## Welcome and How This Training Helps with UC Essays [00:00] Welcome, welcome, welcome to Eagle Lock. This is Coach Art. Uh I am doing another series of trainings tonight and uh thank you so much for joining me. I really really appreciate it. Um we have a relevant topic here. Uh just to let you know is that uh we just uh finished a series of our um kickstart sessions and uh one of the main topics there of course is writing essays and particularly writing the UCPIQ's. And so tonight I thought it would be uh fitting and uh to to talk about the basics of PIQ 101. Now, I've done this um probably a couple times now, but you know, there's so many people that always ask about it and say, "Gosh, how coach Art, you know, my my either my son or daughter's starting or I'm starting to write and I just, you know, need a little bit of of of how to to get started with uh PI writing the UCPIQ's." So, I thought it might be relevant tonight to be able to talk about that because this is significant. A lot of the the juniors that are becoming rising seniors are are going to be are uh it's either they they've already finished and are going into the summer or they're going to get into the summer really uh soon and so they are um they need uh you know to start on their essays. This is a good time to start on your essays. Okay. Um, and why uh I always say that is because you want to make sure that you're giving yourself time to um to really um uh uh have time to think and give yourself, you know, time to be able to write and then put it down, then write and put it down. So that's why it's important um that you start early um especially at this time. So why don't we go and get started? What we're going to do now is here's what we're going to cover. We're I'm going to give you a little bit of overview of of of PIQ's and what they're all about. Again, for those who don't know, it's a uh the personal insight questions for the UC's. Um going to talk about the writing process, and I know I've reviewed this before, but it's always good to refresh that. Finding your why, okay, and and what that means, and then going to break down each of the questions, the PIQ questions, give you some final tips, and then uh answer any questions, okay? So hopefully, does that sound good for everybody? If you guys can give me a heart, give me a heart. Give me a heart to know that you got All right, cool. I love it. Okay, now I always say is that anytime you find something that is ## What Are the UC PIQs and How Are They Scored [02:30] interesting that I've mentioned or you find something funny or whatever, give me a heart because I always like to see those reactions and then uh to to find out if the information is is fruitful for you guys. Okay, so let's kind of start here. First of all, an overview of the PIQ's. So, you get eight PIQ's, okay? And what is the PIQ? PIQ stands for personal insight question. It's specific questions for the University of California colleges. Okay? And so, um, they have eight questions. You got have to choose four out of the eight. Each of the responses are 350 words. Okay? It's 350 words per response. And what we always say is you should stick to about 340 plus. You don't want to go below that. And the reason why is because if you are really passionate about what your topic is and you have really, you know, something that is really um close to you, you should be able to write enough and sufficient amount of words to fill the 350. So you want to get as close to 350, but you don't want to go under 340. Okay? These are not essays. They are personal insight questions. And what I the difference between that is this personal insight questions. Exactly what it is. It's personal. It's about you insights because it's what's in your brain. And it's questions. Meaning as if I sat down and I asked you a question and you gave me an answer. Okay? So it's not like when um for example, if I sat you down and you and I said, "Hey, um how was your high school career?" and you say, "Well, in the days of your when men were chivalous and ladies were, you don't start out that way, right?" Uh, when someone interviews you and ask you a question, you just answer the question. And that's what these are meant for. They're not meant to be these explicit and elaborate essays, they're meant for you to answer the question straight out, okay? Within 350 words. So, one thing that you have to ensure is that you always answer the question. One of the biggest things that students don't do is they and and this is a big thing I've seen where they try to take uh an essay they wrote in high school or so and then they try to cram it in or form fit it into a certain and then it doesn't really make sense. It doesn't answer the actual question. Okay? Because the content but also the context ## Why PIQs Are NOT Personal Statements [05:00] is the number one priority. making sure that you have content and that make sure that that context is in relation to the question. It has to be about you. Again, that's the piece. It's personal, right? It has to be must be about you. And a lot of students don't realize this with respect to the PIQ's. Grammar and spelling really nec doesn't necessarily matter as long as it's readable. Okay? Now, I know you might say, "Oh my gosh, what are you talking about?" I for me I always say yes of course if you have time and you can read through it and you can you can clean it up and or so that's great but the thing is this the key thing is the content and the context okay not necessarily the grammar and spelling but if you