December 2nd, 2024—a date marked on so many seniors’ calendars as—the UC application deadline. Applying to colleges can be a large part of a senior’s first semester, especially for CHS applicants who choose to apply to the UC system. The application consists of the usual personal information required by colleges and universities; while it may seem difficult to obtain, it pales in comparison to the most dreaded part of the UC application: the PIQs.
PIQs, also known as the Personal Insight Questions, are the essay portion of the UC application. An applicant must choose four of the eight prompts offered and then answer them in 350 words or less. Answers given allow universities to better understand who an applicant is outside of grades and test scores, and due to this, seniors often spend a lot of time writing, revising, and editing their responses.
CHS senior Elise Fan reflects on the time spent responding to these questions.
“I started brainstorming ideas for my PIQs over the summer,” Fan said. “But when I got started, each one took about two hours to write and three hours of editing and revision.”
Fan also mentioned that she worked on the questions across the span of three weeks.
While Fan spread her PIQs across a longer amount of time, CHS senior Hadi Faour did his in a more compressed time period.
“I worked on it for five days,” Faour said. “I think I had a solid ten hours total of good work on the essays. I started late in the middle of Thanksgiving break and submitted three hours before the deadline on December 2nd.”
Not only is a lot of time spent on writing, but choosing which PIQs to answer can be difficult. While staying within the 350 word limit may seem easy, applicants have to condense an entire story down into a few hundred words. Seniors want their responses to stand out from the rest, and their answers are often personal and represent their identity.
Fan mentioned she answered questions one, two, six, and eight, question one dealing with leadership opportunities.
“I chose question one because I’ve had years of experience of GOLD—guidance on leadership development—even though I’m more naturally withdrawn and quiet,” Fan said.
On the other hand, Faour chose to answer questions one, three, four and five.
“They were my strongest stories,” Faour said. “The other ones didn’t align much so I didn’t have too much freedom.”
He focused on showcasing his personality and what was significant to his life during his college career, such as competing in the Chemistry Olympiad.
College is definitely not easy, and the application is merely the first step into the next stage of someone’s education. There are still other steps to complete, but one of the most difficult parts is out of the way. With all the effort that has been put into applying to the UCs, good luck to the seniors!
