Point of UC Essay #3?

<p>I've heard different interpretations of what exactly they want in this essay, but was wondering if they were looking more of a personal side from the essay (such as explaining further a meaningful extracurricular or something like that), or something that's more academic (such as explaining bad grades,etc.)?</p>

<p>What were the personal statement topics this year?
When I applied.... UC's topics were bizzare, but Northwestern's was completely.... wacked.</p>