I was filling out the UC application and for Berkeley when I selected an Engineering major, it suggested that I talk about math/science in my personal statement. So if I do this, does that mean I have to submit that same essay to all other UCs I am applying to? Or do I write different ones for each UC?
I’m filling out a Common App and UC app and applying to ivies and other top schools. I was hoping that I could just copy and paste some of the essays for each application since most of the prompts are mostly the same. I haven’t looked into each app yet though. How many different full length personal statements should I expect to write?
In terms of personal statements. You won’t have to write too many. Probably just 1 for UC, 1 for common app. Now this does depend on all the schools you’re applying too. But exect each school to also require at least 1 supplemental essay. This really varies from schools. I made a first draft of a list and I had around 35 essays. I edited the list a bit and brought it down to about 18. So it all depends, check out their application and thats all there is to it!
Yes, you’ll submit that essay to all UCs. But you’ll be writing two UC statements, so if you can use the other to talk about whatever you like. You can probably use one of those two for common app as well.
After that, it depends. Most universities will ask you to write a supplemental. Sometimes this is is a full length essay, sometimes it’s several shorter ones. Georgia Tech, for example, requires the common app and 3 150 word supplements. Supplements are usually “why this college” or “why this major (at this college)” and thus need to carefully adapted if not written from scratch.
I would caution you not to “cut and paste” essays for any Ivy League application. For less selective schools feel free to cut and paste provided your answers are coherent and truthful. Admissions officers at the very top colleges will read your essays very carefully. It is better to apply to fewer schools and draft strong essays than to have more, weaker applications. To answer your question though, your primary common app essay should work for every college that uses the common app and in most cases there will be 3 or 4 short, college specific, essays. Although these essays may be short, they are very, very important