How to write each UC essay prompt (+ examples)
Nelson Mandela believed that "what counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead." Describe a way in which you have made or hope to make a difference. 200-250 words. -Tufts University Unlike drumming, finger-tapping allowed me to incorporate melody into standard grooves by tapping on surfaces that had varying degrees of hollowness. Since it was a percussion style that I instinctively developed by myself, finger-tapping gave me the artistic freedom to create something new. Last year, nearly 600 earthquakes hit my hometown of Reno in a swarm. Although the magnitudes of these quakes ranged from 2.5 to 3.7, the constant fear and anxiety of impending doom rose in the community. A disaster is unprecedented and unpredictable and, in our community, we always acknowledged their occurrence elsewhere but never fully admitted that a large-scale catastrophe may happen at our doorsteps.
It has been a personally fulfilling experiencetheres just something about peeling away the last strip of tape off a new floor thats indescribableand getting to see hours of planning, preparation, and work come together is such a rewarding experience. The best part? Knowing that some family will get to enjoy my work. Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate -- and us -- know you better. (250 word limit) -Stanford University Suite-style living - four to six students sharing a set of rooms - may be an integral part of your Yale College experience. What would you contribute to the dynamic of your suite? -Yale University I began recalling the community where I grew up, Zacatecas. Most of my friends speak Spanish; I eat enchiladas and I listen to banda; the fiery lyrics of the Mexican Anthem echoes my pride. It turns out that my heart does indeed belong to Mexico. However, when I would first encounter other Mexican-Americans, they would jolt in curiosity or gaze with suspicion. I believe that unusual connections are okay. But your connection to the prompt--to each prompt, in fact--has to be super clear.
Note the variety and specificity of her examples: What are the unique qualities of Northwestern - and of the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying - that make you want to attend the University? In what ways do you hope to take advantage of the qualities you have identified? -Northwestern University My friends and family suggested that I name and advertise my invention and maybe sell it to a company. But if I did that, I would lose the essence of why I built it. I built it not to master its musical capacity but to develop my own musical creativity. My passion for history led me to an internship at the Sejong Institute, a think-tank specializing in Korean diplomacy. While I translated Korean research publications on topics like denuclearizing North Korea and resolving the South China Sea disputes, I drew heavily from what I learned of the regions past, coming to understand that international conflicts cannot be resolved in the absence of historical insight. Working through the many facets of a small business has taught me the key role of small groups in a system, and I applied this beyond the walls of the restaurant.
History essay prompts - For this prompt, many students will choose to write about a course taken outside of school, or an internshipwhich are totally valid topicsbut, again, I really appreciate that this author defines educational opportunity in an unconventional way. Working in construction has, in fact, taught him a lot. If youve worked a job, perhaps to take care of your family, you could write about it here as well.
Describe how you express your creative side. He ends paragraph 5 by clarifying what he learned and why this was important to him: In this way, I learned how to coordinate my different talents and skills to amplify my total creative output. Organizing these historical hikes has also given me the opportunity to teach younger Scouts about various Scouting skills, from orienteering (using a map and compass) to conservation principles like Leave-No- Trace. My troop engages in trail maintenance projects, and we actively monitor a trail we adopted from the NY/NJ Trail Conference. Ive developed a pretty simple, step-by-step process to help you see which essay prompts can overlap. Follow my lead and it may not only save you dozens of hours of writing, it could improve the quality of those essays. Then spend 15 minutes working through the Feelings and Needs Exercise (explained in more detail in the next section) and ask yourself, could I expand on the what I did and what I learned sections enough to fill of the PIQ? More on this in the next lesson. Tip: Dont choose an abstract quality thats already clear from your application. If you say something like Im hard-working, its likely to be redundant.
An exception to this game is if the topic is extremely specific, as can sometimes be the case for college essay prompts that ask you to reflect on a quotation or questions like U Chicagos supplemental essay prompts or Virginias Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are (although that one can double with MIT or Caltech). That same essay could work for this prompt too, right? Plus, now Stanford is going to not only learn about why improv comedy is meaningful to you, but also how its created a kind of community for you (thanks to Michigan) AND how it has equipped you with a unique perspective (thanks to Duke). Briefly describe a non-academic pursuit (such as service to community or family, a club or sport, or work, etc. ,) that best illustrates who you are, and why it is important to you. (250 words) Overall note: Even though this author has chosen an abstract quality (finding connections among the dissimilar), she lists many specific examples, and these examples provide the structure for her PIQ.
