UC Personal Insight Questions

University of California Personal Insight Questions (PIQs)

If you live on the West Coast, you probably know about the University of California personal insight questions (PIQs). Instead of writing a long Common App essay, you are given eight specific UC application prompts, and you’ll need to write four UC essays, each with a limit of 350 words. So if you’re one of the 100,000 California high school seniors applying to the UCs this year, you’ll have to respond to these UC essay prompts, in addition to following the standard procedure for your other schools.

This may sound daunting, but it’s actually a very good thing. Why? Because the UC application questions are available early (on October 1) and these UC prompts provide excellent training for the personal statement you’ll need to write for your other schools. The UC personal insight questions force you to start thinking about all the major issues you might want to address in your personal statement (leadership, creativity, challenges, community service, etc), without putting too much pressure on any one of your responses.

So if you’re applying to the University of California, we’ll use the UC supplemental essays as a launching pad for the rest of your college applications. You’ll start by meeting with your mentor and brainstorming which four personal insight questions (UC) best apply to you. You’ll gain further insight as you reflect on your experiences and put your ideas down on paper. And by the time you get to the personal statement for your other college applications, it will be absolutely clear which narrative to focus on.

The UC application essays provide a perfect opportunity for us to put Our Philosophy into practice — they help us lead you through your thought process, step by step, so you end up distinguishing yourself when you put your thoughts on the page.