My UC essays are pretty creative, but they do answer the questions. I heard they make or break applications, and my school counselor doesn’t like that they’re creative (because I’m a STEM major). What do you guys think?
Tagging @lkg4answers
What do you mean by creative, @rrrmeme?
These are some UC counselor tips on the PIQ’s:
“Students need to think of the PIQ’s as interview questions and respond to them thus”
What works:
• Examples and details are helpful. Examples should be recent (focused on events in high school) when possible. If students reflect on life before high school they will need to explain how that situation impacted them as a high school student.
• The student doesn’t need to add details which place the reader in the moment with them. We don’t need to know that it was Tuesday at 2:15pm when the blue skateboard they were riding hit a green shard of glass and caused a 40 degree angle turn of their front wheel. Details should be about the experience instead (example – ‘I fell off my skateboard and ended up in a foot cast for 3 months walking on crutches.’ The detail here is due to their fall they had three months on crutches.)
So… which PIQ will help you provide clarity, context and depth? Which question will allow you to reflect and communicate about who you are today?
What does not work:
• It is important that students understand the purpose of these responses is for admissions readers to get to know them. Literary or descriptive language is not helpful in introducing the student to the stranger in admissions.
• Admissions readers cannot make assumptions about what they read. Therefore, flowery language, metaphors and analogies are not helpful since they create ambiguity.
• Quotes, lyrics and dialogue may note be the students words, thus making them unnecessary as they often detract from the response.
• Students should avoid attempts to entertain or “hook” the reader and should instead use their own words to share their story and voice.
The take away is the PIQ’s are not a creative writing assignment.
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Thanks for this reminder. I also remember reading something similar. They want more direct answers.
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My guess would be that PIQs can break you more than make you. If you have a very high UC GPA, very good ECs with leadership experience, apply to non impacted majors or programs, good PIQs can help but bad ones or controversial ones could turn the AO off. I wouldn’t suggest overly creative ones unless absolutely necessary.
I actually disagree with that, at least for some campuses. I would not underestimate their importance. They appear to carry more weight than, say, the common app essay does for many/most colleges. That’s why there are different expectations for how you should answer them. The PIQs are your job interview. They’re how you sell you application and set yourself apart from every other high achieving California student with (near) perfect grades and impressive ECs. So my speculation would be that they actually have power to make more than break, in part because of how competitive the applicant pool is - but, again, this may vary a bit by campus.
Yes, definitely agree with this, though. Be strategic with how you present yourself. Be someone the AO feels has something to contribute to the campus community.
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I agree that the PIQs are much more important now than say five years ago when the UCs required test scores. The AOs do need some information and data to base their admission decision for 125,000-140,000 applicants. However, if you have excellent grades, very challenging course work, top of your class status, and great ECs that demonstrate leadership, those, I believe, are significantly more important in getting into the UC schools and most programs. I cannot see how a UCLA admissions team can read 560,000 essays so closely to garner that much positive information from them unless that essay is so fantastic in its content. Remember that some programs also require video interviews and supplemental essays (Haas) which these items will likely be very important. Of course a poorly written or overly creative PIQ can also stand out potentially in a bad way. I guess if there’s a tie between applicants, the PIQs have to help or hurt (but in my mind mostly hurt) a student. My main point is that if you have everything else, great scores with a capped UC GPA above 4.2+, excellent ECs with leadership demonstrated, don’t throw away a likely acceptance to a top tier school with essays that could move you from an acceptance to a rejection.
But I think that is exactly why they generally don’t want “creative essays” with elaborate metaphors and poetic tangents. The ask for a straightforward, fact-based style that is easy to read and pull out relevant information from.
But again the problem is that thousands and thousands of applicants have these same qualities, at least for the top half of UC campuses, and they have to choose between them. That’s why I think the PIQs can be critical.
Aside from the “likely acceptance” part - there’s just no such thing as a “likely acceptance” at UCB, UCLA, and increasingly UCI and UCSD no matter how great your grades and ECs are - yes, absolutely agree.
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I agree with your opinions overall. Every aspect of one’s application is going to be important when you consider the fact that there are a 100,000+ applicants to 5-6 of the UCs and UCLA has a 9% acceptance rate, Cal an 11% rate, UCSD, UCI, and UCSB a 21-25% rate and test scores are no longer considered. However, my main point is that if you have the stats and ECs, and a better than 30-60% chance of getting into the school, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by trying to be creative to the point where it hurts your application. My suggestion is to stick to a solid PIQ rather than try to be overly creative. Since we are in the MLB post season, let me use an analogy…getting on base with a single or double may be better than trying to swing for the fences and striking out.
