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Meri Khnkoyan

How to Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions (PIQ)



The UC Personal Insight Questions are simply and tedious at the same time. They ask questions that seem easy, but require you put in a lot of thought. And during the process of writing the essays, some students just don't focus on the right factors. Hence, we've made this blog post to give to a simplified idea of (1) what the admissions counselors are looking for, (2) how to think of essay topics, and (3) how to answer the UC Personal Insights Questions (PIQ).


You can also download my free Ultimate UC PIQ Guidebook below. It's an editable file that will provide you with more information and direct guidance.



What Are the Admissions Counselors Even Looking for?

  1. Admissions officers are looking for a direct answer to the questions that are being asked. The KEY to answer the UC applications questions are simple: JUST ANSWER THE QUESTIONS HEAD ON. Some students fumble around and try to be fancy, they write narratives and narratives that never really address the prompt. The UC essays aren't like other essay. These application readers don't care about how fancy your answers are, they simply care about whether you've answered the question or not. They want to read your direct answer to the prompt. Impress them with your depth and insight in the the answers your provide.

  2. The second thing admissions officers are looking for are good writing skills. They want to ensure that the students they're admitting their university campuses have skills that are up to university standards. So when you go through your applications, make sure that you've taken time to really eliminate any grammatical and punctuation errors.

  3. Finally, these universities are looking for students who will fit well with their universities. You have four essays to depict your values and interests to the UCs you're applying to. It's important that you really look into the schools to gauge whether the UCs are a good fit for you, and if so, consider what you can provide to those campuses and their environments that will contribute to their values.

How Do I Come Up With Good Essay Topics?

This is a tricky question to answer. For some essays, it's really simple. For others, it's very tedious and hard. Really, it depends on the essay and the story you have to tell.


There are usually one of two approaches students take for these essays:

  1. Consider a life event (possibly a difficulty or an illness) that really shaped the way you view life. Consider how this event has transformed you and your values to an extent that other students will not understand. I had a student who wrote about having a blood transfusion in the middle of high school. She talked about how that gave her a new perspective of life. Writing about a topic like this really shows the depth a student has and shows admissions officers that this student, in particular, has experienced something that very few people at her age could understand. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, she has acquired life lessons that reflect her outstanding character.

  2. Consider all of the extracurricular activities you've engaged in and how they've helped shape the person you are today. Think about the skills you've developed throughout those experiences. Consider the values you've upheld or possibly failed to uphold during those experiences and how they shaped who you've become as a result. Being vulnerable and transparent about your experiences helps show the admissions officers why you're applying for the major you've indicated in your application.

The best way to do this is to start off listing things you can talk about for each category. Start off with life events you'd like to discuss and list off (in bullet points). For events that aren't too drastic and happened too early to have influenced you in the present, consider taking those out. For example, if you're talking about breaking a hand in the 5th grade when the prompt asks for a significant challenge, keep in mind that breaking a hand doesn't at an age you barely remember is too early or too insignificant to waste an essay on, so just rule out that option.


Next, you want to understand what role each of the items you listed has had on your life. Once you've wrote a sentence or two next to your bullet point, go through the essay prompts and see which ones would match best with the prompts at hand.


Then, move on to the extracurricular activities and do the same. However, for extracurricular activities (or internships, etc.), you want to focus on those that are related to your major (or directed you to that major) and in which you've demonstrated excellence. For example, I had a student who wanted to major in Elementary Teaching. She had two clubs she could have talked about: (1) Speech and Debate and (2) elementary tutoring. Out of the two, she had a presidential position for her elementary tutoring internship. Talking about Speech and Debate when her experience and major are in Elementary Teaching would have wasted her entire application. It's important that you're also wise in the process of choosing the extracurriculars you prioritize in your applications. There can be exceptions, but they need to make sense with the picture you're trying to show the readers.



How Should I Answer the UC Personal Insight Questions?


There's usually a structure to how you should answer these questions. I've provided the link to our Ultimate UC PIQ Guide here if you'd like to fill in your answers as you go. Keep in mind that our free Ultimate UC PIQ Guide has more information than our blog. Also, make sure to use the guide that the University of California Admissions has provided by clicking here. Before you begin writing and figuring out how to answer your application, keep in mind that each sentence has to say something important about you. And you have only 8-10 minutes to impress the admissions officers (with all of your essays combined).


QUESTION 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.


The first thing that students do wrong with this prompt is that they don't realize they have to choose one of the following:

  1. Positively influenced others

  2. Helped resolve disputes

  3. Contributed to group efforts over time

And regardless of which one you choose, it has to be connected with a leadership activity. Here are some questions you can ask yourself in the process of choosing:

  1. Do I have an example of when I've used my leadership experience to positively influence others?

  2. Do I have an example of being in a leadership position in which I've helped resolve a dispute?

  3. Have I contributed to a group effort over time and demonstrated exceptional leadership in the process?

If you can answer "yes" to one of these questions, consider writing out an essay for this prompt. If you need more help, you can always contact our professional counselors or set up a free 15-minute consultation on our website.


QUESTION 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.


