[This article is part of a new series where we will be dissecting each of the UC essay prompts in depth, providing examples and tips on how you can make your application stand out.]
Click here to read yesterday’s post about UC Prompt #3.
Struggling with writing your college application essay? We've got you covered! Read our Ultimate Guide to Stand Out College Essays to learn the tips and techniques on writing a winning essay and maximize your college admission chances!
Prompt #4: Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
As UC admissions officers have stated, you only have to answer either the education opportunity or the education barrier part of the prompt; it’s completely okay if you’ve experienced on and not the other.
Educational Opportunity
So what exactly counts as a “significant educational opportunity?” A good way to start brainstorming is to write down all the moments in your life where you can vividly remember learning something meaningful or feeling intellectually stimulated. Ideally, this would be a learning experience that can be related to your field of study, but it could also just be an experience that changed how you view the world.
The trap many fall into with this prompt is simply being too boring. Far too many essays begin with some variant of “AP Literature was my favorite class in junior year, because I love reading a variety of books…”
Instead, you need to focus on showing your love of a certain class or subject rather than telling. What this means is maybe you start by describing how you feel when you’re lost in a specific book that you read in that class, or you draw parallels between a certain plot and your own life. Then you have room to expand into your love of the overall topic and be more general. The latter half of this essay should be about how this educational experience has impacted your life and how you want to approach the future. 7EDU counselors approach this strategy by learning each student's story and personality before starting to write. Get started early with a free consultation with our experts.
How to structure this essay:
Start with a descriptive anecdote that shows your love of an educational moment
Connect this educational experience to how you are as a person
Wrap up by explaining how you can apply what you’ve learned to the future
Educational Barrier
The barrier prompt is much more open to interpretation, because the challenges that we face in life vary so dramatically. Essentially, they’re looking for you to write about any obstacles you’ve faced while learning what you love, and more importantly, how you overcame them. Your challenges could range from something as small as a single problem that you just could not figure out to something more ongoing like a family circumstance that inhibits your learning.
How to structure this essay:
Describe the problem. Ideally in a descriptive way that makes the reader feel your emotions
Explain your thought process as you began to deal with this issue
Describe how you ended up figuring it out
Reflect on what you learned in the process and how you’ll apply it to the future
The bottom line is, whichever part of the prompt you choose to write about, UCs want to know what you took away from each of these experiences.
7EDU has helped hundreds of students connect their experiences to a compelling story. Get started early with a free consultation with our experts.
If you found this article helpful, check out the rest of our series on UC Prompts below!
Meanwhile, feel free to check out the rest of our UC Prompt Series while you're here :)
UC Prompt #1 Leadership Experience
UC Prompt #2 Your Creative Side
UC Prompt #3 Greatest Talent
UC Prompt #4 Educational Experiences
UC Prompt #5 Significant Challenge
UC Prompt #6 Favorite Subject
UC Prompt #7 Improving your Community
UC Prompt #8 How do you Stand Out?
Curious about what UC students really think about their schools? We asked real college students the questions you've always wanted to ask. Check out the whole series with other universities here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8rpS1l4XePwDA9PfTBwAYMyLOFvlrLp9
Our Mission
"For success in academics and beyond, our foremost goal is to guide and support our students through all types of challenges, preparing them to exceed their current capabilities." - Founder of 7EDU, Jun Liu
Our Service
7EDU’s primary mission is to deliver the most effective quality of education to every student we serve. We believe that all individuals learn differently, each with varying of needs, preferences, and degrees of readiness; thus, our educators understand that strategically personalizing every student’s learning experience is the key to unlocking their academic potential. Furthermore, 7EDU Impact Academy has embraced technological advances with adaptive teaching principles since its conception in 2014, with our programs routinely delivering tremendous results and academic breakthroughs for all 7EDU students. By consistently nurturing young minds to unearth their hidden capabilities while maintaining our position as a leader in educational technology, 7EDU Impact Academy promises to continue advancing our teaching methodology to accommodate for modern learning environments and to provide unique, personalized learning experiences designed for students to reach their highest goals in academics.
