UC Prompt #2: How to Show Your Creativity
by Sarah M.
UC prompt #2: 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.
Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?
How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?
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This prompt is very flexible. You can do a deep dive into once particular creative outlet, or several (united by a theme or focus).
It’s a good opportunity to highlight some of your interests and accomplishments outside of the academic – but it’s also possible to write a great essay about how your academic interests show your creative side.
You do want to make sure you choose something that isn’t already obvious from other aspects of your application (don’t repeat themes that you address in other prompts).
This is a great prompt for doing something unexpected.
- If you’re writing about something that is on your activities list, like a musical instrument, then make sure you bring up the unexpected in your analysis.
For example, stay away from common values like discipline and hard work, and gravitate instead toward more unusual lessons that you may have learned while practicing, like teamwork or how to make something that’s boring into a mental game.
- This is also a good opportunity to address something that isn’t on your activities list at all. Informal hobbies, zany interests, or even daily rituals are all good ways to answer this prompt while providing a more well-rounded view of you as a person.
Perhaps there’s a particular food that you love with unusual passion. Maybe you write fanfiction. Or maybe you have a specific self-care practice that allows you to reset your perspective each day.