<h1>1) Academic Preparation - For this one, I truly have no idea. I don't want to sound generic by saying "I took X ap classes and did this and that". That sounds way too general and doesn't say anything about the person I am. I'm thinkning writing about how I purposefully took a fine arts course during summer JUST SO I could have enough room in my senior class schedule for AP Bio. I wanted to exhaust (or come damn close to) my HS's AP science department. I wanted to take as MANY science courses as possible to strengthen my science background when I begin majoring in Chemistry @ whatever UC I attend. Is this a good idea?</h1>
<h1>2) Potential to contribute; talent, experience; - another one i kinda have no idea about. actually i have SOME ideas and here they are: im thinking about writing about my 'self-indepedancy' but i dont know, that too sounds TOO generic and too good to be true. i can talk about how i registered to vote and how that made me realize that every person matters in this country, i can talk about my LOVE of political debate and thus would fit it nicely with the whole voting thing. this is probably the hardest question</h1>
<h1>3- open ended- this is the only one im about 65% sure on. im thinking about writing it on how i had to take care of my sister from the moment we both arrived school up until my parents came home from work during my freshman and sophmore years. during junior year, my dad lost his job and he stayed home and took care of her (shes 5 yrs younger than me). i didnt exactly have my drivers license...I DONT KNOW!! HELPPPPP</h1>
<p>Okay, I do not know if this will really help you, but this is what my English teacher told me to do last year when I was applying to the UCs.</p>
<p>You need to make your personal statement sound interesting. They do not want you to just say I am great, I took these classes, thus I am great. His advice to us was to tell a story that demonstrates your ablities, your strengh, willpower ect, or how you thought one thing was true and learned something different. The important thing is that it is a little story that says something about you and clues in the person reading your essay, who you are, and why you deserve to go to there school. Facts and dates are true, but sometimes a story and the context of it can be more true than just facts. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Here is an example of my one of essays</p>
<p>Question 2:</p>
<p>I told the story about me and NJROTC and how I joined it to just prove to myself that I could do it, since it is something compeletly opposite of my interests. (It tells the UCs that I love to challenge myself, and I a lot of willpower, without acutally saying it). </p>
<p>I hope this helps a little, by the way I am a freshman at UCLA, and I was accepted to Berkeley.</p>
<p>But "doing it just to prove it to myself" sounds too generic too! For some reason, it seems that being unique seems to be what EVERYONE wants, thus making me sound the same as everyone else.</p>
<p>The point was more that, it is less about what you say, but how you say it, that can make it unique. Everyone is saying the same thing, pick me to go there, I am great, at least that is what everyone wants. </p>
<p>Another example the guy at my high school who is going to USC with a full ride. He wrote about his experience learning ju-jutsu, and how it taught him something new, and made him look and understand the world differently.</p>
<p>This advice helped me, I spent two solid weeks working on my essays and getting advice from various people. It could not work for you. I was just trying to help.</p>
<p>I heard UCs don't even read the essays. Oh yeah be concise. Talk about one or two points. Don't elaborate too much. Writing a well-constructed essay in 200 words is harder than it sounds. I write 300 words or more for a solid PARAGRAPH.</p>
<p>Maybe on the second one I can write about Amnesty International...kind of recycle the one I wrote for the Common Application short answer and adapt it...anyway yeah I guess you would talk about extracurriculars and what kind of person you are in general.</p>
<p>Yeah I still have my essays, one is good, one is fairly good, and one is okay. To be honest, who acutally knows what gets you into some UC's especially Berkeley and UCLA. Some pepole get in with 1700 SAT's, others dont get in with 2000+ SATs, GPA is a little more constant, but still. If you really want to get into a school you should work on the essays. Granted if you had the perfect GPA, the perfect SAT's and the perfect extra curriculars, then your essay doesn't have to be great. They probably won't care too much about it. But, if your not perfect, or that perfect, and you really want to get into, a top UC, then work at it, seriously it couldn't hurt.</p>
<p>So it's okay to spew my liberal beliefs and the whole voting thing on my 2nd essay?</p>
<p>for #1, im trying to think about an idea.....perhaps my online course (intro to theater arts)? but in reality, the only reason i took that class was to make room for ap biology (because i wanted to take as many science classes as i could to improve my science background headed into college)</p>
<p>After a period of reflection, how's this idea:</p>
<p>1) I could talk about my move from Montreal to US and how that made me COMPLETELY 100% forget the french language. i thus pursued it in all four years of high school to prove to myself that a language can truly be relearned to be able to speak to my friends in canada again (because they cannot speak english) i had to use a translator. so in other words, i took french all 4 years to further prove to myself that i could relearn a lang and also because i felt it to be compulsory to learn the language i grew up with.</p>
<p>Yeah I got it. Here are my essay possiblities so far. Help me pick one out.</p>
<p>Question #2
2. Tell us about a talent, experience, contribution or personal quality you will bring to the University of California. </p>
<ul>
<li>political PASSION, I voted, registered</li>
</ul>
<p>Question #3
Is there anything you would like us to know about you or your academic record that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in this application?</p>
<ul>
<li> my plans for the future</li>
<li> dad got screwed from the Iranian revolution in iraq war, couldnt complete phd and moved to canada driving taxies; thus, i value educationALOT. I am planning on not following his mistake</li>
<li> move from 1998 from Montreal to USA. Learned English in three months and the hardships i endured during the first couple of months.</li>
</ul>
<p>Your topic for essay 2 seems fine, but keep in mind they are looking for what you can contribute to the UC if you are accepted. This being said, if the registering to vote was something that really influcenced you and helped you see things in a different way, it is a very good topic to pick, because it shows the UC readers that you have an open mind, willing to learn etc. Besides the fact that you have already realized the importace of the political process. </p>
<p>Your topics for essay 3 seem okay, but I would be careful if I were you. Eventhough I am sure you are not trying to create a sob story out of your life it can be taken this way by someone who is reading your essay. I had somewhat of a similar situation, but far less exteme. My mom never went to college, she has been in and out of jobs at least for 3 months out of every year since I was 9. We were almost kicked out of our house several times etc. I really wanted to write about this for one of my essays too, but everytime it came off in a sob story kind of way. Even though I was trying to point out how much I valued education and was going to stick with it and try my best no matter what. I will PM you my essay 1 that can also be used here just to help out.</p>
<p>I ended up writing about my plans for the future on essay 3 too :), but I personally think it is my weakest one.</p>
<p>students,
UC definitely reads the essays. They especially read them because UC accepts no teacher recs, & they only interview for the specialty scholarships that sometimes accompany achievement, such as the Regents or the Alumni scholarships. Therefore the personal statement is quite important, & has been defining, positively & negatively, for many an applicant.</p>
<p>What you don't want to do is sound trite (or "generic"). If it looks as if not a lot of thought was put into it, that also can sink you. It should provide a clear picture of you as an individual and as a student. And as to "contribution to UC," it helps if you've researched its academic programs well, as those apply to your interests. </p>
<p>You also do not want to sound bored with the idea of writing the essay. There was a thread over a year ago on CC on which were posted actual UC application essays & the accompanying GPA, etc. info. One of the examples was a very high-scoring, high-GPA student who clearly had put very little effort into his essay, but whose numbers were higher than most of the other examples. He was rejected.</p>
<p>I thought UC essay #3 was for us to elaborate on our personal circumstances....could talking about my future plans really answer the question at hand?></p>
<p>Ratcreature could I see your essays too? I'm having a tough time with this as well.</p>
<p>For the UC essay #2, I'm thinking of writing about my passion for breakdancing, would that be pretty good? Or is the topic of dancing too common?</p>