As for getting into any college, nothing is guaranteed. It’s all odds and percentages mixed in with some subjectiveness and luck. However, outside of some outliers, for the UCs, even Cal or UCLA, if your high school has a history of accepting a number of students each year and you happen to be the top of your class with all the numbers and stats, then there’s a definite probability of getting into a UC school. It’s not like an Ivy, MIT, Stanford, a little Ivy, or “new” Ivy where the number of acceptances are so low that most schools do not have some statistical history or data of accepting students from that high school.
But enough back and forth on this issue since it defeats the purpose of the original poster I’m sure.
Agreed.
Keep in mind that for the UCs, your application is considered with all your HS classmates who are applying to that campus. In the 5-6 minutes (maybe less) when the AO is reading your application, you are being evaluated with all your classmates in the context of what your school offers. You aren’t compared to the school down the road or in the next town. All told to me by an AO at Berkeley on the steps of Sproul.
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There are some really helpful videos out there about how to tackle the UC PIQ’s. The attached video provides some “things to avoid in your PIQ’s” starting around the 20:10 mark.
The advice you’ve received above is very much in line with what this UC admissions dept employee says in the video. Best of luck to you as you go through the UC Application process.
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2 posts were split to a new thread: UC GPA calculation and Mid-year Grades
Thanks for tagging me. I just returned from vacation and am catching up.
I volunteer to read scholarship applications and many times students re-use or slightly modify their PIQs. I see essays that are an easy read and get to the point vs something that I need to read three times to try to see if the candidate might have danced around, or remotely touched upon what I am asked to look for.
In my opinion, the UCs aren’t trying to trick you. They are telling you what to include in your PIQ. I think the most important thing is to look at the PIQ and the description below it. Make sure you clearly answer those questions. A lot of times students read the first five words and don’t dissect the rest of the prompt. If you can go into details about as much of the prompt as possible and still be creative, more power to you. Would I take substance and details over creativity? Every day, all day.
Dissecting a prompt using PIQ 1 as an example. I’ve bolded phrases that you should do your best to answer.
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have
1. positively influenced others
2. helped resolve disputes
3. contributed to group efforts over time.
A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a
1. mentor to others
2. acting as the person in charge of a specific task
3. taking the lead role in organizing an event or project.
Think about
1. what you accomplished
2. what you learned from the experience.
3. What were your responsibilities?
How did your experience change your perspective on leading others?
Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization?
Explain what you did and then be reflective. Did the experience change how you think or view things? What did you learn from the experience? Has that impacted what you want to study in college or your future goals?
I see a lot of essays where students state that they held a title/role and then proceed to write about what we did. Make sure you use “I” statements and tell what you did.
Finally, you don’t need to be the president to make an impact. Think about activities where you took initiative to make a change or where there was lack of leadership and you stepped up to make a difference. It might not be your most prestigious title/role.
Edit to link to a previous post regarding PIQ: UC Personal Insight Question (PIQ) #8? - #5 by lkg4answers
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Hey @lkg4answers I really liked how you phrased what a PIQ is supposed to be about and how we can best answer the prompt. I see that you derived the first 3 bullet points from the prompt itself, but I was wondering if there was a site for the other bullet points below that you mentioned.
The wording comes directly from the UC website Personal insight questions | UC Admissions
The prompt that I broke down into sections was Prompt 1. The website words it like this:
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.
Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?
Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?
Are you the parent or the student? There are some good videos on the UCSB Admissions YouTube channel. One is for students and the other is for counselors. The counselor video is long, but gives a lot of insight.
Yeah I wasn’t sure if what you said came from the admission website or not so just was making sure. Thank you for the quick response. I’m a student and was looking for the best way to write my UC PIQs. So far I have two done and am just getting a bit stuck for the next ones so I was trying to find something like what you sent to help me get started for certain prompts.
Which prompts are you stuck on?
Sorry for the late replies—I’ve been busy but will try to be more active. So far, I’ve used prompts 3, 5, and 7. I ruled out prompts 6 and 4 since I don’t have examples for those. That leaves prompts 1 and 2. I already used a strong answer for prompt 1 in my PIQ about benefiting my community/school. Now I’m stuck on prompt 2 because I’m not sure how to write about something creative I’ve done that colleges would find compelling and reflective of my strengths.