University of California Admissions

I live in California, and many students from the state are keenly focussed on admission to the University of California. I therefore offer an essay package that focusses solely on UC essays. Please see my services and rates page for more information about this package.

There are ten campuses in the UC system: Berkeley • Davis • Irvine • Los Angeles • Merced • Riverside • San Diego • San Francisco • Santa Barbara • Santa Cruz. UC San Francisco offers only graduate/professional education. 

THE UCS DO NOT CONSIDER ACT/SAT SCORES AS THEY ARE TEST-BLIND. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS TEST-OPTIONAL. SCORES WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED EVEN IF YOU SEND THEM.

UC admissions are very competitive, esp. for Berkeley and UCLA. UCLA, for instance, received 173,400 applications this year. Admission statistics at UCLA for 2023-24 are as follows:

Source: https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/freshman/freshman-profile/2023

If you are a student without any special hooks or circumstances (e.g. great personal hardship, or remarkable athletic achievements), you really want to be in the 75th percentile to be competitive for UCLA.

How do you write the UC PIQ Responses?

UC has its own application, which does not overlap with the Common App. The essay portion of the UC application consists of 8 personal insight questions (PIQs). You need to answer 4 of these questions in your app. Each of the responses has a limit of 350 words, and you can apply to as many UC campuses as you like with the same 4 essays.

Here are UC's guidelines regarding responses to their prompts.

"Imagine UC was a person. If we met face-to-face, what would you want us to know about you? These personal insight questions allow you to tell us. You could write about your creative side. Your thoughts on leadership. A challenge you’ve faced. Whatever questions you answer, make sure you show us your personality—just as you would in real life.”

“There is no right or wrong way to answer these questions: It’s about getting to know your personality, background, interests and achievements in your own unique voice.”

BERKELEY: “At Berkeley we use personal insight questions to:

Discover and evaluate distinctions among applicants whose academic records are often very similar.

Gain insight into your level of academic, personal and extracurricular achievement.

Provide us with information that may not be evident in other parts of the application”

DAVIS: “Your responses allow us to get to know you through your experiences and accomplishments...Your responses should elaborate upon any insights you gained or how your outlook, activities, commitment or goals have been influenced.

• Provide specific examples of experiences, accomplishments, etc. that occurred during or after high school that weren’t captured in your application.

• Keep your responses focused on conveying your strengths and positive qualities.”

UCLA: “As we read your application, including your answers to the personal insight questions, we’re looking for evidence of your intellectual curiosity and your interest in personal development. UCLA has such a creative, ambitious and diverse student body. We’re always on the lookout for applicants who will contribute to the intellectual vitality, cultural life and diversity of UCLA.”

All excerpts from the UC admissions site and individual campus websites.

SINCE THE UCS NOW ARE TEST-BLIND, THE PIQ RESPONSES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER BEFORE!

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A note on plagiarism

Please don’t sabotage your application by borrowing words, ideas, or structures from the internet for your PIQ responses. Like all universities, UC runs all answers through a plagiarism checker. Plagiarism isn’t just copying and pasting (or paraphrasing) sentences; it includes borrowing structures and ideas from other people’s writing. It is hugely unethical to pass off other people’s work as your own. Please see this note from UC below for further details.

Please see my services and rates page for more information about my package for the UC application essays.