UC Admissions: A Deep Dive into the Personal Insight Questions

Webinar Transcription

2026-10-20-UC Admissions- A Deep Dive into the Personal Insight Questions

Lonnie: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. My name is Lonnie Burrell, and I am gonna serve as your moderator for this webinar. So welcome to CollegeAdvisor’s Webinar titled “UC Admissions: A Deep Dive into the Personal Insight Questions.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’re first going to begin with our presentation, and then we’ll have the opportunity to answer questions during our live Q&A.

Lonnie: For our audience that is with us currently, if there’s something that comes up that our presenter is, you know, going over and you already have a question, feel free to go ahead and write that question in the Q&A tab, and we will get to it during that portion. Also, this webinar is being recorded for you to view at a later time.

Lonnie: And then lastly, you can also follow along, um, during the webinar by downloading the handout. The handout is available on the Handouts tab. And with that said, enough of me speaking. Let’s go [00:01:00] ahead and now meet our presenter.

Frinee: Hello. Hello. Thank you so much. Um, my name is Frinee Berrios, and I am a former admission dir- a former admissions officer.

Frinee: I also am currently a director of admissions and specifically working for grad students at UCLA, have had a lot of years of experience in the admissions and recruitment space, as well in career counseling. Um, so I can give you a lot of insights in terms of the UCs and a lot of schools in, in California, but that’s not…

Frinee: Besides that, I’d like to definitely stick to the main point of why you’re, you’re attending this presentation and to definitely get the insights as to what are personal insight questions, what does that really mean for the admissions officers here on the UC’s campus. Um, let’s see.

Lonnie: Okay. Okay. Well, with that said, before we jump into our webinar, we would first like to get a sense [00:02:00] of where our audience, what grade level our audience is in.

Lonnie: So please let us know for our live attendees what grade are you in? Let us know so that we can just find ways to make sure that we’re speaking to our live audience, and I see that the responses are starting to come in, so I’m gonna just give it five more seconds for it to load. Okay. It came, they came through nice.

Lonnie: Okay. So let me go ahead and read them to you, Frinee. So our 11th grade audience, we have 46% of our live audience is in the 11th grade. Mm-hmm. We have 8% that is in the 12th grade, 8% that is in the 9th grade, 31% that is in the 10th grade, and then we have 8% that is, uh, other as well. So- Okay,

Frinee: good

Lonnie: representation from all the levels.

Frinee: [00:03:00] Okay, good. Good. Well, thank you for- Sure, yeah, I’m polling them, and also to those who are joining on call, whether you’re right now in the, the beginning stages of, like, exploring different universities or even just being with the UC or even general, you’re a senior, and you’re trying in terms of figure out, what am I gonna be writing in the next couple of weeks, um, I totally wanna help you on, on this process.

Frinee: So certainly in terms of, first and foremost, answering questions, you know, what is unique about the UC admissions process, right? Um, the UCs, they work differently from other system schools like Texas and Florida. Um, the admissions teams really don’t talk to each other. They have their own independent process in where they evaluate each applications, uh, uh, each of their submitted applications in a separate process.

Frinee: Um, first and foremost, the, the UCs don’t use the Common App. Um, the UCs have their own independent application in which you will be submitting through the [00:04:00] UC application in- indirectly. Uh, the UCs also have nine campuses in total, so they all share the same application, deadlines, and required components.

Frinee: Um, there are no letters of recommendations for submissions of the admissions process, so admission officers are really gonna be v- valuing in terms of your coursework, grades, activities, and most importantly, the personal insight questions, right? Um, they, on top of that, the UCLA also kind of recalculates their own GPA using the A through G coursework in which they are gonna be extracting, um, all the classes that you took in your tenth and your eleventh grade, and maybe you did some dual enrollment.

Frinee: They also will be considered part of that evaluation of your GPA. The applicants who are gonna be, you know, attending these schools can choose one major per campus. Um, there’s many different majors if you are exploring between the different campuses, and some of them, like UCLA and Berkeley, are more STEM designated.

Frinee: They [00:05:00] attract more STEM stu- students, um, and tend to be more competitive. Um, so if you are, you know, between ch- choosing different, you know, um, majors, you can select as to which one mostly aligns with you and what it is that you want to pursue in, in your career. Um, majors are unique to each campus, so, um, some campuses can also allow you to choose alternative majors.

Frinee: Um, but it really, really depend on you, right? And usually in terms of applications, there… We always say there’s a five to eight, um, guideline in terms of choosing the type, um, many campuses are you gonna be choosing for applications. Um, but this is not a rule, right? Five to eight. If you wanna choose all eight, that’s ultimately up to you, but I wouldn’t recommend that.

Frinee: But five to eight in terms of selecting the campuses, so you making sure that you are submitting the documents, and they are going to the same application process. Um, okay, so let’s go on to the next screen. Um, and for… Okay, so going on to the personal insight questions, right? The main [00:06:00] reason why you’re here, um, is to kind of learn in terms of how is it these we consider in terms of the evaluation process.

