8 Mistakes To Avoid When Writing UC Personal Insight Questions
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the host advises on avoiding eight common mistakes when crafting UC personal insight questions, emphasizing the importance of concise storytelling, focusing on future aspirations, and not overemphasizing empathy. Tips include not repeating accomplishments, not complaining about circumstances, and repurposing common application essays for UC prompts. A free training link and a Facebook group for college admissions support are also shared.
Takeaways
- đ Listen to the end of the video for the best tip on personal insight questions for UC applications.
- đ Subscribe to the channel for notifications on new videos about college essays, volunteering, and summer programs.
- đ The speaker attended UCLA and then transferred to USC, gaining insights into UC applications.
- đ« Avoid repeating your accomplishments in all four personal insight questions; use the 350-word limit wisely.
- đ€ Discuss setbacks and hardships without complaining; show growth and maturity.
- đ Keep storytelling concise; focus on values and qualities you want to demonstrate, not just the narrative.
- đ Mention your future goals and dreams to show readiness and potential.
- đ Choose a prompt that best represents your values, even if it's challenging, to showcase your strengths.
- đ€ Emphasize empathy and kindness, but balance it with rigor, independence, and problem-solving abilities.
- đš Be creative but don't overdo it; the essay's purpose is to show your potential, not just creativity.
- đ Repurposing common application essays for UC personal insight questions is a strategy, but ensure the core message remains intact.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is about avoiding common mistakes when writing UC (University of California) personal insight questions for college applications.
What is the speaker's background in relation to UC applications?
-The speaker attended UCLA for a year and then transferred to USC, and has helped hundreds of students get accepted into their dream UC schools.
What is the first mistake mentioned in the video that students should avoid when writing their personal insight questions?
-The first mistake is repeating accomplishments over and over again in the personal insight questions.
Why is it important not to complain about one's circumstances in the personal insight questions?
-Complaining about circumstances can show a negative mindset, whereas discussing setbacks and hardships in a way that demonstrates growth and a willingness to learn from them shows a positive, mature attitude.
How does the speaker suggest handling storytelling in the personal insight questions?
-The speaker advises against focusing too much on storytelling due to the 350-word limit per question, suggesting to summarize the story and focus on the values and qualities to be demonstrated.
What is the significance of addressing one's future in the personal insight questions?
-Addressing one's future goals, dreams, and career plans shows colleges that the applicant is ready, independent, and has potential.
Why should students not choose a prompt just because it's easier to answer?
-Students should select prompts that best represent their values and qualities, even if they seem uncomfortable or challenging, to showcase their depth and suitability for the university.
What is the speaker's stance on emphasizing empathy and kindness in the essays?
-While empathy and kindness are important, the speaker advises not to overemphasize them, as UC schools also value rigor, independence, and problem-solving abilities.
What advice does the speaker give regarding being unique or creative in the essays?
-The speaker advises not to try too hard to be creative or emotional, as the essays should focus on showcasing the applicant's identity and potential.
How can students repurpose their common application essays for the UC personal insight questions?
-Students can repurpose their common application essays by condensing them to fit the 350-word limit of the UC personal insight questions, ensuring the meaning and values are preserved.
What additional resource does the speaker offer for those interested in college admissions strategies?
-The speaker offers a free training on college admissions strategies and invites viewers to join a Facebook group called 'Conquer College Admissions' for more support and information.
Outlines
đ College Essay Mistakes to Avoid
The speaker introduces a video discussing common mistakes to avoid when writing personal insight questions for UC (University of California) applications. They highlight the importance of not repeating accomplishments, not complaining about circumstances, focusing on storytelling, and not addressing future goals. They also stress the need to select prompts that best represent one's values and qualities, even if they seem challenging. The speaker shares their experience with UC applications and offers a free training for more college admission strategies.
đ Crafting Effective College Essays
In the second paragraph, the speaker continues with more advice on writing college essays, warning against trying too hard to be unique or creative, which can detract from the essay's purpose of showcasing the applicant's potential. They also advise against reusing common application essays without proper adaptation for UC's personal insight questions. The speaker offers a free training and invites viewers to join a supportive Facebook group for college admissions preparation, emphasizing the importance of community and shared knowledge in the college application process.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄPersonal Insight Questions
đĄUC Applications
đĄWord Count
đĄSetbacks and Hardships
đĄStorytelling
đĄFuture Goals
đĄPrompt Selection
đĄEmpathy and Kindness
đĄCreativity
đĄCommon Application
đĄConquer College Admissions
Highlights
Introduction to the video on avoiding mistakes in writing UC personal insight questions.
Offering a free training and resources for college admissions strategies.
Personal experience sharing: Transferring from UCLA to USC for a business degree.
Mistake #1: Repeating accomplishments in multiple personal insight questions.
Mistake #2: Complaining about personal circumstances in essays.
Mistake #3: Over-emphasizing storytelling at the expense of word count.
Mistake #4: Neglecting to address future goals and aspirations.
Mistake #5: Choosing an essay prompt for its ease rather than its representation of self.
Mistake #6: Over-emphasizing empathy and kindness without balance.
Mistake #7: Trying too hard to be unique or creative in essays.