have ability to go ahead and correct the grammar and spelling yes of course go ahead and do that but there's more the more important thing is that the the actual content that you that you're reading that's more important Okay. All right. So, what is the writing process? Now, I know a bunch of students um they attended our quick start session and um they learned this writing process. I'm going to teach you this writing process. It's very very quick for those who have never really experienced this, but it's important. Okay? It's important. So, um how do you go ahead and do it? So, first of all, warning, do not read the questions first. Period. I can't tell you enough where I tell everybody do not read the questions first. That is the worst thing that you can do. And the reason why is because you automatically put blinders on. Okay? You ought to put blinders on in your brain because then your brain will only think about that particular question. Okay? And so that's a problem because for example, if you read the leadership question, then all you're going to think about is, "Oh my gosh, how much was I ## The AEIOU Framework for Planning Your Content [07:00] leader? How much how was I a leader?" And the problem with that is is that what if you really didn't have a formal leadership position or formal leadership opportunity? Then you're thinking, "Oh my gosh, I don't know anything about this." And you're stuck. Okay? Whereas you could have done leadership things. Okay? But you would never know about that if you just automatically just restricted yourself and said and read the question. So one, do not read the question first. Now, what is the process? And I went through this before, but I'm going to go through this again so everybody understands. First of all, you're going to go through a brainstorming session. And up until up until you assign the question, these two pieces here, you are not looking at the question. So you're brainstorming. And how are you brainstorming? You're going to list out your activities. You're going to list out the experiences in your life. You're going to go ahead and kind of figure out the types of identities that you are. Okay? So, when I say list out your activities, all the things you've done, right? Both inside and outside high school. Um, you're going to talk about your experiences. What are some experience or people that you have met that have impacted your life? Okay? Either and and the experiences don't have to be major. They can be very small but they can be significant in the sense of impacting your life. Okay. So, um write all this down. And then identities. Are you a singer? Are you a dancer? Um are you um uh an engineer? Um um you know, do you do I mean there's all types of identities. Um are you you know, do you have are you I'm Filipino, so are you do you have an ethnicity? Okay. Um all of these different things. um are are unique to you. And so you want to write all of this down and you really want to reflect on it. Okay? And say, "Who are you?" Okay? So once you get all of this brainstorming, all the things that you are, start reflecting on it. Start thinking about it. Start looking at it and and putting together certain things that you think, okay, are are important. Once you've done that, okay, then what you're going to do is is in with in still in still in the brainstorming. Now you're going to do what I call is story time. Okay? And story time is is that you're going I'm sorry not story time, apologies. You're going to identify from those things four topics. Okay? Four topics. Four topics. And so what happens is is that you you've you've you know you've looked at all the things that you've wrote uh with respect to who you are. You're going to pick four topics out of that. Four to six I'd say but you know minimum of four um that are the most relevant that are you are the most passionate that really had a lot of impact on your life. Okay? Whether it's a person, a thing, a skill, whatever it is. And then you're going to do story time. And what story time is is you're ## Choosing 4 Prompts That Show Range and Depth [10:00] just going to write the story. It's what I'm going to explain to you next is the what's tell me the details of the story. You know, you went to the store and you opened the door and you bought some bread and you and then you uh walked home and you saw uh a dog on the street and they looked very, you know, lonely and so you picked up the dog and you brought them home and then that dog became um you know uh so important in your life. Something like that. Okay, those are all just details of the story. So, you're going to take the four topics and you're going to write stories of each of them. All the details and as much as you can get as much detail as you can. All right. Now, the next step is dig deep. I coined this phrase for us. It's not a it's not an a unique phrase, but dig deep. I call it dig deep. And so what you're going to do now is is you're going to do the second half of the story which is your insights which is what the personal insights in your brain. What were you thinking? So for example, let's go by the example of you know you got the bread and you picked up the dog. Why did you pick up the dog? Why were you motivated? What did what did the dog do for you? Where what were you inspired? Why um you know um how did you feel? Okay, how did how did the dog change your life? Okay, these things. Okay. And you don't want to you notice I'm I'm not focusing on the doll. I'm focusing on your feelings, on what motivated you, what