This question can be answered literally. There are a few examples the schools have provided of what creativity can be defined as. Your objective is to do the following:

  1. Discuss what this "creative side" is for you. This may require you to define what creativity means to you to begin with because this question IS NOT asking you "what is something creative that you do?" IT IS asking you "how do you express your creative side?" The difference between these is that for the latter, you're telling the admissions officers what you do when you want to do something for yourself, to push through your limitation and do something original. Think about it like this: an original idea regarding the field that interests you pops into your head suddenly, what do you do? What is this idea and how do you make it a reality?

  2. At the end of your essay, you can try to connect this to what you want to do today or how the skills you've acquired will aid you in your future aspirations.


Question 3: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?


A lot of students confuse prompts 2 and 3. These are very different prompts, although they overlap. I'd recommend choosing one of the two if you think your essays will be redundant. This question is referring to a talent or skill (pick one). Usually, when you talk about a talent, it may be something that you've had from a young age and cultivated over time. With a skill, it may be something that didn't necessarily come easily, rather it may be a byproduct of something that developed over time. Here are three objectives for answer this prompt:

  1. What is your GREATEST talent OR skill?

  2. How have you developed that?

  3. AND How have you demonstrated that over time?



Question 4: Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.


For this prompt, you're asked to either talk about a significant educational opportunity or an educational barrier. Make sure that you're not choosing both of those, rather choosing one or the other, and answer the prompt addressed for that question.


If you choose to talk about a significant educational opportunity, you have to make sure to consider the context in which you're writing. Consider what your educational opportunity will look like from the lens of an admissions officer. For example, an international student writing about getting a free, merit-based opportunity to attend Harvard's Summer Program is more likely to appeal to admissions officers compared to a student who paid to attend a similar program. This is what it means to consider the context in which you're writing. If the admissions officers are going to read thousands of essays regarding that same opportunity, and your opportunity has nothing that will make you personally stand out of the crowd, consider dropping it. However, if the educational opportunity was completely out of reach, and it's something you're very proud of, you can consider writing about it.


If you choose to talk about overcoming an educational barrier, you want it to really be of substance. Consider the fact that other students, when they address this prompt, may talk about their socioeconomic statuses, being homeless, experiencing a language barrier, experiencing serious health issues, etc. If your barrier was that you broke your hand and it caused your grades to plummet for a time being, I recommend you choose a different prompt. You still can write about it if you'd like to, but remember that other students will talk about how they overcame their educational barriers despite being homeless.


Question 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?


This prompt is very different from the prior one. Prompt 4 was asking about an educational barrier, the focus is NOT the challenge, rather how the student overcame the barrier. This prompt is asking you about a significant challenge, it doesn't have to relate to an educational barrier. You can talk about a challenge at a workplace or internship, virtually anything you feel properly addresses the prompt.


The mistakes that students make with this prompt is that they forget the second and third portions of the prompt. They spend most of their essays talking about the challenge and not how they overcame the challenge, and how it affected their academic achievements. You have to make sure it addresses the second and third objectives as well. Here is a breakdown of how many words should go into each:


  1. Most significant challenge - up to 75 words maximum

  2. Steps you have taken to overcome this challenge - 125 -175 words

  3. How this affected your academic achievements - up to 100 words

Question 6: Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.


Prompt 6 is very direct. Students who have taken a class and thought "wow, this seems like a subject I'd like to pursue" should consider writing this essay. For example, if you were interested in biology, but you took a chemistry class and realized that chemistry fits you better, this prompt is right for you. But that's not enough. You have to show how you furthered that interest outside the classroom. Talking about how you then went out of your way and got a research opportunity with a professor from UCLA or UCI is a great way to further your response.

  1. You have to talk about an academic subject that really gave you an "aha" moment.

  2. Then talk about what you've done to further this interest outside or inside the classroom.

Question 7: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?


This is an interesting essay prompt. You want to be honest and vulnerable because this question will allow the admissions officers to see who you really are. Follow these steps:

  1. Choose to talk about your school or community

  2. If you choose your community, begin by defining who is a part of your community. What does community mean to you? Which community are you a part of?

  3. Think about what you've done to contribute to that community. Your answer can be as simple as giving a flower to a child or helping a grandmother take her groceries across the road. You answer can also be as complex as organizing a community event or a fair to fundraise for your local charity. It can be anything.

  4. How did this make you feel? What did you learn from this experience?


Question 8: Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?


Some students will look at this prompt and freak out. Before you completely rule out the possibility of writing this prompt, let me share a few ways you can make this prompt work for you.


Think about a unique character, quality, or value that you have that is very unique to you. Consider how it has influenced you and shaped the person you are today. If it's a characteristics or quality, why does it make you stand out and why wouldn't you be the same without it? If it's a value that you feel is inseparable from yourself, how did you come to acquire this value? At the end of your essay, you need to talk about how you feel that characteristic, quality, or value will contribute to the UC campuses.


Remember, this essay is supposed to make you stand out. What makes you stand out among all the other candidates? This essay is both difficult and liberating because it allows you to talk about a quality or personality trait of yours that you feel it would be impossible to not talk about in any of your essays.


For more detailed advice, download our free Ultimate UC PIQ Guide below.



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