Mistake #8: Not repurposing common application essays for UC personal insight questions.
Advice on how to repurpose common application essays effectively.
Invitation to join a Facebook group for college admissions support.
Encouragement to like and comment on the video for more content.
Sign-off andéąć of upcoming video on college admissions.
Transcripts
hi everyone and welcome back to my
channel today I'm going to be sharing 8
mistakes that you should avoid at all
costs when writing your you see personal
insight questions make sure to stay
tuned until the end of this video
because I'm going to be sharing my best
tip with you
at the very end and I'm also going to be
sharing a link to a free training that
you could attend so that you can find
more College omission strategies that
helped hundreds of my students get
accepted and click the subscribe button
so that you'll be notified when I
release a new video about college essays
mission volunteering summer programs
anything related to college admissions
so if you didn't know I actually
attended UCLA for about a year and then
I decided to transfer to University of
Southern California not because I don't
like UCLA or anything like that but it's
just that at the time even now you CLE
doesn't offer business degrees to
undergraduate students and so I
transferred a USC to study just so I
know quite a bit when it comes to UC
applications and UCS a and in addition
to me getting accepted I helped hundreds
of my students get accepted into their
dream UC schools UC Berkeley UCLA all
the you C's mistake number one repeating
your accomplishments over and over again
students try to mention their
accomplishments and all four of the
personal insight questions there's no
need for you to talk about how you want
your competition or that you worked on a
research project with the professor more
than once
keep in mind you only have 350 words per
question so you really want to utilize
the space wisely mistake number two
complaining about your circumstances
life is hard even for a teenager even
for a high school student
I know it's hard I've been there you
have family issues friend issues peer
pressure societal standards you name it
it's important to talk about your
setbacks and hardships but not in a way
that
sounds like you're complaining this
mindset shows that you didn't just give
up or you didn't just complain about
your circumstances but you wanted to
grow you want it to be more mature you
want it to learn from the mistakes and
that shows a growth mindset mistake
number three focusing way too much on
storytelling unlike the common
application essay you see personal
insight questions are only 350 words per
prompt that is very short so make sure
that you're not wasting that space
talking about a story setting the scene
describing the character telling us
about the climax and the conclusion just
summarize it just so that you get the
point across and then you want to focus
on the values and the qualities that you
want to demonstrate mistake number four
not addressing your future at all I know
that most of the essays the essays that
you write for colleges are intended for
you to share your past story and your
life thus far but you also want to make
sure that you're sharing your future
goals your future dreams your future
career and let them know that you are
ready that you are independent that you
are mature and that you're smart at the
end of the day colleges are looking for
students who have potential mistake
number five
choosing a prompt because it's easier to
answer I knew in high school we are
taught that we should be choosing a
prompt that we can actually answer to as
full as capacity however with these you
see personal insight questions you want
to select for that will best represent
your values and qualities even if that's
picking a prompt that seems sort of
uncomfortable to answer or the ones that
you feel like you have no idea where to
begin mistake number six too much
emphasis on empathy and kindness I'm a
huge advocate of talking about empathy
compassion kindness and a lot of my
students essays however
after working through thousands of these
UC essays I realized that yes empathy
and kindness is important and you should
be addressing them but not to
excessively you see schools focus a lot
on rigor whether you are independent or
you are able to solve a problem with a
given amount of resources and much more
and so you want to focus on that rigor
and competitiveness and that you're
ready to learn while balancing out the
kindness and empathy component as well
mistake number seven trying too hard to
be unique or creative this is an advice
that I use for all of my essay tips and
strategies and don't try too hard to be
creative the reason for that is because
the purpose of writing these essays to
show who you are and what potential you
have and so yes a little bit of
creativity here and there assigned but
you don't want to spend so much of your
energy and space trying to be creative
or too emotional because that's not the
reason why they want to read about your
essay if you do want to add in a
creative element or you want to add
something unique or catchy I usually
advise my students to spend about five
to seven percent of your total to
account doing that mistake number eight
our last one for today not repurposing
your common application or supplemental
essays so here's what you can do the
common application is say that you've
wrote you can repurpose that and use it
for one of your you see personal insight
questions so usually the common
application essay or supplemental essays
the word count is about 350 500 around
there and so what you can do is use that
and condense it so that it fits into the
personal insight questions for you see
applications obviously you want to make
sure that you don't lose any meaning or
the values that you try to demonstrate
in your common application
say and all of those qualities are
directly transferred into your you see
personal insight questions as well as it
you guys you have that eight mistakes
that you should never ever make when
you're writing your you see personal
insight questions also if you want to
learn more about college mission
strategies and tips I have a free
training on that and the link is down
below so if you want to join a community
of students and parents just like you
preparing for the college remission
process I have an awesome Facebook group
called conquer college remissions where
I host live videos share strategies and
updated news and college admissions and
so much more so be sure to click on the
link below our Facebook group is conquer
college mission and I'll see you in
there you like this video on you see
personal insight questions and all the
mistakes that you should be avoiding
please click like below and leave a
comment letting me know which prom you
are going to start working on right now
at this moment as always I'll be back
with a new video on college remission
and I'll talk to you guys racing bye
everyone
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