inspired you, um how did it change your life, um what struggles did you go through, how did you overcome them? So that's all about digging deep. Okay. So now you have the story details and now you have the information that that is um that's paired with it of all the insights along the way. Once you have all of that and you imagine this is what I call you have a a a blob of stuff here that is now when you go and you go and look at the questions. Okay, the eight questions uh of the PIQ and you try to match the questions to the four topics that you wrote. Okay? And you can see the difference because what happens now is when you're doing the brainstorming and you're digging deep, you're not restricted by anything because you're just writing. And I want you to write as much as you can. Okay? As much as you can. Okay? There's no there is no I don't want you to think about uh grammar, spelling, uh word limit, uh format. I don't care if it's in a bullet form. I don't care if it's just small sentences, if it's long not it doesn't matter. It's just put stuff on paper about your uh the experiences, who you are um and your activities and what you've done. Okay? And then you because you've done that now you assign the questions and you see how how brilliant that is is because now you have all of this content and it's very easy for you to say oh this is really kind of centering on leadership or oh this is really centering on creativity and so you match those questions to the content. Now after you have that this is now when you do what's called a messy draft. You put everything together. Now that you have written the the the the story and uh the con the the the insights and you have the question. Now go ahead and read the question and just start adding things and start um taking the the you know the ## What a Strong Draft Actually Looks and Feels Like [13:30] information and adding to it so that it it really augments the story and it augments the essay. Okay. And it augments sorry forgive me the question the PIQ. So now you have this. So now this is a purpose of you want to get for example for 350 words you want to have let's say 600 words. Okay. And why is because just like a a sculptor who has clay they're going to start with this big blob of clay. I call it the blob, right? The big blob of clay. And with that blob of clay, you're going to go ahead now and start cutting into that blob of clay. But there's no way you can create a piece of art or a sculpt a sculpted piece of art if you only have this amount of clay. But if you have a huge amount of clay, then you have a lot of flexibility to move things around, to change things, to add things, to subtract things. Okay? And so that's where you are creating that blob of clay, which is the messy draft. Okay? Now when you have the messy draft, you have the 600 words or the page and a half or however long and I then I don't want you to restrict yourself. If you keep on writing and writing and writing, great. Do it. The more content the better. This is now when you go to revising. And how do you revise? What you do is you look at the question. You look at the question itself and then you start saying does uh the sentences uh that you've written there does it answer the question? Okay. Are there repeats within uh have you repeated yourself? Okay. If that you have remove it. Um are there things that are really not talking about you? Okay. Remove it. All right. So this is the things where you're revising it down. You're revising it down. You're revising it down and you're making it sharper, more impactful, uh, more interesting, uh, and much more relevant and pertaining to the question. So, that's where you're doing revision. And this is also at a point where you have other people review your stuff. Okay? Um, if you're in our program, that would be our coaches. If you're not in our program, then that would be other people um that you trust that could help you with insights about, you know, your your your essays. And you really want to find people that have a good critical eye, right? That can really um provide you with good insight ## How to Avoid Repetition and Redundancy [16:00] about these. Now, after that, then you finalize. And when it finally is where you now look at word limit, this is where you start cutting at word limit. And how you do that is you ask the question so what. And if the if you can't answer the question so what meaning so what is it relevant to the qu to the to the actual uh question that's being answered in the piq then remove it. If there are duplicates if it's not impactful if maybe you move things around okay you move things around that will make it more impactful. Um, one of the things that I always say, and it's it's an advice that I have later on, is that when you're writing these, you want to slap the reader in the face. I always say this, okay? Not physically, of course, but you want to slap the reader in face. And what I mean by that is, especially with the PIQ's, don't waste your time by it doesn't need a hook. It doesn't need an introduction. It doesn't need a buy to the conclusion. All that. Nope. Piqs is different. You don't need all of that. Tell them exactly what you're going to tell them right from the very beginning. Too many students what they do is they write and write and write just trying to wait for this amazing ending. It doesn't matter because what happens is remember readers only have about four minutes to read your stuff. Okay, read your whole entire application. They have about two two and a half minutes to read