A Guide to Answering the Personal Insight Questions
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- čas přidán 25. 07. 2024
- If you are applying to UC this fall, watch this video! Here I offer some advice on how to go about the essays, what to write about, things to avoid and a few things to keep in mind. I have worked personally with the admissions team from both UCLA and UC Berkeley and what they told me was very valuable. I would like to share that information with everyone who doesn't have the opportunity to work with the schools one on one. Usually the schools have some kind of outreach program for community colleges so I would encourage you to get involved with at least one so you can maximize your experience and your application. I hope you find these pointers helpful and please check out my other videos about the application if you still need a little more direction. Remember that the application opens on August 1st so you should starting prepping as soon as possible!
Personal Insight Question Prompts
REQUIRED: Please describe how you have prepared for your intended major, including your readiness to succeed in your upper-division courses once you enroll at the university.
CHOOSE 3 OF THESE PROMPTS TO RESPOND TO:
1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
6. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
7. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?
Link to the UC Admissions Website: admission.universityofcaliforn...
Link to info about the Berkeley Summer Experience: admissions.berkeley.edu/berke...
About Me
-Name: Hailey Dollar (yes, that's my real last name)
-Age: 21
-School: UCLA
-Major: Applied Linguistics with a minor in Cognitive Science
-Fun fact: I love astrology! I am an aquarius sun sign with moon in aries and rising in sagittarius.
Let's connect!
/ haileyxdollar
/ stophailey2k18
Snapchat: @haileyddddd
Disclaimer: I am NOT affiliated in any way with the University of California, California Community College or California State University, or the admissions departments of these institutions. The information presented in this video is taken from my own personal experience.
i already failed step one: start early
better get to work then!
To make you feel better, I just started. Looking forward to meeting you on campus :D
Really came for my neck when she said “if it’s nov 20 then too late” LMAOOO
LMAO you better get cracking 😂😂😂
Sis it’s November 25 and I’m barely on my second piq
good luck
same
heyyyy it's november 29
How did it go for u?
your videos are so helpful, im currently watching a bunch of videos and taking notes before i start brianstorming and yours have been my favorite. also unrelated but your eyebrows are poppin
Hi Zoe, I'm really glad you find them helpful. And thank you! This video is from back in the pre-COVID days when you could actually walk into a waxing salon 😂Anyways, best of luck with your essays!
It is exactly November 20 today, and I haven't started my essay. LOL
get to work! lol
I did my entire application from scratch with 3 hours left until the deadline. Oops.
How did it go? Genuinely curious lol
Hi! I've found your videos to be super helpful as I'm working on my UC transfer apps. For the personal insight questions, do you think it's okay to write about multiple things in one PIQ? Like for the "leadership" question could I discuss multiple places where I've been a leader, or would you advise against that? Thank you!
Hi Ali, you only have 350 words, which wouldn't be enough room to adequately discuss multiple topics for most people. It's a better use of your space to pick one topic and go into more detail about it.
If I totally botch this app cycle I'm using your service next year. I'm mainly focused on a CSU Kinesiology degree and considered submitting some UC apps for various STEM programs, but I came up just short on UCLA and UCSD's transfer requirements, oof. I guess a couple years ago UCLA stopped accepting people who were pre-major for Physiology so you need a mountain of pre-reqs now.
DEFINITELY START EARLY both on your essays and planning your education path! Could be the difference between not just acceptance but being able to apply for another 6-12 months!
good luck to you!
So helpful!!! Thank you Hailey!!
thank you for watching
this was super helpful! thank u so much
Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching
Hi, Hailey. I love your video. I'm working on my application for transfer in fall 2019. I reach the personal insight question and i want to know if the essay have to be in 5 paragraph essay?
Hi Maria! No there is no specific format for the essay, you just need to make sure to answer the question.
Hey, quick question: so I am interested in art and I want to be a graphic design so should my insight questions have to be somewhat around my major? For example for the question about the academic subject that inspires me, I was thinking of either writing about art or French but I wasn't sure because I already wrote about art in another question. Thank you!