Frinee: So the personal insight questions, they’re a core part of the UC application. They’re really gonna tell the UC campuses who you are in your own original voice, right? Um, first year applicants are gonna be able to choose between anything between four to eight prompts, and you have to answer within a 30 fifth- three, thir- 350-word count.

Frinee: So that’s in terms of for each essay, right? Um, response to four… So response to four response, responsive four response. Oh, yeah. I think that was a typo. For respond to go, go to every campuses you apply to, so meaning like all the essays, the four essays that you’re gonna be completing are gonna go all to the campuses that you select, right?

Frinee: They’re gonna be covering topics on such as leadership, either creativity, maybe some challenges that you faced, or your, maybe your academic interests, and all that really is [00:07:00] gonna be telling us in terms of who you are as a candidate, in terms of your story, and is really the only real writing that’s in the UC application.

Frinee: Aside from your, like, submitting, like, your demographics and your extracurriculars, it’s really the core writing that a- admission officers are gonna be reviewing when, um, they are looking at your application. And on top of that, you know, you have to make sure that you’re using your own voice, and in a day, you are the main character in your story.

Frinee: Um, and I know given with this era of AI, you know, many students will high- will depend on AI to kind of help them curate a story, and that’s okay, but not should entirely, you know, be just what the AI tool says, right? It should be something coming authentically from you, your story, what is it that you exactly wanna share with these, um, different, um, schools.

Frinee: Okay. Next is… Hold on one second. Next. [00:08:00] Is what role, what ro- What roles do the PAQs play in the UC admissions process, right? So as I mentioned, since letters of recommendation are not required as part of the admissions process, the PAQs are gonna be very midway in terms of admission offices and how they hear from you directly.

Frinee: They play a very, very important role, especially for, um, you know, campuses like UC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley. Um, they’re gonna be adding additional context to your grades and coursework and activity lists. So not only are the, the admissions officer are gonna be looking at grades, but also in terms of your writing, what are you sharing exactly.

Frinee: Um, and if you compliment in terms of like, maybe you wanna share something from your activity list as part of your story. Maybe you’re part of a student organization, and you wanna kind of mention that in your essay. That’s something that is, you know, adding context to, to you and your story. Um, the UCs give all eight prompts the [00:09:00] same consideration, so there’s no prompt that is better.

Frinee: Um, sometimes I get that question like, “Oh, which ones do admission officers like to read better?” Or, “Which ones does, you know, do students not like to write best?” It’s ultimately gonna depend on you, right? We, um, here at College Advisor will help you in terms of navigating those type of questions. You know, what exactly do you wanna share?

Frinee: What is your story? How is it exactly we’re gonna, um, make sure that, that it, it, um, it, it embodies you as a well-rounded candidate for admission, right? And it really details aspects of you and who you are. Um, so as I mentioned, UCLA and Berkeley are highly conset- competitive schools, so the essays are gonna be highly considered for admissions, as the applicants who are applying to these schools have already strong academic records.

Frinee: So that’s something that, you know, the PAQs are gonna certainly stand out when they are reviewing applications for admissions, [00:10:00] okay? Uh, what are UC’s readers hoping to learn from the students’ PIQ responses? So first and foremost, uh, you mentioned they’re gonna look beyond your grades and test scores, definitely, right?

Frinee: They’re gonna be looking for just that unique aspect of y- of yourself, like what motivates you, what matters to you, what have you, what’s maybe your background, what exactly have… where do you come from, how have you made impact in your communities. Um, m- definitely how you’ve demonstrated leadership.

Frinee: That’s definitely a, um, um, big essay that I tend to see that most candidates end up submitting, ’cause they want to be part of like organizations or clubs, or maybe they, um, were an entrepreneur, maybe they were a founder of something, and they probably wanna share like that experience. Um, also initiative, and overall, how is it that you made impact in your either community or your organization or your [00:11:00] school, and that’s gonna show a lot, generally a lot in your essay writing, and that’s something we certainly will also support you at, here at College Advisor.

Frinee: How have you grown from your experiences, right? So as a story, there is, you know, a beginning and an ending, right? And at the ending, we wanna see in terms of like how exactly you went through the experience, whether it was a challenging one, or maybe it was like a, a, a, a growing experience or a, a transformative experience.

Frinee: How did you end up growing from that, right? That, so that will show a lot in your essay writing. A lot of reflection is gonna be highly detailed in these essays, and that’s what we’re mostly like gonna be looking for, like how have you grown from this? And then on top of that is how have you used your opportunities in the context of your schools.

Frinee: So as different schools have many resources, right? And they’re all located all over the country, all over the world. Uh, we’re gonna wanna see in terms of like what are the opportunities that you took advantage as a student to making sure they stand [00:12:00] out in your application form. Um, for example, let’s say you are a student that’s interested in psychology, and there was not an opportunity for students to join a s- a psychology club because there was none to be given, right?

Frinee: So you took it upon yourself to launch this psychology club, right? So that’s… you’re, you’re taking opportunities in the context of your school, right? Maybe you also were given… maybe your school didn’t provide a lot of AP courses or didn’t provide a lot of rigorous coursework. So you took it upon yourself to go take dual enrollment classes, or you, you know, took it upon yourself, did an internship that enhanced your, your learning opportunity.

