How to Get into Berkeley Computer Science: A Student’s Advice on the UC PIQs
We recently interviewed a former student, Daniel L., on his experience responding to the UC personal insight questions. Daniel was accepted to study computer science at many UCs, including UC Berkeley, so we thought you might be interested in his responses.
Ben U: You mentioned that you worked with a couple of people on your college essays before me. Could you give a sense of their methodology?
Daniel L: They usually just quickly read through my essays, made a few small grammatical or individual word edits, and then called it done. It was more of a pat-yourself-on-the-back exercise than actual critical feedback that could help me significantly improve my writing. It gave me shallow happiness in the short term, but eventually, I realized it wasn’t doing anything meaningful to help me and was only hurting my chances of getting into top schools.
Ben U: How was my approach different?
Daniel L: On the first day we met, you told me to completely restart 2 of my PIQ essays, which was a genuine shock as I had already spent several hundred hours working on them. But, you didn’t tell me to blindly scrap everything and start over; you highlighted the fundamental mistakes in them, asked me about my activities, and then gave me some suggestions on what to write about instead. Even after that, you weren’t afraid to tell me “This sentence doesn’t work” or even “This entire paragraph doesn’t work” and suggest that I rewrite it. I really appreciated that level of criticism, which quickly rebuilt my essays into much stronger and more effective submissions.
Ben U: I remember there were some challenges in adapting to my approach. Could you describe what your experience was like?
Daniel L: At first, I was obviously hesitant to restart 2 of my PIQs. I didn’t want to throw away pieces of work I had put so many hours into. But, I realized that you were right, and it was either submit what I had and get rejected, or summon the courage to try again in hopes of better results. I worked tirelessly to draft new essays, and then edit them significantly with your advice. It was quite difficult to continue working and editing week after week, but eventually, it was finished and I had overcome the challenge. In the end, adapting your approach was worth it. It allowed me to choose between studying Computer Science at UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and UC Berkeley. I’m proud of my decisions that are a result of putting in the work to change my essays and follow your guidelines.
Ben U: You obviously put in some great applications, since you’ve now committed to Computer Science at UC Berkeley. Do you have any specific advice for people writing their UC personal insight questions (PIQs)?
Daniel L: Don’t write them like how you write your other college essays. Normal college essay personal statements or supplementals are usually stylized and emotional pieces of work. UC PIQs should be as straightforward as possible. Just get to the point, say what you accomplished, how it made an impact, and connect things together. No need for a dramatic introduction or a cliche conclusion. Imagine you’re being interviewed in person and are asked about your prior work experience; you wouldn’t spend five minutes vividly describing the scene of your previous cubicle or talk about how that one cup of coffee you had on the first day of the job was life-changing. You would just plainly explain your accomplishments and their impact.
Ben U: Beyond getting into Berkeley, what did you learn from the college essay writing process?
Daniel L: Good work takes time. I spent about 7 months writing my college essays. Many, many people I know started writing their essays the day before, or even the day of the deadline. Every single one of them is now faced with the choice of going to a safety school or community college.