If the question is asking about an academic subject, you should probably write about your intended major. You can always change your response for the other prompt.
Hey quick question, if I have one activity that has aspects which spans a couple of prompts should I use that or try and come up with different stories to fit each essay?
Hi there! I would try not use a single topic for more than one prompt because your goal through the PIQs is to sell yourself to the schools. If you focus in one on thing you may not come across as very well rounded and your essays could be taken the wrong way. Try to have a theme for each essay rather than trying to talk about one thing across all of them. You only have 4 essays to explain yourself so you need to make it count. My advice would be to do some heavy brainstorming and come up with a unique theme for each essay that will really grab the reader's attention and show that you have a wide range of interests and skill sets. Hope this gives you some direction - good luck with your essays and your application!
Cool, thanks for the response!
Hello I’m a senior at the moment working on my applications I’m having trouble finding people to edit my personal insight essays do you think you could go through them for feedback? Thanks
Hi Daniela, unfortunately I am not available to edit essays. I would encourage you to have a counselor or English teacher at your school look over them for you. Good luck on your application!
wait i am super confused and new to this, do we submit all 4 piq essays
to one university or do we chose 1 out of the 4 piq to submit to colleges. Sorry i couldn't get enough help from my teachers due to covid can you please elaborate
HI Javi, you must respond 4 PIQ prompts. They will all be sent to all of the schools you choose to apply to.
Hi, I really appreciate your effort to inform the viewer about these tips. Although I heard that being at a very low GPA some UC won't even look at the application, Is this true?
Thank you for your time!
Hi! I am not on the admissions team, so I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors but I do not believe that this is true.
do you think it's better to explain W's and F's (I retook the classes and got As) in the additional comments section or the "significant challenge" PIQ if it's depression related? it lasted for like a year and a half + was a HUGE deal for me, but I also don't want to come across whiny or anything by writing an entire essay about it
Hi Kayla, it's totally up to you, they're going to read your entire application so it doesn't really matter where you mention as long as you mention it. As far as coming off too whiny, it's more about your delivery than the topic itself. Hope that helps! Good luck
Hey Hailey. My name is Angela and I'm a senior in high school right now. I've been thinking about applying to UCSB,UCR, UCSD, and UCLA. For the essay regarding hardships and challenges, do you think it would be a good idea for me to write about my experience with Conversion disorder (seizure-like tremors started overnight in start of my freshman year) and my new struggles with this disability has shaped me over these past 4 years and even impacted what I want to do in the future? I want to share my story but not in a way that's too vague or negative but one of a positive experience. Btw, I'm doing a lot better ever since this traumatic episode. My motor skills and walking have been greatly improving. Hope you are enjoying your time at UCLA. Rooting for you:)
Hey Angela, I think that is an amazing topic to write about for the hardship prompt. From what you just said in this comment right here it is clear that conversion disorder has had a huge life-altering impact on you and that is exactly the type of thing UC wants to hear about. The fact that you also want to discuss how you have made this experience a positive one is even better. Focus a lot on how you feel going through this experience and learning how to cope with the disorder and the changes that it impacted in your life and I think that you will have a really great essay. I'm so glad to hear that you are doing better and it's awesome that you are able to have such a positive outlook when many others would feel so defeated! You are very brave. I'm sure this determination will lend itself very nicely to pursuing a degree from one of the schools you mentioned. Thank you very much for your kind words and I am rooting for you as well 😊Good luck with your applications and with your senior year!
@@HaileyDollarGoesToCollege Thank you so much Hailey for replying to my comment. Your response just made me a thousand times more confident. Loving all your videos, keep it up. God bless you:)
I am so happy that I could help you out a little bit. And thank you for subscribing :~) God bless YOU!
What should I do if my challenge personal statement over laps with my additional information section where I talked about why I had a rough year? Thank you!