Frinee: So that’s something that we’re also gonna be looking for, like how did you, in terms of the opportunities that you were given, you were like, you, you enhanced them. You, you brought in terms of more growth to yourself and, and connected to that in terms of your context of your school. So that’s certainly [00:13:00] something I would also like, like to read, like how ex- exactly did you as a, as a candidate, um, you know, you, you took the opp- opportunities you had and, and, and elevated that

Frinee: And then next is how do, how should students choose which four PIQ prompts to answer? So, you know, in the application you’re gonna be sharing a lot of information, right? And we don’t want to see the same information repeated throughout your essays, right? Like, if you’re interest… A student interested in engineering, I don’t want to know that in all four essays you are interested in engineering, right?

Frinee: It’s okay. Um, we, we can answer it one time, we can answer it twice. I don’t need to know four times in a row, right? Or if you were, you know, president of a club, that you were a president of a club in all four essays. Like, no. So there’s no right or wrong prompt, right? You’re gonna be selecting prompts that have specifics with stories to support.

Frinee: So if you have a [00:14:00] story to support, either something creatively, like maybe a talent or skill of yours that you’ve had for many years, or maybe you launched something, a project, or you, you, you started like your own passion project and building something that’s showing like leadership, right? So these are things that you want to kinda sit down with yourself and be like, “How exactly do I wanna share who I am,” right?

Frinee: “What exactly, um, as me as a candidate, how can I contribute this to a community like USC? Like, given that I have this background, how do I make that connection,” right? And that’s exactly what we’re gonna be looking for. All four essays should show different qualities about yourself. So in terms of like empathy, resilience, maybe determination, maybe you, maybe you have gone through something challenging, right?

Frinee: We wanna know those different qualities of, of you as, as a person, and how is it that you’re, you know, have grown from these experiences or from wherever is that you’re, you’re, you’re, [00:15:00] you’re coming from. Choose topics that are re-real, new information, so like I said, avoid repeating the same information, um, that is not already part of your application.

Frinee: Yes, you can definitely, you know, in your, your extracurriculars, you can choose maybe one or two that you can briefly mention in your essays. But I don’t want you to like, “All the f- all my extracurricular, all my list of activities, I need to replicate them, make sure that they’re all on my essays.” No, just pick one or two, or maybe three that maybe stand out to you, and you can briefly mention it.

Frinee: Maybe like that you were part of it, and you can kind of circle it back. But doesn’t necessarily need to be that, you know, you’re copying whatever you already have on your resume onto your essays. It shouldn’t be that way. It should not be, um, looking like a, a resume of anything. It has to be your story.

Frinee: It has to be something that you really would wanna, uh, share with admissions. Um, what makes a strong PIQ topic? [00:16:00] And what makes it less effective? What, what makes a very strong one, and what makes a very less effective? So certainly you are the main character. I keep repeating this as, because this is, uh, something I drill my students.

Frinee: You are the main character. You… This is your story, right? When there’s no or right answer as to what you… what, what the type of story you’re trying to share, right? So please, we’re gonna be looking for who you are, right? This is a student-driven application, so meaning like everything that you share with us is what you wanna share with us ultimately, right?

Frinee: Um, so what makes a very strong one is the ones who are personal ones, I tend to tend to see a lot, like specifically very specific. Maybe like, uh, I tend to say go back, like if you, you know, created your own club, or maybe you’re a student athlete, right? And you went through, maybe you had an injury or maybe you had something challenging, like in terms of like your upbringing and you [00:17:00] tend to, you know, have had a lot of experience throughout that.

Frinee: That shows reflection, right? You, you can definitely reflect as much as that, but being specific and reflective will be very powerful when you are, um, writing your essays, right? And then in connecting of that is the types of qualities that we’re looking for. Le- like you have some type of leadership skills, um, that you have some type of intellectual cu- curiosity in terms of how is it that you handle situations, and then how is it that you can bring that towards a community campus like a UC, right?

Frinee: So connecting all that with your story and these different qualities are gonna make you very, you know, as a candidate, stand out. Um, weaker ones that I tend to see are, as I mentioned, resume recaps. Again, no re- no repeating information, that’s already part of your application. Saying, “I love helping people,” or, “My passion is, [00:18:00] um, you know, my passion is finance.”

Frinee: Very, you know, very abstract things. Like we need to make sure it, it makes sense, right? Or, um, listing an achievement, and there’s no actual insight where like, um, I don’t wanna see a story that- Oh, I started this club, and then, uh, we went to champion- we went to nationals, and then I went to, um, to this, and, and now it’s recognized, and it’s the best club ever.

Frinee: Like, great, this is amazing that you achieved all this, but there’s no insights, right? Like, I wanna know in terms of, like, what maybe challenges that you faced when you were building this out or if you, um, you know, faced some hurdle or you faced some pushback from building something. Like, what, what did you do?