all your essays. So for them for to have them wait till the end of your essays to find out what the what the true message you're trying to give them is a waste of time for them. Okay? So you want to slap them in the face right away. You want to give it to them what you're going to tell them right away. Give them the the the the hardest impactful um line in there so that they know exactly what you're going to tell them right away and then you tell them. Okay. So when you finalize, you get down to I me as I mentioned 34 340 words or higher and uh or 340 to 350. Slap the reader in the face and dig deep and make sure that that you know you're providing a lot of great insight. Okay. So I'm going to give a little bit of notion of finding your why. And what this means is this. So when we talk about writing the essays, there really is a ratio. It's a 7030 ratio. Okay? And again, I know I have here kind of 65, but really it's kind of about 7030 ratio of the number of words that you should be using between the whats and the wise. Now, what are the whats? Okay, the whats are what we physically see. Okay, it's the points of the story. That was the first part. Remember when I said here right here in the kind of in the brainstorming is what you're going to do is you're going to provide the what'ss. That's what I physically see. If I see that you're on a green court with a racket and a yellow ball and you're ## The Biggest Mistake Students Make in Their First Draft [19:00] hitting it over a net, I can kind of deduce and most likely deduce that you're a tennis player or you're playing tennis. Okay. And that's the what'ss of the story. Okay. I see your I you that you played on a on a tennis team and you were you were the captain of the tennis team and you and you helped uh you know um helped helped um uh your fellow players uh practice and and warm up. Okay, those are all details of the story. But the other part of it which is the more important is the wise. Okay, that's the 70% of it. Okay, and it's what we cannot see just by looking at you. What? It's what's in your brain. It's what your insight. It's again, it's your personal insights, right? Piq. That's why I really love that moniker, Piq. That's something, right? Why were you inspired to wake up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning to to practice tennis? Why is it that when you wake up in the morning and you get out of the bed, the first thing that you have in your hand is a racket? Or what were the struggles that you went through to be to become captain of the tennis team? or um why is you know why does tennis drive you? What is it, you know, does it why does it drive your competitive spirit? Um or what is it to be uh what is it like to to lead your team, your tennis team, you know, to a victory or maybe to recover from a defeat? You see, all of these things are things that we definitely cannot just figure out by just looking at you. Okay? And so you have to state that. And so that is the wise. And so this is the biggest thing that a lot of students I'm going to tell you throughout the entire country when they write this is the key thing that they miss all the time. And that's the difference between the students that make it into the UC's and the students that don't because the wise is what's telling the UC readers who you truly are. Okay? And if they can determine from the wise the type of person that you are, whether you are, you know, you you are you're you're gracious, you're compassionate, you're courageous, you're creative, um you're you're a leader, um you know, you um you're uh you take risks, you're a risk taker. If they can determine all that and that matches the archetype of what the UC's are looking for, then you're in. And that is all in the wise because the what's is what's shown in your activities list. But of course you have to give a little bit of context of the story in order to make sure they understand about the wise, right? But what you don't want to do is you don't want to dwell on the what'ss because then they don't learn anything about you. Okay? So hopefully can you guys give me a heart to say that makes sense? If you if that makes sense with everybody there. All right. Cool. Great. Wonderful. Okay. So, now that you guys ## How to Move from PIQ to Personal Statement [22:00] have learned what the what's versus the wise, now you're going to be able to understand the next pieces of the questions. Okay. So, let's go through the breakdown of the questions. Here we go. PIQ number one. This is the leadership one. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time. So, what is the what? describe an example of your leadership experience. You basically tell them, I was the captain of the tennis team. That's your leadership experience. And you can tell them all the experiences there. I I helped set up the strategy. I I I picked the players. I um I did uh brought them to dinner for team morale. Whatever that. Okay. Now, what is the why? You have three choices. Pick one of them. Positively influence others. help resolve disputes contributed to group efforts over time. Now, the reason why we say pick one is because I would rather you go ahead and give the deep wise about positively influencing others than to try to give three of them and you only have 350 words. I'm telling you, if you use the 350 words correctly, you will only need to choose one of those. Okay? So, how did you positively influence others? So maybe you know um you noticed that there was uh an individual who um who tried out and was very down