As is well known, the nine undergraduate campuses of the University of California system are top study destinations for many Chinese students. All campuses share a single application platform, allowing applicants to apply to different majors at different campuses with one application.
Previously, we shared a guide to writing the UC application essays. Today, we continue with an overview of the notes on the Activities & Awards section.
Starting last year, the UC application system underwent a redesign. In addition to optimizing the interface and improving usability, it expanded the previous two-sentence experience descriptions into up to 40 short essays in one go.
Prompt Setup
Last year, the Activities & Awards section added a company background analysis component. In this prompt, students need to fill in not only the company's location and industry but also specify its size and main business focus.
The second component is briefly describing the activity experience or award experience. This prompt existed in the old version, but the new version explicitly specifies word count and content requirements. In terms of content, students need to describe basic job responsibilities as well as achievements and results. If describing an award experience, students need to describe the efforts they made to win the award.
Additionally, they must fill in the grade level of participation, timing of participation (during school year/during school break/all year), hours per week, and weeks per year.
Overall, each activity and award entry consists of two components, i.e., two short essays: one briefly describing the organization and one briefly describing the personal experience. Each must be at least 500 characters, roughly equivalent to 60–80 words.
Each applicant can fill in up to 20 entries, resulting in a total of 40 short essays, roughly equivalent to 3,000 words of work—more than double the length of the personal insight essays!
The reasons UC has revamped this section are as follows:
1. Increasing emphasis on the quality and substance of applicants' activities and awards
In recent years, resume padding has become common. Some applicants chase quantity over quality, even awarding themselves awards. UC is guiding applicants to filter out activities and awards of little significance. For example, the application form now requires indicating whether the award is international, national, provincial/municipal, etc.
2. Screening out applicants without substantial experience and contribution
If an applicant participated in a club but did not add sufficient value or make a substantive contribution to the team, such experience cannot be listed on the application.
3. Strictly preventing blind certification and title padding
Some applicants use connections to obtain internship certificates or titles from various companies. UC will verify the companies and competition organizers listed by applicants, thus strictly preventing fraud. UC has historically audited 5%–10% of applications, and scrutiny is intensifying in recent years. Applicants must therefore never pad their resumes.
How to Enhance Your Background?
Given such strict scrutiny, to stand out in the Activities & Awards section, applicants need to plan their activities wisely, explore their experiences, enrich their extracurricular life, and thus enhance their background.
Not only club activities count as “activities.” Beyond school clubs, activities include internships, research, summer schools, summer camps, volunteering, sports and arts competitions, cultural exhibitions, Math Olympiads, and many other types.
Moreover, publishing papers in journals, obtaining patents certified by authoritative institutions, and learning and achieving in a second language can also be showcased in the Activities & Awards section to admissions officers.
What kind of extracurricular activities have an advantage?
1. Long duration
If a student participates in a one-week training program, and that is the only instance before or after, admissions officers may view it as superficial. In their eyes, excellent extracurricular activities are sustained over a long period. Duration here refers not to how long a single session was, but to long-term, periodic, and regular engagement.
For example, an applicant volunteered at the Los Angeles Book Fair for three consecutive years, while another participated in a certain film festival in both 2018 and 2019. Such activities demonstrate a collaborative relationship between the applicant and the organizers, rather than a whim or a strategic decision made just for the application.
Many activities are held annually, so applicants might as well plan ahead, participate early, and try to maintain a stronger relationship with the organizers.
2. Consistent with the student’s background, personality, and growth path
From academic performance to activities and awards, to personal insight essays, if every part of the application forms a cohesive organic whole, the applicant’s image in the eyes of admissions officers becomes more vivid and three-dimensional, the “personal brand” is established, creating a 1+1>2 effect.
For instance, a science student applying for a computer science major, academically strong in math, participated in a robotics competition and a programming summer course, and chose the “creativity” prompt for the personal insight essay, mentioning daily-life small inventions. Such a combination can demonstrate the student’s clear goal.
Of course, a wide range of interests and involvement can also be a plus, but it is essential to show connections between different experiences and how they align with the student’s background, personality, and growth path. This way, admissions officers can see the logic and reason behind these activities, rather than activities done for the sake of having activities.
3. Giving back to society and engaging in socially meaningful activities
Admissions officers also examine how an applicant can positively impact others and become a contributing member of society. When describing volunteer activities, applicants should highlight their care for disadvantaged groups, demonstrating strong empathy and social responsibility, which aligns with UC’s values of inclusivity and diversity. Alternatively, if the applicant themselves is a member of a disadvantaged or marginalized group, they can describe how they helped their group strive for social justice and progress.
Especially for Chinese students, a lack of extracurricular experience is a common phenomenon.
We suggest that from the moment you decide to apply, you plan your time wisely, make full use of it, and participate in as many exchange programs, internships, or public service activities that are beneficial for your application as possible.
At the same time, you do not need to fixate on high-end programs; you may not even need to spend money specifically on this. As long as you can fully demonstrate your personality, character, strengths, and positive impact on others and society, even small-scale activities are fully compliant and can be a plus.
Furthermore, applicants should constantly dig into past experiences and connect them with their major and background.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If you still harbor goals and dreams, why not start taking action now?
