Mistake #3: Overlooking Parts of the Prompt
The UC prompts contain a lot of questions. Your essays should answer ALL relevant parts of the prompt. Missing part of the prompt will leave your admissions officer wondering what happened, and your essay will feel incomplete.
By ignoring part of the prompt, you end up communicating the wrong message. You show admissions officers that you haven’t quite followed instructions, and you miss out on an opportunity to reveal something else about yourself through the essay. Every essay is an opportunity to stand out, so don’t overlook any part of the prompts you respond to.
Mistake #4: Repeating Yourself in Your Essays
You’ll write four separate UC essays in your UC application. As we explain in our guide to answering the UC prompts, your job as an applicant is to choose four topics that complement each other and balance your application narrative.
Just as your personal statement and supplemental essays should complement each other, your four UC essays should also form a cohesive picture of who you are. If you're repeating the same experiences or personality traits, you're wasting valuable essay space.
The wrong approach:
Here’s what a bad breakdown of topics might look like…
- Essay Topic 1: Your leadership as captain of your debate team
- Essay Topic 2: Overcoming the challenges of a particularly tough debate you had
- Essay Topic 3: Expressing your creativity as a debater
- Essay Topic 4: Your interest in political science
Why is this breakdown bad? Because the topics are too redundant. We actually learn next to nothing about the student, their values, and their talents beyond debate.
The right approach:
- Essay Topic 1: Your leadership as captain of your debate team
- Essay Topic 2: Working with a speech and language pathologist on your stutter in high school
- Essay Topic 3: Expressing your creativity as a painter
- Essay Topic 4: Your interest in political science
In this breakdown, we can see the relationship between the student’s role in debate and their interest in political science. But we also see that they have personal experiences with a stutter and that they have a hobby painting. Overall, we get a much clearer picture of who this student is and where they come from.
That’s how all of your UC essays should work together to share your story with admissions officers.
Fixing Your UC Essay Mistakes
Now that we've pinpointed the common problems, it's time to go over how to fix them.
Start by understanding and sticking to the UC tone. You can get a good sense of the style by reviewing strong UC essay examples. Keep your language clear, specific, and engaging.
Next, don't mention specific UC campuses in your essays. These essays need to be relevant to all UC campuses you're applying to, so keep a broad perspective and focus on yourself.
Make sure you address every part of the prompt. Leaving out any question or part of the prompt—for example, don’t forget the “How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?” part of Prompt #5!—might lead the admissions officers to question your attentiveness. Before you start writing, break down the prompt and plan your response to each part. Diagram the prompt like this:
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?
a) Describe the most significant challenge you have faced
b) the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge
c) How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
With this diagram, we can see that there are THREE important questions the essay response needs to address. Diagramming each prompt you respond to will help you be sure not to miss anything.
Lastly, remember that each of your essays should show a different part of your story. Use each essay as an opportunity to highlight a different activity or experience that has shaped you.
Applying for UCs may seem daunting because of their unique requirements. It’s a whole application you have to put together, after all. But understanding these common mistakes from the get-go can help you save lots of time and effort.
TL;DR
UC essays require a particular tone and approach. To steer clear of common mistakes, make sure your tone aligns with the UC style, don't mention specific campuses, respond to every part of the prompt, and make sure each essay reveals a different part of who you are.