on themselves and didn't think that they could they could do it and you inspired them by working with them and you and then but the key thing here is it's not about them. You start talking about yourself and I learned that there are different ways to communicate with one another with other people. I learned that you have to listen to other people. I learned or I I I I went through the struggle of trying to help my teammates, okay, um uh become uh be be confident in their skills, you see, and that was a very difficult thing. So all of this is about you, okay? And that is the key thing about leadership. Make sure that you talk to them about the type of leader that you are and how you've either positively influenced others, help resolve disputes, or contribute to group to efforts over time. So, it's really a two-part question and it's important to provide specific leadership examples, okay, that really relate to your insights. Okay. So, for example, if you know you helped the you helped uh someone get over their fear of uh you know getting hit by a tennis ball. Okay. Something like that, right? That's an example. All right. Okay. So, that's the leadership question. Piq number two. Every person has a creative side and it can be expressed in many ways. Problem solving, original, innovative thinking and artistically to name a few. Describe how ## Final Reminders and Where to Get Feedback [25:00] you express your creative side. So first of all, what is the what? The what is what is your creative outlet? So basically tell them I am a crocheter. I crochet. That is my creative outlet. That's what I do. Okay. And then the why is describe how you express your creative side. So you see that's the second part here. Describe how you express your creative. So what is it? You can talk about the colors and you can talk about the the patterns that you do, but you have to talk about why is that important to you. Maybe it's because uh it has a calming effect on you. It allows you to have stress stress relief. Uh maybe it it it opens your mind to possibilities that you never thought before. Uh maybe it allows you to create something that is very personal that you will give to somebody else because you love them. Okay, these are all things that I would never be able to figure out just by looking at you. I could see that maybe you have, you know, the I I forgot what they're kebabs or so and that you that you're maybe putting something together and maybe I can figure out that you're a crocheter, but I have no idea why why you did it. Why do you even chose what you created? uh why is that interest you? Why is it something that you're passionate about? Okay, so this is a fairly easy uh question to answer and it should be something that you could definitely provide a lot of content because everybody has something that they're interested in that they feel like they're creative about. Okay. All right. So, make sure to fully articulate your creative process and your thoughts. That's very, very important. Um just saying you're creative is not enough. So you can't just say, "Oh, I I love playing piano." That's not enough. Okay? Just playing music, for example, is assumed. But you have to explain why your music playing is unique. For example, maybe you write your own music, and so that's the way you express yourself. But you can't just say, "Oh, I'm very creative because I play piano." Well, okay. A lot of people play piano. What is What does How does that make you unique? Okay. Okay. PIQ number three. So, what would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and de demonstrated that talent over time? So, you guys probably guess what this is. What is the what? Okay, again, the 30%. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? So, you basically tell them uh you know, I'm um I am a an amazing problem solver. I don't know something like or I I'm I um or actually that that might be a little bit that's a lot of people use that one. Let's say um I'm a uh I I am amazing at solving Rubik's cubes. Okay. Greatest talent or skill. All right. Um and then you have to definitely explain the why is how have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time. So you see developed and demonstrated. Developed and demonstrated. So you want to show them what have you done to develop that and the insights around that. Why was it so hard to develop it? What were the what why did were you motivated by doing it? What was the simple interest in it? How did it change your change your life? How did it change your mind? How did it change other people? Okay. You want to show how you developed that and then you demonstrated that talent over time. So avoid kind of the cliche things like for example, oh I'm a great time manager or I'm very well organized or I'm really dedicated. Yeah, that's wonderful. But you know what? A lot of people are like that. Try maybe using unique skills like juggling or you shoot a three-point shot or maybe you're great at the super smash special combos. For those who don't know, those are special combos on okay in a video game. Um those are all unique and the and so you know for example u my son um as you all know uh he he he went to UC Berkeley and um and he went to uh got mechanical engineering degree but the one thing he wrote about was beatboxing. How he loved to beatbox. That is a very unique skill. Okay. would have never even thought of anybody. If you look at him, you would never thought he's a beatboxer. Okay. So, focus on what you have done to develop the skills further and how it changed