UC Prompt #5: Conquering Academic Challenges
by Michelle P.
UC Prompt #5 asks:
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?
As a hopeful applicant for a UC, students may see this prompt with relief and understanding that colleges do not expect all applicants to have a perfect record on their grades.
Of course, having a strong academic record would be of importance, but even admissions officers acknowledge that there are sometimes life circumstances or challenges that are outside a student’s control. What matters most to them though, is how the student met this challenge.
Here’s what students can think about when it comes to answering UC Prompt #5:
- What was the impact on your academics from a challenge? Was this impact significant?
(I would not recommend writing an essay about raising a grade in a class from a solid B to an A; an essay on how you moved a grade from a C- to a stronger B+ might show more about you) - What was the exact challenge you were facing? Did it come from yourself? From a class environment? Or was it an outside factor that affected your academics?
- You would want to make sure that the challenge is significant enough to give you a story to tell. Some challenges may relate to a change in family circumstances, or changes in mental health, or if a class suddenly had its teacher changed three times in one month.
- Lastly, what actions did you, as a student, take towards the challenge? Colleges are not a big fan of passivity. Did you find new resources to self-study with? Did you ask a teacher for additional help? Or even if you struggled to improve on academics, were there some new aspects of the subject you developed an interest in?
For students who are wondering if there has been a similar blog post about a topic like this before, you may wish to read our EssayNarwhal post on the Common App prompt #2 as the advice and tips you see there can also apply to this UC prompt.