Frinee: How did you, how did you handle this? How did you manage this? If you worked with different people or, like, you were leading t- a, a team, like, how did you manage this? ‘Cause [00:19:00] as leaders you’re g- gonna encounter that often, right? So I wanna know if in terms of, like, what exactly you did in terms of that experience and how’d you overcome that.

Frinee: So it’s a lot g- it’s gonna be a lot of reflection, if anything, on these stories that you’re sharing with us. And then surface-level stories like winning a big game, volunteering for 100 hours A lot of students who are s- applying to these schools are doing the same thing, right? So we wanna make sure the stories that you are sharing are unique to you, are, um, are authentic, are original, are something that you…

Frinee: This is part of yourself. You’re like, “Hey, I know if I were to share this part of me and my story, I can probably connect with someone in the community, like UC- like the UCs.” Or, um, if you m- I mean, maybe you are a student athlete, maybe you’re like, “Oh, I, I have… This was a big part of myself and my, my life, and now I wanna switch to maybe doing music,” right?

Frinee: “I kinda wanna [00:20:00] learn about that.” Just things about yourself that you also would wanna share and know that a s- campus like a UC has those opportunities. That’s what I kinda also wanna learn more about you. Um, let’s see. Let’s go on to the next one. Um, how students make each response feel distinct while creating a cohesive application.

Frinee: So, um, each essay has its own story, so you wanna avoid telling the same story four ways or repeating the same information. Um, I have had students in the past, you know, come up with a chal- or respond to the challenging essay. If you have ever faced some type of challenge in your life, maybe you went through a health con- you know, a health scare or a trauma or something, um, pretty significant in your life and you’re like, “I don’t know if I should share it,” if you want to, right, [00:21:00] that’s totally if you want to.

Frinee: You know, sometimes I have students like, “I don’t know if I wanna share that part of me, as it’s something more private.” And, you know, something you can consider in discussing with either a close friend or a counselor in trying ter- in terms of arranging that type of question, like how do I… exactly do I approach this type of essay, you know, what part do I want to s- to share?

Frinee: What part do I not wanna share? And if you wanna share it all, fantastic, right? But ultimately at the end of the day, it’s like what you want to share with the admissions office. I don’t want like a whole detail of like sob story, right? That’s what we always say, we don’t want sob stories. But we wanna make sure, like if you did face a challenge, and it was something that was part of your life, and it was impactful, and for sh- some reason now it’s, you know, either made you more resilient, more determined, it’s made you look at or raise awareness for something, you know, please share that, [00:22:00] right?

Frinee: ‘Cause that’s still i- that’s still part of you, and that is very distinct, as it’s not original, right? Not a lot of people have maybe gone through the same experience as you do. So- I’d like to learn in terms of how you actually responded and what you learned at the end of the day. Make sure that the app- essays complement your major and activities list.

Frinee: So certainly please, in your essays, include that you are interested in one major, right? I’d like to… I don’t, and I don’t want, I don’t, don’t like seeing that students take the whole essay to s- share that they’re interested in this major. Share it from the beginning, right? You kinda wanna think about, like, these essays are, like, more like interview questions.

Frinee: So as, as we wanna know parts of you, we wanna, you know, from the get, know what you’re trying to just tell us from the prompt that you’re trying to answer, and not wait until the last conclusion to figure out, oh, okay, this is what they did, right? We wanna know from the beginning. Um, so think about, like, quality, not quantity, okay, [00:23:00] when you are writing your stories.

Frinee: Um, another point is, um, I share with, with students is with the stories that you write, right, you’re gonna certainly give me submitting it probably two to three times. You’re gonna be sharing it with many, many advisors. Um, you can also rely on discussing it with maybe a family member, a friend, um, and sharing to see if this, the story that you’re trying to portray is actually who you are, and trying to capturing, like, what you’re trying to say to us.

Frinee: Um, and if they read the essay and it’s like, yeah, it does align with who you are, then you know you, you have a good story. And if it’s not, then don’t think about even submitting that, right? ‘Cause then it has to be, like, who you are. It has to be authentic. It has to be original. Um, so yeah. We want to make sure that you’re re- like, revealing different facets of you and not variations on one story, right?

Frinee: We want different things of you and wanna learn [00:24:00] different things about you Um, how should students balance storytelling with direct answering the question? So answer the question from the jump, not waiting until the conclusion to answer that question, right? I’d like to learn about growth, and you know, if it asks about growth, you know, show the growth.

Frinee: Exactly how did you grow in that experience? How did you, um, you know, raise questions? How did you, um, make impact? So definitely something that we wanted. So we have a, a percentage for in terms of how you write your stories, is that you wanna aim for 30% story and 70% reflections and impact. Okay? So thinking about if you are, you know, gonna be maybe discussing, uh, an activities of yours, and not in too much in detail, but if there’s an activity you would wanna highlight, you know, think about situations that you went through [00:25:00] with that experience.

Frinee: Or if you went through something personal, like think about things that you went through that experience. I wanna learn more about that. Like, what, what, what was that moment that you… your aha moment, your takeaways, your maybe, you know, vulnerable moments in terms of, um, interacting with others. That’s something that I would love to read when we’re writing essays.

