UC Personal Insight Questions: how to choose and answer them

The eight questions, in short

• Leadership: a time you led or positively influenced others.
• Creativity: how you express your creative side.
• Talent or skill: your greatest one, and how you developed it.
• Educational opportunity or barrier: one you took advantage of or overcame.
• Challenge: the most significant one you faced, and how you responded.
• Academic subject: one that inspires you, and how you pursued it.
• Community: what you did to make your school or community better.
• Anything else: what makes you a strong candidate beyond the rest of your application.

How they differ from the Common App essay

• Shorter: 350 words each, so get to the point in the first sentence or two.
• More direct: answer the question asked, plainly. Literary openings eat words you need.
• Four pieces, not one: together they should cover different sides of you, without overlap.
• Evidence over atmosphere: concrete actions, results and reflection carry more weight than scene-setting.

How to choose your four

1. 1List what you most want UC to know about you: the main activities, experiences and qualities.
2. 2Match each one to the question it answers best.
3. 3Pick four that cover different ground, such as one academic, one about community or leadership, one about a challenge or circumstance, and one that shows character or creativity.
4. 4Avoid telling the same story twice from different angles.

Reusing your Common App essay

You can adapt material from your Common App essay, but rarely paste it in. Cutting 650 words to 350 usually means rebuilding the answer around the question rather than trimming sentences. Make sure each answer responds directly to its question.

Questions