University of California Personal Insight Question 4
Key considerations: Take instances such as participating in an honors or academic enlightenment program, or enrolling in an academy that drives towards an occupation/major. As regards educational hindrances, what did you do to overcome them? What personal traits or skills help to tackle the challenge? How did overcoming the barrier affect your current situation?
The Question’s Essence
This essay concentrates on an inspirational experience. The story demonstrates how you overcame adversity against certain odds, or your pursuit for an opportunity of a lifetime. There are two parts each for both stories.
For overcoming a hindrance
- A description of the setback
- The prompt expects from you, a situation that you consider challenging to your school life
- Mention how the challenge affecting academics
- Your success story
- Describe what you did to overcome the challenge.
- Explain how the overcoming of the challenge affects your personality today.
- Mention any beliefs or ideology that you had to reevaluate or recently discovered.
For an educational opportunity
- State the opportunity
- Explain how the opportunity came about and why it was special.
- Tell in your own words why you specifically got that chance – an academic contest? A scholarship program offer?
- How you made the best of it
- Mention if you were able to maximize the opportunity and explain how.
- Mention if you felt challenged by the opportunity and how you developed yourself to catch up.
- State how the opportunity influenced your future academic ambitions or interests.