Frinee: And then open with a brief moment, then pivot to reflection quickly. You know, sometimes I have students like, you know, “Oh, I wanna write all this elabor- this elaborate like, uh, elaborate essay and, you know, be creative.” And yeah, you can de- certainly be creative, but I don’t need to know that the flowers are blooming at a 2:00 PM, um, field.

Frinee: Like, we don’t need all those details. Just think about it, like, I wanna learn s- who you are from the jump. Like, what are you, what are you trying to say in, in terms of responding to these questions? And think of it again, they’re in- interview [00:26:00] questions, so you wanna mention a lot of I, like, “I’ve done this, I’ve done that, I’ve been part of this,” I, I, I.

Frinee: So- From the job. Wanna, wanna know that. And then using the 350 words strategically, don’t over explain. I’ve had students like in the past kind of, you know, buffer a lot in terms of their experience. Like, or they would just with… once something they did as part of the… like their story, maybe they were like building a, um, a toy or something, they were building something, and they were just over explaining too much of the technical.

Frinee: Like, that’s not necessary, right? Like, I, I wanna learn in terms of like, what made you wanna build this toy? You know, what was that spark for you? What… where did you get this idea of building this, right? And okay, share me a little bit details, maybe some challenges that you faced when building this toy.

Frinee: And now [00:27:00] what are you doing with the toy, right? Like, are you sharing it with like teachers? Are you sharing it with… Are you doing it like… Are you going on a competition? Like, what exactly does this toy mean to you, right? And that’s something that we’re gonna be looking for. So using the 350 words strategically, don’t over explain something, because then it’s gonna take away from your story.

Frinee: I wanna know at the end of the day, that’s when I’m reading your conclusion like, “Oh, okay, this is what they meant to say to me. This is what, who they are. This is some part of me that they, they wanna say.” So 30% story, 70% reflection, okay? What you learn, how’d you grow, and why does it matter? Um, what are the biggest mistakes PIQ writers make?

Frinee: So again, repeating the activities list or their resume. Don’t do that. Don’t repeat the same information. Being too vague or trying to, um, be too hard in terms of sounding impressive. Um, and I [00:28:00] know I see that a lot when students use, like, AI tools, right? Sometimes, like, their writing will be like all this, these fancy words, and I’m like, “Does a student even write like this?”

Frinee: Right? Eh, no. You will see that. You will see that because, uh, how d- how do we determine that, how we see that, is how you also write your, um, your extracurriculars, right? The extracurriculars tend to be more, uh, indirect descriptions about what you’ve been a part of, and then I read your essays, and they’re completely different type of writing.

Frinee: So that’s how I know, like, if students are either being… trying to impress me by th- this type of writing or either the other way, like, they’re too vague, right? They’re just like, like, “I love helping people.” Okay, what does that mean? What does “I love helping people” mean, right? So wanna do a balance of, of, of story.

Frinee: Again, story and reflection. Writing about events and not showing [00:29:00] reflection. Very… Don’t do that. We wanna show as much reflections as possible, especially when you are talking about something significant to you. Waiting until the last minute to ride, write, revise, and proofread. So usually for the PIQs, I tend to see our students write about- Two to three drafts per PIQ.

Frinee: Um, sometimes students might do it within two, ’cause, you know, they really are eager to share their story. So that, that will translate very easily. Um, but most of the time, I tend to see students do about two to three times in terms of, um, submitting drafts. Um, so if you wait till the last minute, it’s gonna reflect on your, on your, on your essays a lot.

Frinee: So as much time as you can take to prepare, do it, right? Most of the times, um, in terms of with, especially with through college advisor, we help our students write their PIQs the summer before, so meaning like junior [00:30:00] year summer. Um, we’re helping you in terms of really figuring out what is it exactly you wanna share with these schools, right?

Frinee: What exactly in terms of experiences that you’ve been a part of that you wanna share with, um, these different admission office officers. Um, so think about using like the summer before you’re submitting your application to focus on writing your PIQs, right? And a- along with that is also your Common App asset.

Frinee: But the PIQs are gonna take a lot of time from you in terms of really figuring out, okay, what is… This is my story, what exactly do I, should I be sharing this? Should I not be sharing this? So take a, you know, two to three months to kinda… Not even. I say like two months in general to finalize everything with all the drafts reviewed thoroughly, um, and making sure that they’re proofread.

Frinee: So don’t wait till the last minute because it’s gonna translate a lot heavily. And then let’s see. Let’s see. Going on to the next one. [00:31:00] And then, um, oh, whoa. Almost wasted. Went a little too fast. Um, and then did I go over anyone’s?… Okay. And then

Frinee: Okay. And then let’s see

Frinee: I think I was writing. Okay. And then right here

Frinee: Okay, and then final advice I have for students in terms of, mainly in terms of deep diving through the personal insight questions, is to brainstorm ideas with your advisors. Um, write a draft two to three times if you can. Go back and forth in terms of, like, really indicating the story that you want to share.

