Questions on UC personal essays

Is it alright to put a quote in your essay…or is that considered plagiarism?
Also, what are mistakes I should absolutely avoid on the essays—from your experience??

Personally I wouldn’t put a quote in the essay unless its brief. There are too few words to be wasting space on a quote instead of talking more about yourself. But if you feel it adds some sort of significance and you have some extra space then why not. Ultimately its up to you.

The biggest mistake most people make is not talking enough about themselves and what they learned/ gained from the experience you are using. i.e. putting to much emphasis on fluff and background information. The UC’s want to hear about what you think, what you learned, what you gained etc…

I agree with @KeyakiRepublic.