Wow that’s actually really good. I think that’s a perfect example of what they’re probably looking for, as long as you worded everything well. I remember someone on one of the past COSMOS forums wrote about something quite personal as well (he applied to an earthquake cluster) and he got accepted. Good job! 
This is kind of minor, but for the activities section, are you guys writing a short paragraph or in bullet points for the brief description part?
I wrote a short paragraph with more details. But bullet points will probably work too!
I’m just curious but how long did you guys spend on your essays (Statement of interest and the 200 word cluster things)
Pretty long, probably from the start date (Jan 20th) to now. It’s just a matter of rereading and revising the essays. I just submitted mine, hopefully i get in.
Oh dang, I had spring break this week so I finished mine all in this week. Idk if that was a good idea but I think I wrote a decently strong statement. Also, which cluster did you apply to?
Thanks! Just submitted my application. Best of luck to you!
I’m doing them paragraph style, but since the word limit is 50 words, the “paragraph” is really only 2 sentences.
Ah ok I see. I went ahead and wrote bullet points because it would have been really difficult for me to write complete sentences, since I was basically just listing my experiences.
Just curious, which clusters are you applying to?
I’m applying to UCD clusters 11 (future foods / sustainable aquaculture / aquaponics) and 7 (intro to plant microbiology) respectively as 1st and 2nd choice. : )
Apparently that specific combination of clusters is common…
I’m currently struggling with my second choice cluster specific essay even though it’s due tonight. I spent almost a week writing over 15 drafts of my 1st choice cluster essay… It’s probably the most frustrating essay I’ve had to write. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for me. 
Yea same, the second choice cluster essay is so hard to write
Oh I was considering those clusters, but I ultimately decided to apply for the UCSC marine bio ones. And 15 drafts?! Wow. I wrote one draft for each cluster, modified them a bit, and submitted LOL.
But yeah, it was difficult for me to write the cluster specific essays too; I felt as though I was being super repetitive the entire time. I’d say just to take a good look at the cluster descriptions, and write based off of that 
2 Likes
I heard that either everyone gets in their first choice cluster or gets rejected so not a lot of ppl get in their second choice clusters, but is that true?
1 Like
Yeah… It’s weird because I assumed the personal statement of interest essay would be the hardest one, given that the word limit is 100 words longer and it’s a quite broad prompt, but I was sooo wrong.
Does anyone have an idea of how competitve the plant microbiology cluster might be? I know all bio clusters are quite competitive but given that it’s plants, I didn’t think it would be that popular. I actually really want to do plant microbiology even though it’s my second choice.
i heard the same
Yeah I think that’s true especially if your second choice is even slightly competitive they probably won’t look at the second choice applicants.
My second choice cluster is Music and Tech at UCSD since I have a pretty deep music background so it’s not as competitive, but I think it’s still going to be really hard to get 2nd choice since there’s only like 20 ppl in each cluster
That’s my second choice cluster too!
Yo no way! What was your first choice cluster?
My first choice is Cluster 11: Autonomous Vehicles, what about you?