In today’s article, we cover with you you with three Successful UC Santa Cruz essay examples that we were provided to us. We thought this would be a rather interesting set of essay examples to cover because these were actually not edited by us.

These essays were one of the 47.4% accepted into UCSC, so having an unedited essay may give you some perspective. Speaking of acceptance rates, let’s take a look at what grades you’ll need to get into UCSC.

How Hard is it to get into UCSC?

Here are some of the grades that you will need to fit in the average accepted applicant pool. As you can see, less than half of the prospective students applying were accepted. The ones who were had decently high GPA and SAT marks.

UCSC Admissions Profile

1. Average GPA: 3.55
2. Average SAT: 1285
3. Admission Rate: 47.4%

So, what does that mean for us? That means that unless you are far above the average admissions pool, then you should consider taking your essays very seriously in order to get accepted. Think: 3.7+ GPA and 1350+ SAT.

With that said, let’s take a look at the successful UC Santa Cruz essay examples. The following successful UCSC essays are from a student with a decent set of grades in the Biology field.

3 Successful UC Santa Cruz Essay Examples

1. 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.

Fortunately, I have had the unique opportunity to be both a student AND, at the same time, a teacher in my field of study at my previous institution. While taking classes at Merced College, I worked as an instructional tutor of biology in the tutorial center. During my experience, I was able to continually (and almost religiously) practice the subject of biology and apply those concepts to each individual class I took. That being said, one of my professors told me that “teaching surely makes learning much easier.” I didn’t know how right my professor was until I experienced it myself. It was clear that the more I taught, the more I learned the material, so much so that I was even approved to tutor a biology class that I had not taken before! I knew then that I enjoyed the subject and understood it well enough to teach it to others. I especially enjoyed being able to familiarize myself with multiple sub-disciplines in the field of biology, from anatomy and physiology to molecular and cell biology, at all levels I felt confident as both a learner and a tutor for each discipline I taught. With my combined experience and proficient foundation in the subject, I am confident that I will succeed in my upper-division courses at any UC.

2. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

By the age of 13, I had already held the title of President for the Events Association Club at my junior high school. I remember spending time before school, after school, and during lunch period to plan, schedule, invent and host events for each holiday that came around the school year. By then I knew that being a leader was my greatest skill. I would say that my eight-grade year of middle school was the most enjoyable for me. I got to build relationships with student peers, teachers and even some of the administration. I got to learn the fundamentals of what it means to be a leader and strengthened my organizational skills greatly. Ever since then, I have been involved in many leadership activities and held many leadership roles such as director and coordinator. In high school and college, I involved myself in many extra-curricular activities, and in many of them held leadership positions. One of my most favorite activities that I was involved in was being the Varsity Boys Volleyball Coach at Rivera Middle School my first and second year of college. I was 18 years old at the time I started, and as Varsity Coach I had to oversee both the Varsity and JV teams at the school. I had put in so much time and effort into planning practices and coming up with drills for the students to practice, which showed when we won the League Tournament two years in a row! I even spent time reading Volleyball books to learn more of the technical aspects of the sport and teach that to my Varsity athletes. It was a test of time management, organization and responsibility for sure.

3. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Since a very young age, when I hadn’t the slightest clue about what life was, I had always aspired to make the world a better place. In my experiences so far, I have learned three important values: to be open to accepting new things that come my way, to appreciate the things I already have, and lastly to take what I do have and share it with the world in effort to make a better one. Those lessons in my life has inspired me to contribute to my community in both big and small ways.

Like mentioned before in this application, I have always made it an effort to help the youth of this decade, especially those who are struggling to find their identities. In the summer of 2016, I organized a non-profit organization designed for young children to participate in sports against other young athletes. My vision was to bring people from all backgrounds closer together, to appreciate each other’s differences and do so in a fun, competitive way. I not only had this vision in place for the children, but also hoped to bring their parents closer together to and appreciate one another. It was a place where people could be themselves without judgment, and where children could learn to be more interactive. I made my community a better place by showing everyone that you do not need to have things in common to bring people together, and I still live by this today in both my academic and occupational settings.

Questions about our successful UC Santa Cruz essay examples? Concerned that you won’t make it to UCSC with the quality of your essays? Or perhaps you simply need someone to take a look at the quality of your work. Consider giving us a call, our professional UC essay editors will maximize your acceptance rate!