Frinee: Um, be authentic. Don’t use AI to generate your story. It’s gonna translate if it is [00:32:00] gonna, if you are using AI. Uh, we read countless of essays on a yearly basis, so if we see the same type of story or, you know, your, your wording is, like, something, it- it’s elaborate writing, or, like, these words seem too fancy when it could just be a clear thought, or it can be as clear as day as to, like, what you wanna share, it’s gonna

Frinee: it’s not gonna show your authentic- authenticity, and, and it’s gonna not be a good indication for us, right? There is a UC filing period, so the applications for the UC is already open. Um, and they are due on November 30th, at, you know, 11:59 PM. So you wanna make sure that you have everything before and due.

Frinee: I usually recommend students when they are submitting their, um, applications, like, you know, you don’t wait till the last minute. Don’t wait till the last [00:33:00] minute. Um, maybe do submit it, like, two weeks before the deadline, so you can, I mean, you have time to kind of, like, really make sure that the stories in your drafts have been revised.

Frinee: You have gotten all your, like, materials for admissions and all of that ready to go. And again, um, there is no perfect PIQ. There’s only your story. So this is what we wanna share. Like, we wanna make sure that your essays are you. They’re representing you and you only. Don’t wait till the last minute. Um, if you wait till the last minute, it’s not gonna be good.

Frinee: You’re gonna be feeling overwhelmed, and that’s not what we want for you. We want this process to be as seamless as process- as possible, so the earlier that you plan, the better it is for you. Okay. Um, let’s see. Let’s go on to… Oh. Okay. Yes.

Lonnie: Yes.

Frinee: Yeah.

Lonnie: Thank you- Mm-hmm … Frinee. So, so now we’re gonna move into…

Lonnie: I’m sorry, did you, were you saying something?

Frinee: No, no, yeah, that’s it. Yeah. We can go to [00:34:00] questions in Q&A, yeah.

Lonnie: Okay. Thank you so much. All right, so we are now gonna move into our live questions and answers. And so how this is gonna work, I am going to read your question out loud that you have placed in the Q&A tab, and then Frinee will a- will be able to answer that question accordingly.

Lonnie: If you’re having any difficulty with accessing the Q&A tab, please let me know, and I will be able to support you accordingly. Okay, so we’re gonna move into our first question for tonight. Um, what distinguishes a strong PIQ from an average one?

Frinee: So certainly, and I think I’ve covered, um, certainly a strong one is one that’s specific, it’s showing reflection.

Frinee: You’re, um, connecting it to the prompts of leadership, community, uh, intellectual curiosity, uh, your [00:35:00] academic interests. So those are the strong ones, right? And the average ones are, like, y- what I tend to see a lot is you volunteered over 100 hours or maybe even, like, 200 hours somewhere, right? Or you won a big game, and this is like, you’re like, “Oh my God, I had this amazing moment of winning this.”

Frinee: Okay, that’s great. Um, so those are kind of what we say, like, surface level stories. Um, we wanna go in deep. If you can… are able to go in deep in terms of your writing, that’s gonna translate a lot to us, um, especially in the type of person, who you are, who’s your character, what’s, what matters to you.

Frinee: Mm-hmm. Nice.

Lonnie: Nice, nice. Thank you. Um, someone asked, “Are there any places to see samples of what, um, perhaps good PIQs look like?”

Frinee: Oh, yeah, we certainly do. We have a lot of resources that we can certainly share, um, samples of [00:36:00] PIQs that students have submitted in the past. Um, I know even the UC, uh, UC campus just in general, like the main one, they have also additional resources for writing tips and advice for students.

Frinee: Um, so yes, we certainly have prompts that have, uh, been shared, um, and we can certainly, um, use or we can certainly use it with you, share it with you.

Lonnie: Got you.

Frinee: Mm-hmm.

Lonnie: Um, I know you mentioned around, like, um, yeah, I know you mentioned, you were talking about majors and how that comes up in your PIQ. Um, what if a student, like, has a minor that they know they wanna, you know, they want to minor in?

Lonnie: Um, is it okay to, to bring that up in their PIQ?

Frinee: Yeah. Yeah, certainly. Yeah. I have had students in the past, like, you know, even just briefly share they may be interested in, let’s say like, maybe the arts. Maybe they’re interested [00:37:00] in pursuing something in the arts, and that’s still a facet of you. That’s still a story of you.

Frinee: That’s still part of you. So if you’re like, “Hey, I know this university offers this type of minor, and it’s unique,” like, I wanna make sure I’m highlighting that too. Um, big c- big thing I always, like, especially with the community essay, you kind of wanna do your research in terms of also- Reading about what these different campuses offer, right?

Frinee: Maybe there’s a specific program, maybe there’s a professor that you’d like to work with, maybe there’s a certain class that you’d like to take. Mention that on your, on your essay, ’cause that’s something that also stands out to us, ’cause that makes us, let us know that you’ve done your research, and you know in terms of, “Hey, if I were to come to a campus like this, um, I know you offer these and this.

