“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?”
UC reworded this prompt after 2016. It used to ask what sets an applicant apart from other candidates. It now asks what makes them a strong candidate BEYOND what is already in the application — which rules out repeating anything written elsewhere.
The thing the rest of the application does not show. Note the word “beyond.”
Three things worth noticing before you say anything — and one rule: notice them out loud as questions, not corrections.
This is the most open-ended of the eight. Do not be afraid to brag a little.
Students often adapt a personal statement they already wrote for another application — the Common App or ApplyTexas — and cut it down. That can work, but only if it covers ground the rest of your UC application does not.
The word to obey is “beyond.” If the reader has already met this material in your activities list or another PIQ, it is the wrong story here.
What you want is one story that shows your personality clearly. Not a summary of your application — the part of you that is missing from it.
And whatever they write: SHOW the reader, do not TELL the reader.
The example essays are the part families ask for most, and the part we keep inside the course. Every question gets at least one real student response, with Danielle’s notes on why it landed.
See the course