The annual college application season is here, and you're likely balancing a mix of activities like internships, volunteering, clubs, summer programs, and language tests. When applying to universities, essays are one of the key components of your application. While many schools in the U.S. use the Common Application Essay, if you’re particularly interested in California schools, you’ll need to tackle the University of California (UC) Personal Insight Questions (PIQs). These prompts are unique to the UC system and different from the Common App.

The UC system offers 8 PIQs, and you’ll need to choose 4 to respond to. With 10 UC campuses spread across California, each campus will review your essays separately, so the same 4 essays can be used across multiple UC schools.

UC Essay Quick Tip: Just keep it simple. 

Seriously, this is not a spelling bee contest. You don’t need to use the hardest SAT vocabulary or approach it like a literary analysis essay. Instead, UCs are looking for genuine essays that show what you’ve done and how you’ve learned from your lived experiences.

Here are some specific writing tips for approaching the UC PIQs:

PIQ1 — Leadership

You don’t have to be the student council president to be a good leader. You could be a peer leader in class, a study partner, or a member of a volunteer group. Leadership comes in many forms. Focus your essay on "action" and "impact." Share a problem you identified and how you took the initiative to solve it. Even if the issue wasn’t fully resolved, discussing what you learned in the process will highlight your personal growth.

PIQ2 — Creativity

This prompt gives you the freedom to explore how you use creativity to solve problems. Creativity can take many forms, so don’t limit yourself to traditional definitions. Whether you’ve approached a challenge creatively in school, art, or another context, conclude your essay by discussing how this experience contributed to your personal growth and future goals.

PIQ3 — Talent/Skill

If you excel in a specific talent or skill, like dance, music, art, or sports, this is a great prompt for you. Focus on measurable expertise and explain how you've developed and applied this skill. You don’t need to be a jack-of-all-trades—highlight how you've honed your talent and what this skill means to you.

PIQ4 — Educational Opportunity/Barrier

This prompt has two options: Learning Opportunities or Challenges. Whether you choose one or both, focus on how you overcame subject-related difficulties, showing your problem-solving skills or determination. If you’re writing about learning opportunities, share how you used them to explore a subject more deeply. If you faced a barrier, focus on how you navigated the challenge. For example, if you couldn’t take a specific course at your school, explain how you found other ways to learn the material.

On the other hand, learning challenges are a more difficult topic to tackle because many students tend to mention a decline in grades, which does not provide substantial help for college applications. Therefore, if you must write about this topic, it is important to emphasize how you dealt with the difficulties encountered during the learning process. For example, if you were interested in taking AP Chemistry but could not immediately access the resources (such as your school not offering it or not having a teacher responsible for the subject), think about how you sought knowledge in other ways to overcome this obstacle. Strategy, ideas, and actions will be the key points to focus on in this topic.

PIQ5 — Challenge

Life is full of challenges, whether academic, social, or personal. The focus of Q5 is not necessarily to showcase an outstanding achievement but rather to demonstrate how you deal with difficulties. The admissions committee is interested in seeing your problem-solving skills and your ability to persevere when things do not go smoothly.

PIQ6 — Academic Subject

The theme of Q6 revolves around a specific subject that a student is interested in and how they can combine this interest with extracurricular activities to further explore the subject academically. Similar to Q2, you can add creative elements to your essay, sharing how you overcame challenges while learning the subject, completed certain projects, or took action to improve your knowledge and skills in this area. It is recommended to incorporate personal life experiences to create a story that resonates with the reader. Good examples include a student being inspired by a poetry collection in a literature class and then starting to study English literature. What admissions officers want to see is not how exceptional your performance in this field is but rather how much effort you are willing to put in to achieve your learning goals.

PIQ7 — Community

"Community" can mean many things—your school club, family, volunteer work, or cultural background. Focus on teamwork and problem-solving in this essay. Did you notice something missing in your community and take steps to fix it? What did you learn from the experience? The university is looking for students who are ready to contribute to their campus communities.

PIQ8 — Unique Perspective

If you have something unique about yourself that hasn’t been covered elsewhere in your application, this is your chance to share it. Make sure not to overlap this essay with other prompts, and use it as an opportunity to highlight any experiences, interests, or traits that make you stand out.

Remember, writing skills come with consistent practice. Regularly reading and writing will help you not only with your college applications but also with the challenges that come with entering college!