Hey there! None of your essays should overlap with each other. They should be unique as you have such a limited opportunity to explain yourself to the admissions committee. As I said in this video, the additional comments section is not a place to continue a PIQ essay, but provide any last information about yourself that will help them understand who you are.
Hailey Dollar Thanks! So the additional information I’m talking about is at the beginning of the application in the grades section. Should I leave it blank and hope they put two and two together when the read my personal question about a challenge and how it affected my academic performance?
you can give a brief explanation if you like, but if it's something you discuss in your essays then you don't really need to worry about explaining yourself twice
Hailey Dollar alright thank you
Is it recommended to use social issues to explain bad grades? (ex. toxic friendships)
Hi Thanh, that is up to your discretion but you will need to make a very compelling argument as to why that is the reason for your bad grades.
for the challenge uc essay what would be considered enough of a “challenge” to make a strong essay
kri j this depends on your personal experience. Check out the video where I read my essays if you need examples/inspiration
Could you tell that only GPA score is that enough for this uc Berkeley and how Indians should apply this UC BERKELEY.if we apply for this and i20 will be send to them.And VISA process will executive or not .i need this information clarity pls
I'm sorry but I really don't know anything about the application process for international students. You should contact the admissions department at Berkeley for assistance.
Just started writing my essays
good luck
@@HaileyDollarGoesToCollege For the creativity question, I am thinking about writing about how I learned runic cube, do you think that's a good idea
@@sudhanvad9023 I just made a video about choosing a topic, check it out!
Where should we answer the insight questions? They're not found in common app. :(
The PIQs are part of the UC application. The UC application exists on a separate website and is not part of the Common App.
It's November 21 >> I'll start tomorrow!! .. So does it mean my essays are gonna be shitty automatically??
That depends on you personally. Some people might be able to pull it together. My point is that waiting till the last minute does not give you the optimal time to write the essay, not that you are a shitty writer. It's always better to start early, but now that you have waited you will have to work extra hard to produce something that is up to par. It's a lot harder than it seems. I worked on these essays for months.
@@HaileyDollarGoesToCollege Thanks a lot for the quick response and let's hope for the best !!
Hi, I loved your video!! I’m currently working on My PIQs and I stumbled upon a question. For a couple of my chosen PIQs I talk about no more than three topics and relate it back to me and how it impacted me academically etc, but idk if I should do this or if it’s accepted. Should I just focus on one topic having a set theme or is it fine to focus on no more than three topics that all are very meaningful to me(and maybe connect to each other) and all share the same theme?
Hi, thanks for watching. Per the UC admissions website, the best approach to answering these prompts is to elaborate on a single topic. Good luck!
Do you have any tips on writing a good, simple and authentic essay in a short period of time?? Please I'm really panicking now.
I have a whole playlist about answering the PIQs on my channel, please check it out
@@HaileyDollarGoesToCollege sure but I'm kinda short on time right now but I'll squeeze it in. Thanks for all the effort .. wish me luck
good luck to you!
Poli sci cc student here, applying for university in the fall, my goal is ucsd and I’m feeling hella discouraged not having any extra curricular activities 😭
Just try your best! Good luck
did u get in?
If you don’t mind could u tell us about what happened?
@@ayoolaogunleye5960 hi I go to ucsc now!
@@hydroponic2103 is that were u wanted to go? Did they offer better things there or you didn’t get accepted?
what do you do if you want to go in undecided?
Hi there, this video is geared towards transfer applicants, who must apply with a specific major. Only freshman applicants can go in undecided, and they have a different set of prompts to answer. Hope that helps!
Hailey Dollar thank you!
But this was very helpful thank you so much
thanks for watching!
@@HaileyDollarGoesToCollege ofc! 💗
Its Nov 19 Im screaming I just have rough drafts of mine
good luck!
@@HaileyDollarGoesToCollege thank you sooo much!!! 🥰
fuuu i havent started
Well rip its november 20th
better get to work!