How to Pick Your UC PIQ Prompts
by Kathleen M.
For the University of California system, students will need to choose four of eight Personal Insight Questions. The UC admissions webpage provides a welcome video and a breakdown of the eight questions. Additionally, there is a handout on the webpage which breaks the process down into steps.
If you would like more info on the UC PIQs, this blog has a number of posts that would be helpful reading:
Prompt 1: Leadership
Prompt 2: Creativity
Prompt 3: Greatest Talent/Skill
Prompt 4: Overcoming Barriers
Prompt 5: Academic Challenge
Prompt 6: Favorite Academic Area
Prompt 7: Improving Your Community
Prompt 8: Filling in the Picture
So now you have read the prompts and can read some advice on how to proceed to pick your required UC essay prompts. I would take notes about how you might answer each prompt.
Maybe you have answers in mind for all eight, but maybe you can only see how you might answer six prompts. Then, be strategic about what you select – you want to showcase you and show how amazing you are – what answers will do the best job of that?
Once you have the number of prompts down to five or six (which you will eventually narrow down to four prompts), write short outlines of what you would say in your response. Remember that these are short essays of only 350 words. Unlike the Common App Essay, you will not have time to develop complicated metaphors here – you will have an introduction, maybe a paragraph or two, and a conclusion.
As you pick your 4 required PIQ prompts, remember to:
- Avoid repetition
- Select at least one that allows you to discuss what major you want to pursue
- Have fun with at least one response
- Make sure you provide a well rounded sense of who you are and why you would be an excellent college student.
