<p>um ok i have about a month and a few days to turn in my aplications and ive just barely started. the first thing im trying to takle is this essay thing and i suck at essays.im so confused about the whole essay thing. like for the academic prep part like i didnt really do any thing special in school i just took my classes with no aps or honors. should i write jus about how i took the sat's like 3 times?</p>
<p>please please help me out here</p>
<p>um also ive seen a couple sample essays and i dont thing they really follow the 3 things that uc asks about academic preparation, potential to contrebute, and open-ended question. like they talk about something that hapend in theyr life and it confuses me even more.</p>
<p>I will share with you the info the admissions counselor at berkeley gave us on a tour visit-- he said he trained application readers for Berkeley, so we took notes-- my d used his advice wisely, and she got into 5/5 uc's, including cal and ucla. Here's the key points:</p>
<ol>
<li> They aren't as much essays as much as they are personal statements. And they are so short-- think of it as one short statement, and two other paragraph writings. Look at your qualifications and ask yourself: what is my academic edge? What is the potential I have to contribute to the university community as a person? What do I want to app reader to know about me? Review your ecs, leadership, transcript. What details are missing? What are the strengths and weaknesses of my records? What are my life challenges, either ones created for me, or ones that I created for myself? When you finish your essays, the reader should be able to see you and your accomplishments in combination with your academic record, ec's, awards, com service.</li>
</ol>
<p>Think of it this way: ucla, berkeley, ucsd have nearly 200 people who read apps. They are looking for specific things, and they give scores of unknown formulas (except ucsd and davis- those you can see admissions formulas on the websites) to each section of your app. </p>
<p>Write it all without worrying about the word limit first, then edit, edit, edit. You will be challenged to keep under the word limit. Write it many times, paring it down to only those words necessary to make your ideas clear. Have many people who know you proofread it, so that any one of those 200 app readers will read it with the same clarity.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take one writing, profile your greatest strength/academic edge. Perhaps this is the 600 word one, maybe a 200. Then take another 200 word topic, and write about your potential to contribute (or vice versa). Don't say I'm going to come to uc and do this. Say instead this is what I did, and here's what motivated me. Here's what I learned from it. If you're having trouble with your topic, do your list of ecs/leadership and comm service first. What jumps out at you? What is your passion? What have you distinguished yourself doing? Spend the words on why you did it and what you learned from it, not what you did.</p></li>
<li><p>If some of your school results aren't what you have dreamed of, state why and what you did to overcome it. Show maturity and personal responsibility in your actions.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>
<p>thanx but um wat is ecs?</p>
<p>ecs------> extracurricular activites..</p>
<p>I'm tagging this thread :) Useful info.</p>