Frinee: Like, you know, give me the opportunity to kinda take this.” So, mm-hmm. So I, I would, I would… That, [00:38:00] that would be a little nugget for, for you guys. Um, mention something from the UC campuses on your, on your essays so it stands out

Lonnie: Great. Okay. All right, so I’m gonna move into the next question. How does an applicant write about a research project, like a mentored program or university lab work, without it reading as a resume recap?

Lonnie: Also, is the academic subject prompt six the best home for it?

Frinee: Um, so the re- To speak about their

Lonnie: research

Frinee: Oh, their research. Um, so given in terms of, like, the research that you were part of, right, I don’t necessarily want to know, like, “And I went to this university, and the university housed me,” and n- like, we don’t need those excessive details.

Frinee: I just wanna learn in terms of maybe, like, the type of project that you were, you know, can … You had to either [00:39:00] present, maybe you, um … There’s specific type of the research that the university auth- on a probably … Is it, it’s ei- either, like, um, there’s maybe, like, a professor that has, uh, this type of research at this campus, and you wanna make that connection.

Frinee: Um, or even if it was a meaningful research project, like, what were your takeaways from that? Like, what either … Did you gain any skills from this research? Did you either in, in the technical or maybe, like, in, you know, I don’t know, uh, in either presenting, like, what exactly skills did you gain from that research?

Frinee: Not, not necessarily, like, the type of project, more of, like, what, what was your takeaway? So, um, and, and it’ll have to tie with, you know, the actual prompt. Um, you know, it … Depending on how you want to include the research, it can be a part of your [00:40:00] story. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the whole story. Um, it can be that you, you’ve done research, and then you took another class, and then maybe you were, you know, you did an internship or something, right?

Frinee: Like, how did you, um, expand outside from the re- like, just this research opportunity? I wanna know more about that. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, let me see the prompt. Let me see. I do- I never know, like, the number of it. The- Oh,

Lonnie: the, um, this is the academic subject one.

Frinee: Yeah. Yeah, I can. Mm-hmm. You can. Mm-hmm. You can, you can mention that there.

Frinee: Mm-hmm.

Lonnie: Okay, great. So we’re gonna move to our next question. Um, what should the additional comment section be used for, and what should stay out of it?

Frinee: Yeah, so the additional comment, I’d certainly, you know, use it at your own [00:41:00] discretion. Don’t use it to share another activity or award that you’ve won.

Frinee: Like, don’t. You don’t wanna use it to share that you’ve taken the SAT or the ACT and scored really high. That’s, that’s not part of the admissions process at all. Um, many students take the additional comments opportunity to maybe discuss, like, dip in academics. Um, so y- if you have had any dips in academics, like, you can more than share that.

Frinee: Um, maybe, like, your school has a specific grading scale, uh, that maybe is not highly, like, shown on your transcript. So may- or maybe, like, your school is one out of, like, you know, 50 schools in the region, and they’re known for this type of curriculum, right? Something, like, unique to you. So, um, use it, you know, at, at your own discretion.

Frinee: Don’t… And then if you don’t have to use it, don’t use it. Um, ’cause you’re already writing [00:42:00] your essays, and you’re already writing your extracurriculars. So, like, yeah, just, just use it if, if, if it’s only necessary. Only necessary.

Lonnie: Great, great. Really helpful insight about how to answer that additional comment.

Frinee: Mm-hmm.

Lonnie: Um, this next question: If I have limited extracurricular activities or leadership experience, how can I demonstrate my strengths through the PIQs?

Frinee: So limited, um, activities and limited, um, leadership?

Lonnie: Yes.

Frinee: Uh, leadership and limited, um… So think about utilizing maybe, um- Other, like maybe showing other parts of yourself, right?

Frinee: Maybe there’s a specific talent or skill that you, you know, um, can showcase. Maybe there’s, um, some type of impact you’ve made on a community. [00:43:00] Maybe there’s a certain challenge that you faced, right? Um, so don’t think of like, “Oh, if I don’t have the leadership and I’m not writing about it in my essays, like they’re not gonna select me.”

Frinee: No. No, because it’s, it’s, it’s the four prompts are, you know, diff- sharing different facets of you as, as a student. We wanna make sure you’re a well-rounded applicant. So if you don’t have the leadership, like displaying on your extracurriculars, then show other parts of you. Like tell me other things about you.

Frinee: Maybe other things that you’re interested in, um, and share as to what you want, right? At the end of the day, this is about you, so you’re gonna tell me as much as you want about yourself. Um, so

Lonnie: Great, great. Okay, so we’re gonna take a short pause for me to share more about the work that we do here within [00:44:00] CollegeAdvisor.

Lonnie: Uh, CollegeAdvisor has guided more than 10,000 families through the college admission process, and our team is made up of 200-plus admission experts and former admission officers, so our team knows exactly what it takes to receive that acceptance letter. From the class of 2026 alone, one out of three Ivy League applicants were admitted to at least one Ivy League school, and two out of three applicants applying to top 25 schools were accepted to one or more.

Lonnie: To learn more about how you can get started with CollegeAdvisor, I have our QR code on the screen that you can download, or you can go ahead and scan, and it will link you to a website where you are able to [00:45:00] book your free strategy session. Perhaps you have questions about, you know, are you UC eligible or just, you know, in general.

