UC essay prompt 4. The perfect essay prompt to answer for students who consider themselves opportunists.
Before we start dissecting it, let’s take a look at what it says shall we?
“Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.“
Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that’s geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you — just to name a few.
If you choose to write about educational barriers you’ve faced, how did you overcome or strived to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who you are today?
UC Essay Prompt 4: UC Website
If you’re a thrill seeker or someone who finds chances and takes them, this is for you.
Of course, anyone can answer this question. It’s also a great one for students who have a strong certainty about what they want to study in the future. If you know what you want in a career, prompt 4 is for you!
Note that the UC schools (and practically any university in general) are going to be impressed by a student who has a solid understanding of what they want for their career. Students with a clear path demonstrate a determination that most lack.
However, this does NOT mean you’re obligated to know exactly what you want to study.
A university is a place of self-discovery and self-actualization. So, it’s okay not to have all the answers. If you know what you want to do in the future and you answer UC essay prompt 4 perfectly, that’s great! If not, that’s fine too!
Answering the UC PIQs is about using what you have to your advantage. You don’t need to be perfect in every way!
Now, for this article, we’ll be covering one of our successful UC PIQ 4 sample essays that worked. We’ll also be covering a few interesting parts that made it successful —and how you can implement them in your own essay too!
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Table of Contents
Is UC Essay Prompt 4 Worth Writing?
We all know what bad writing does for us.
A poorly written UC PIQ can easily chuck your application into the rejection pile.
Yikes.
Nonetheless, UC PIQ 4 can be a great prompt to answer if you want to impress admissions officers. The prompt is especially great since it allows students to show readers how they went above and beyond to take advantage. It also allows them to show how they overcame obstacles, which is another great way of depicting strong character and personality in the PIQs.
By showing a strong character, you can distinguish yourself from the rest of the admissions pool. So, if you’re answering UC PIQ 4, don’t skimp out!
For prompt 4 in particular, a bad essay may seem:
- As if you do not know what to do in the future.
- As if you are not dedicated to your educational career path.
- As if your educational opportunity cannot be proven to be significant or worthy of speaking about.
Now, here’s a question we get quite often here:
“Can I still write the UC essay prompt 4 if I am unsure of my barriers, educational opportunity, or future major?“
And, to that we say…
…it depends.
For some, it “COULD” work. For others, it may not.
Writing about how you took advantage of an educational opportunity despite not having a clear career path may demonstrate a strong sense of determination. And, it could also imply your opportunity wasn’t truly worth as much as expected.
There’s a risk. So, it truly does depend on how you answer the prompt.
If you’re not sure whether to answer UC essay prompt 4, we would heavily recommend speaking with a professional college admissions consultant and essay editor.
With that said, here’s our UC essay prompt 4 sample essay.
UC Essay Prompt 4: Sample Essay
“Two years ago, I approached Dr. _____ for a potential research opportunity. Initially, I was a little hesitant of approaching such a renowned economics professor, but I mustered up some courage and sent him a resume. Surprisingly, he accepted me as a co-author for one of his papers, giving me the responsibility of proving theorems, finding related literature, and even writing entire sections.
The keystone of my behavioral economics research paper is the tendency to prefer instant gratification over superior, but delayed rewards—this is referred to as “hyperbolic discounting,” which often manifests as procrastination. In our paper, we argue that humans cope with uncertainty through hyperbolic discounting. As I analyzed economic models, I began to appreciate our psychological explanation of irrationality. I realized that we were asking and answering important questions about human nature.
As I explored this realization, it occurred to me that I was surrounded by the works of philosophers like Hegel and Husserl—I found myself fascinated by the idea of rational choice philosophy, which states that humans consistently make decisions that maximize their happiness. Hegel had disproved this philosophy long ago, but its imperatives still survive as the core tenets of modern economics.
I recognized that our research is part of a movement that rejects these rationality assumptions, instead aiming to create realistic models based on human behavior. I began to ask questions:
“What actually happens when society is composed of perfectly rational agents?”
“Would rational people procrastinate?”
I started to see underpinnings of utilitarianism, a normative ethical philosophy I had encountered during debate, closely interlaced with modern economics.
By grappling with our problem and by drawing connections to other fields, I grew both intellectually and as a person. My research experience has greatly expanded my intellectual horizons—going above and beyond my professor’s expectations and engaging with the problem on my own has helped me understand our paper more clearly. In the same way, this opportunity has taught me to seek connections in the intersections of fields, because innovation thrives when we allow for interdisciplinary thinking—I hope to bring this same mindset to college.”
Example UC Essay Prompt 4 Essay That Got Accepted into UCSB and UCSD
What Made This Essay Work?
There are 4 notable elements of our UC PIQ 4 sample essay that made it effective. Though, you are NOT obligated to have ALL of these elements to get accepted into the University of California.
Consider these 4 points more as common traits across all successful UC PIQ essays that seem to get accepted. Then, consider implementing them into your own essay to maximize your acceptance rate.