European history essay prompts - Ten minutes had passed and I was stuck on the same question. Which of the three bubbles am I supposed to fill? It was one of the most complicated questions I faced in my life: the question of race. Which choice best describes you?
These were the three most prominent methods to organize your argumentative essay effectively. Here you can familiarize yourself with them in detail and find examples. However, it is still possible to use other strategies for building argumentation. One final tip: Make sure to address how the challenge impacted your academics, since the prompt asks about this. If you experienced big challenges but were still able to maintain good grades, you can say simply, Despite these challenges, I was able to maintain my grades or something similar. IMPORTANT: The prompts below may not be the same for this year, so be sure to check the Common App or particular schools website after Aug. 15 (by which point most prompts are usually released for that year). Having selected a good topic to argue about, you now need to create an argumentative essay outline. Read and analyze some persuasive essay examples to learn more about the structure and vocabulary used in this type of essay. Through books like Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl about his incarceration at Auschwitz and documentaries like Enemies of the People about the Khmer Rouge, history has taught me that human empathy knows no borders. 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.
So if, for example, you write a 50-word intro, you have 300 words left. If you have 3 paragraphs or examples, thats 100 words each. If you have five examples, thats 60 words each. Obviously, the fewer examples, the deeper you can go. The more you have, the wider you can go (in other words, you can show more variety). Examples of Super Topics: Robotics Club, drumming, developing an app, improv comedy, ice skating, teaching science to middle schoolers, Officer Cadet School, computer programming, working in a restaurant as a server, working in a garden, Model United Nations, art-making, Volunteering for American Youth Soccer Organization, love of History & Film, being an amazing cook, internship at local hospital, acapella singing, advocating for worker rights It goes without saying that you will then have to edit and proofread the paper. Minor mistakes can be very costly, so dont skip these steps. In fact, editing and proofreading are very important if you want to learn how to write a good history essay the right way.
Why? Because chances are your GPA and course rigor already show that. Ive saved the best for (almost) last. Theres an exercise I created based on an article I read about a pitch that Elon Musk made for the Tesla Powerwall. Here is that article (read it sometime if you have a few minutes to spare or if you end up writing a community service essay. ) And remember, you can even get history extended essay examples from academic writers. Extended essays for the International Baccalaureate are difficult to write. They require a very good understanding of the essay structure and of the topic being discussed. Moreover, you need plenty of practice to be able to write such a paper correctly. When it comes to the IB, you must not only learn how to write a history essay, but also learn how to write an academic paper like a pro. You really need all the help you can get. 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. -UC Personal Insight Question If youre writing a montage (i. e. , not challenges-based), write a very brief intro that gets right to the point, then divide your word budget among the different examples you have.
This may mean tweaking a sentence or two to clearly answer each different prompt. (Fun fact: usually those tweaks make the essay better anyway. Thats like the whole thing were doing here. ) But make the tweaks so youre clearly answering the prompt. If you cant, your topic may not be elastic enough. So try another topic for that prompt; the goal here isnt to find a single topic for every single prompt, but to find one that works for several. For example, if you wrote solar panel software for a project in a water-scarce community in Libya, there might be connections to any prompt that has the word culture or challenge or, of course, extracurricular and voila: you can write one essay for all three (or four, or six) prompts. I worked hard to earn straight As, I shattered my schools 1ooM breaststroke record, and I learned to play the oboe. I tutored kids, teens, and adults on a variety of subjects ranging from basic English to home improvement and even Calculus. As the captain of the water polo and swim team Ive led practices, and I became the first student in my school to pass the AP Physics 1 exam.
IMPORTANT: I know what youre probably thinking. I dont have an uncommon topic! Or, Im not a writer! Either is okay. Really. You can write a great essay still. How? Use your brilliant, infinite brain to make several uncommon connections. In fact, the more common your topic, the more uncommon your connections will need to be. If youre looking for information on how to start a history essay, start with the outline. It can really make the difference between an A+ and a B. And its very easy to make as well. You will create it during the research phase. All you have to do is write down the most important findings and then organize them into a nice structure. My favorite history nerd moments occur when I can explain a modern socio-political phenomenon by drawing connections to a historical event, like tying the gender pay gap to the Neolithic Revolution and linking recent voting patterns to centuries of de jure/de facto racism. For my IB Extended Essay, I am writing about the Second Amendment, and I hope to elucidate the current gun control debate with research surrounding the legacy of the Glorious Revolution.