing on the educational barrier part of the prompt. If you want to write about challenges, look at prompt 5 instead. 

When we examine the first half of this prompt, focused on educational opportunities, we see that this prompt is really asking what extracurricular opportunities did you pursue that were related to your major? Write about the experiences and opportunities that have added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for your career track. This can include online courses, jobs or internships, career-based clubs (such as DECA, FBLA), or competitions. 

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?

Prompt 5 focuses on educational challenges. This prompt should be rarely selected by students and should generally only feature certain stories. There are really two major reasons to select this prompt:

1. A challenge you experienced created a dip in your academic performance.

2. You experienced an unusual hardship that made it harder to focus during school.

This prompt is really meant for students to explain the obstacles they’ve faced and overcame regarding their academics in high school. Thus, potential topics for this prompt include mental health challenges, financial issues, and learning disabilities. Be sure to focus this essay on how you overcame these challenges and were resilient in the situation instead of writing extensively about the challenges themselves. 

If you wish to write about a non-academic or personal challenge you faced, such as a fear of public speaking, consider using prompt 2 (creatively solving your problem) or 3 (greatest talent = challenging yourself) instead. 

Prompt 6:  Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 

This is the academics and major prompt and is a good option for students who explored their major primarily through their coursework. Consider what your favorite academic subject in high school was and how it is connected to your intended major. Describe significant projects (could be assigned projects or independent projects) or reading (ditto) and how those developed your interest in the subject. Don’t forget to write about any extracurricular activities that are related to your intended major as well.

Another way to approach this prompt is as a chronological timeline of how you honed in on your intended major. Show how you explored the subject these past four years and what you did to pursue your interests. 

Prompt 7: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?  

Prompt 7 is the community essay. This prompt tends to be related to the leadership prompt, but this prompt is more helpful for talking about a broader impact. Again, students tend to run into the question of positions and titles, concerned that they weren’t involved in particular clubs or fundraising activities. 

A helpful comparison to consider is internal vs. external community impact. External impact looks like growing attendance or increasing fundraising amounts, while internal impact refers to changing relationships among students, such as building mentor-mentee relationships or taking care of team members better to avoid burnout. Similar to the leadership prompt, the notice-choose-act framework is helpful here as well. If you noticed an issue, chose to do something about it, and acted in a way that had greater impact among many, you likely have something to write about for this prompt. 

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?

We call prompt 8 the “supernova” prompt, and it is one of the prompts that most students should not write about. We highly recommend that students consider all seven other prompts first to see if their stories can fit in those categories; you should only consider using this prompt in two situations: 

1. You have a highly unusual life situation.

2. You are of national level talent or have achieved something worthy of national praise. 

Some examples for stories for prompt 8 include the need to take a gap year to serve in a foregin military as a citizenship requirement or creating an app or discovery that was a major news story. 

Here’s another question to consider when beginning to write about this prompt. Has someone else in your school or community done something similar? Since this prompt is asking about truly stand out reasons to consider you for admissions, if the answer is yes, then it is too common to write about using this prompt. Select one of the other seven to use. 

If you have more specific questions about the essay prompts or how to write your story, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.