The Power of Vulnerability.
Pay attention to this part of the sample essay.
“Two years ago, I approached Dr. _____ for a potential research opportunity. Initially, I was a little hesitant of approaching such a renowned economics professor, but I mustered up some courage and sent him a resume. Surprisingly, he accepted me as a co-author for one of his papers, giving me the responsibility of proving theorems, finding related literature, and even writing entire sections.”
Excerpt From First Paragraph. (Example UC Essay Prompt 4 Essay That Got Accepted into UCSB and UCSD)
In this section, our client took the chance to be vulnerable.
Conventional college admissions wisdom dictates that students should NOT demonstrate weakness, idiocy, or remotely anything negative about themselves in the application.
However, times have changed. The UC college essays have been changed to the “Personal” Insight Questions for a reason. Admissions officers want to know more about YOU. And, with that “you” comes a level of vulnerability.
Here, our client had the humbleness to show they are not beyond fear and embarrassment. They show a more real side to themselves that is capable of opening up; and, with that, admissions officers know that he is not boasting foolishly.
In your own UC PIQs, consider showing a part of yourself that is more real. Chances are, if you’re trying to take advantage of a significant educational opportunity or overcome an educational barrier, you’re not going to be feeling only courage.
You’re probably going to be feeling a good amount of fear, daring, excitement, anxiousness, and thrill. So, weave those elements into your essay. Be real!
Diversifying Paragraph Lengths.
This is a rather straightforward one. But, it needs to be said.
The UC PIQs need to be diverse in paragraph lengths.
In this UC essay prompt 4 sample essay, the paragraphs are all slightly different in length. Some paragraphs are a bit longer, and others are shorter. This helps the admissions officers read through the whole essay smoothly.
Think of your attention span when you’re reading boring documents. What do you notice about them?
Often, they have very similar paragraph lengths.
It doesn’t matter whether the text is very long or short. If the paragraphs are all the same length, the mind will have a very, very hard time following along. A good rule of thumb for the UC PIQ 4, which has a very limited word count of 350, is to not be afraid of making some paragraphs 1-2 lines.
This is not a conventional format for typical high school-level essays; but, it’s acceptable in all college essays!
The Importance of Flow.
You need flow!
We hear it just about everywhere. But, few really explain what flow is, let alone how to implement it into your own writing.
Take a look at this excerpt from our sample essay.
“I recognized that our research is part of a movement that rejects these rationality assumptions, instead aiming to create realistic models based on human behavior. I began to ask questions:
“What actually happens when society is composed of perfectly rational agents?”
“Would rational people procrastinate?”
I started to see underpinnings of utilitarianism, a normative ethical philosophy I had encountered during debate, closely interlaced with modern economics.
By grappling with our problem and by drawing connections to other fields, I grew both intellectually and as a person…”
Excerpt From First Paragraph. (Example UC Essay Prompt 4 Essay That Got Accepted into UCSB and UCSD)
If you read this part from beginning to end, you may notice that the writing is easy to follow. It’s not disorienting and it’s quite easy to understand from beginning to end.
The key here is to make sure the beginning of the first sentence reads naturally with a conversational tone. So, take a look at the first word of each sentence in our example.
- I
- I
- What
- Would
- I
- By
There is a “bit” of repetitiveness here, which we can admit may be improved. But, when strung into sentences, it reads naturally like a real-life conversation. A large part of making your sentences flow naturally is to make sure it mimics the natural structure of real-world tone.
So, don’t start every sentence with “Then” and “And then.”
Make it natural, and let it flow normally.
One tip that helps is to use transitional phrases when necessary. Students often don’t add transitional phrases when they normally could improve the writing and make it seem less choppy!
Note: this can actually be a bit difficult. For most students at the high school level, it’s actually quite difficult to write with a smooth flow. If you’re struggling with making your writing less choppy, consider speaking with us for a free consultation! We can help edit your UC PIQs to brush them up and make them presentable!
Forward Thinking.
For this UC essay prompt 4 sample essay, our client was clever enough to connect their passion for learning intersecting disciplines to their future experiences at the University of California.
This is a strong technique. It helps students demonstrate how their learning is not limited to just the experiences presented to them during their high school experience.
By showing admissions officers that you can carry on the principles you’ve learned into your 4 years at the University of California, you’ll demonstrate strong resolve and constant improvement.
This doesn’t just apply to the UC PIQ 4.
You can implement this philosophy into any of the other UC essay prompts (if the context of your writing allows it.)
Explain to admissions officers how the experience you learned from will help you in multiple facets of life inside and outside the college experience. It will show readers your ability to adapt to everyday life, and even make the most of the college experience at the University of California!
Have questions about the college admissions process? Concerned you won’t be able to get accepted due to the UC essay prompt 4? Don’t hesitate to give us a call! We’ll get back to you within 24 hours with a free consultation on how we can help you get accepted into your target and reach schools.