Transfer cc to UC philosophy major essay print 1 tips?

College Essays
1

Hey guys,

Thanks in advance for reading it and I know it is a bit long so posted TLDR at the bottom. :slight_smile:

I am so lost what to write about in my required personal insight question essay from the UC system about showing preparedness for your major. am a transfer student applicant for this cycle and my intended major is philosophy. However I am also taking premed courses and am intending to take more science courses at the UC and apply for medical school after.

In case it is helpful, my stats:
Transfer gpa: 3.5/3.6 (depending on how well I do this semester)
Major gpa: 4.0
Major prep and igetc: finished by spring
EC: very little. Working 35h a week to support myself
TAP/honors: only 1 semester so no TAP.

Since my major is philosophy should I write about philosophy in the first question? Should I mention being premed at all or wanting to go to medical school? My aspirations aren’t to go to graduate school as a philosopher. I don’t feel like I have done a lot of extra major prep outside of taking the prerequisites. I haven’t volunteered or done research related to philosophy or any internship (shadowing a philosopher? What are you doing? Thinking! Ah.)
I use my skills learned in my logic class but mostly in academics (being able to analyze and write essays fairly quickly and learning about argument structure is helpful in any course) but outside of school I don’t feel like I have done enough.
The only thing that I can think of is that I work as a nanny and the kids I babysit will often have very philosophical questions followed by: “but whyyyyy” and I’ll always do my best to answer them.

How would I approach the essay prompt? Can I talk about the babysitting? I just feel like it isn’t impressive or educated enough.

Also, I tried getting into medical school in my own country (somewhere in Europe) and didn’t get in so I chose to pursue it here. I feel like that is something that shows perseverance, but I don’t want to come across as being dumb for not getting into medical school over there. Any tips on how to spin that?

TLDR: lost philo major transfer applicant to UC system doesn’t have much to show preparedness for her major other than answering questions from children.
Also wonders how to show perseverance without looking inadequate.

2

Hey there! From what I gathered, talk about this, you explicitly stated, “I use my skills learned in my logic class but mostly in academics (being able to analyze and write essays fairly quickly and learning about argument structure is helpful in any course) but outside of school I don’t feel like I have done enough”. Although you feel like you haven’t done so much outside, talk about how in majoring in philosophy you’ve gained the skills to accomplish tasks and therefore talk about how will you continue to apply that at a UC and in the future.