University of California-Merced supplemental essays

• Prompt 1Required350 words max

  Leadership in Action

  Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

  How to approach it

  Goals prompts fail when they stay noble and vague. Pick one real problem you care about. Connect it to something you’ve already touched in real life. Make the goal clear enough that a reader could disagree with it. Specific beats impressive.

• Prompt 2Required350 words max

  Your Creative Side

  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.

• Prompt 3Required350 words max

  Your Greatest Talent

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

• Prompt 4Required350 words max

  Opportunity or Barrier

  Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

• Prompt 5Required350 words max

  Facing a Challenge

  Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

  How to approach it

  The challenge is the setup, not the essay. Spend most of the words on what you did and how you changed. Readers are wary of a hard story used as currency. Growth is the currency.

• Prompt 6Required350 words max

  A subject that inspires

  Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

• Prompt 7Required350 words max

  Making It Better

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

  How to approach it

  Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.

• Prompt 8Required350 words max

  Beyond the Application

  Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

These prompts are program-specific.

They apply only if you’re applying to the named program or school.

• University Honors ProgramRequired150 words max

  Offer to Honors

  What do you have to offer the University Honors Program and to your fellow Honors students?

  How to approach it

  This is the most literal question on the application. Why this training, for your goals. Answer in that order. Name the goal first. Then point to the two or three parts of the program that serve it. Then show one thing you’ve already done that proves the goal is real.

• University Honors ProgramRequired150 words max

  One Global Issue

  If you could solve one global issue but had to ignore all others, which would you choose and why?

• University Honors ProgramRequired150 words max

  Curiosity-Driven Project

  Describe a project or idea that you pursued outside of school simply because you were curious.

• University Honors ProgramRequired150 words max

  Different Perspectives

  Describe a time that you collaborated with individuals having a different perspective from your own. How has that contributed to your personal growth?

  How to approach it

  Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.

• University Honors ProgramRequired150 words max

  Honors Leadership Role

  Describe any leadership role(s) in your school or community. What did you learn from that experience and how would that impact any future leadership?

  How to approach it

  Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.

• University Honors ProgramRequired150 words max

  Your Creative Product

  How does your creative product reflect your identity and values?

  How to approach it

  Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.