Lonnie: Uh, we’ll be able to answer those questions for you, so highly encourage you to download… I mean, I don’t know why I keep saying download. Scan the QR code. Okay. And then I also wanna share more about the work that we do, uh, within CollegeAdvisor that relates to our essay editing. We know that a major part of the college admission process, and also a scary part of it at times, and exciting, is the writing your essays.

Lonnie: And so we have a special essay editing package designed specifically for UC PIQs. For one flat rate, you’ll receive two [00:46:00] revisions of four UC essays and one review of your activities list, which includes the descriptions that you are gonna write about in your activities list. All the information that you will submit over to the team will be reviewed within 72 hours, so a very quick turnaround.

Lonnie: If you are interested, wanna learn more, have questions, please go ahead and scan this QR code so that you can receive more about our essay editing package. All right, so I’m gonna leave that QR code on the screen in case someone hasn’t scanned it, and we’re gonna move back into our question and answers.

Lonnie: So this question says, “My son is also an athlete, and earlier you mentioned, um, winning a big game may not be the strongest topic. How can a student athlete write [00:47:00] about their sport in a way that works for the reader?”

Frinee: Um, certainly. So if you’re, like, a student athlete, um, what I’ve seen most, sometimes they will write about, like, maybe injuries that they’ve kind of cha- um, faced, right?

Frinee: Maybe, um, picking between- Um, like sports and maybe academics. Maybe I’ve seen in terms of athletes kinda like, um, they were faced with some type of, of like setback or challenge in being an athlete, right? Which they all do, right? In some type of capacity, right? Whether they were not chosen for the varsity team, or they were not selected for the big, uh, all-star team.

Frinee: Something like that, right? Um, so that’s… I would say like taking more of like not the win, more, more of like that [00:48:00] experience and where they might have felt some type of challenge or setback in, in their athletic career, and how they overcame that. Um, maybe they joined a better team. Maybe they were recruited to, I don’t know, to, to a larger all-star team, right?

Frinee: So what challenges did this athlete face? Um, or maybe, um, balancing academics and ath- a- um, athletics, athletics, right, which is a huge, huge thing for, for how to, how to manage that, that discipline, time commitment to both school and, and being in a team. Like, how did they manage that? That can be something that they can gear that application towards or their essay, too.

Frinee: Mm-hmm.

Lonnie: Great. Great.

Frinee: Mm-hmm.

Lonnie: Okay. Uh, next question, how much personal reflection should I include compared with describing what happened in my story? [00:49:00]

Frinee: How much personal reflection should I include compared with describing what happened in my story? So in terms of re- reflection, like you wanna like think about specific moments that you’ve had.

Frinee: Like maybe you had a specific moment with another person, uh, maybe at a challenging, like, like respond- or maybe a challenging, uh, not a challenging, but I’d say like a moment that you had with someone that you were like maybe almost vulnerable. So like, yeah, showing that vulnerability. Um, and not describing like, “I went to the park, and I saw birds in the sky,” and then like no.

Frinee: Like I wanna know more about why going to that park, right? What does it mean for you going in that park? What d- what does that entail? Did you meet with people? Do you connect with someone? W- what does that park have to do with you, right? Things like that, describing it overall. [00:50:00] Um, so a lot of reflection, if anything.

Frinee: Inward. Think about like inward, deep, inward vulnerability, showing who you are as, as, as a person, what motivates you. Mm-hmm.

Lonnie: Nice. Nice. I like that, the, the going inward- Mm-hmm. Going inward … um, to really dive into that, that self-reflection. Mm-hmm. That’s great. Um, so our next question is, what’s one common mistake you see applicants make in their PIQs, and what would you recommend doing to avoid it?

Frinee: So the m- biggest mistake is, um, you know, sounding too impressive on their writing. Mm. Like they’ll have all these like extra words, and I’m like, “You coulda just said it directly, not give me the, the dictionary word.” Mm. Um, not showing reflection. Like if you’re gonna be talking about, “I did all these amazing things,” but not show me [00:51:00] reflection, it’s, it’s, you’re not answering the prompt correctly.

Frinee: Um, not proofreading. So if your, you know, your grammar is all over the place, your story is not clear from beginning to end, that’s also gonna, that’s gonna be a, a mistake that we definitely would see from reading just your essays from the beginning

Lonnie: Okay. All righty. Well, I think that that is now … I think that was our last question for this webinar. Thank you, Frinee, so much for sharing this great and timely information, um, with our audience. And e- even as an advisor, I was able to receive some really great information to continue to support my students. So thank you so much for your time and your expertise.

Lonnie: Yeah. And thank you to our audience, live audience, for attending. We hope to see you at an [00:52:00] upcoming webinar. And just a reminder, as you exit out, there will be another screen that will prompt you, um, to schedule a meeting with one of our admission specialists. So if you’re interested, please go ahead and sign up.

Lonnie: Thank you, everyone. Have a great night. Bye-bye.