you. Okay. All right. Piq number four. So, describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier. So, what is the what? The what here is first of all, remember there's two options here. What is the educational opportunity? So you got to tell them, you know, what was the educational opportunity? Maybe you had a you you were able to go on a trip to to Bolivia, something like that. Okay. But the why is describe how you taken advantage of a significant education opportunity? So what did you do? What did you do so that it was something that benefited you? Okay. What were the insights that you found on that? Um how did it motivate you? How did it change your life? What did um what were the the the things that you learned that allowed you to to grow in insights? Okay. Like for example, if you went to another country or so and then you learned how or you learned that all the things in your life, you were so you you were more grateful of it because you you know you saw how other people didn't have the things you had. Um or you learned about how creative other people are. Okay. Or the second piece of that is work to overcome an educational barrier. So the what is the educational barrier and two describe how you work to overcome that. So how did you cover? So for example, let's say you were dyslexic. Well then you want to talk about okay what was the effects of this the dyslexia? What how did it affect you? How did it affect your your your your mindset? What did you do to get over that? How did you how did you overcome that? How did you make that in take that as an advantage and and and succeed? Okay, so that's how you you answer this question. But again, remember 7030, right? 70% of the insights, 30% of the the the what's okay. All right. So for example, and I want to say that just taking an AP or IB class is not significant enough. For example, what is an education opportunity? Just saying, "Oh, I took a bunch of AP classes." That is not significant enough. A family trip to Bolivia and what you learned can be significant if it changed your perspective. Made you realize something important. Change you know or yes change your perspective. Okay. Significantly change your perspective. All right. Now PIQ number five. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and steps you've taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected you uh your academic achievement? Okay. So I'm going to go through the what'ss and the wides and then and then I'll give you a little caveat here. So first of all there's two what's describe the most significant challenge you face. So you're just going to describe it. you know I um unfortunately I lost you know I lost again I didn't personally I'm just saying is this could be an example you know I I I lost my leg in a car accident something like that right what are the steps you took you have taken to overcome this challenge so you got to tell them what are the things that you did to overcome this challenge now the why is how has this challenge affected your academic achievement now there's a couple of things here another of the why is how has this challenge affected you and how did you overcome them? Because this the steps you've taken and the insights that you learned from this can be the why. But another piece of this is how has this challenge affected your achievement. If it has affected your academic achievement, great. Then tell them. But if it hasn't, then all you have to say is it didn't affect my academic achievement at all. That's it. That's all you need to say. Okay? But the more important part is the significant challenge. But I going to have a caveat here. When you're talking about a significant challenge, getting a B in a class and work hard to get an A is not a significant challenge. Spraining your ankle in, you know, in one of your games and trying to get back to the game is not a significant challenge unless, okay, and but this has been overdone, I will say. Unless you were a fourstar or five-star recruit and were always touted to to get a full ride scholarship to a school and that you and then what happened was is that you you know you I don't know you you you hurt your knee and then your dreams were over. Now I will tell you that has been done a lot but it it it can be considered significant but you know the significant challenge really needs to be something that's emotionally or maybe psychologically or physically significant like I mentioned lost your leg uh in a in a car accident or lost a loved one that had you know and then you had let's say you lost a loved one you had to take care of your three brothers and sisters. Those are things that are significant in your life because they completely 180°ree change your life in some way that um you would have never imagined and could be negative or positive, right? And if it's negative, you got to really explain how you created made it a positive or how you dealt with it. Um you know, what were the struggles, how what were what motivated you to overcome them. Okay, those are all the things. So, a lot of times I would caution yourself is with PIQ number five, sometimes we don't recommend this unless it's truly significant. Okay. But if it's just, oh, well, I got bad grades. That's not significant because all all bunch of kids always get bad grades. Okay. All right. Piq number six. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you further this interest inside and or outside the classroom. So the what is think about a subject that inspires you any subject any subject okay and then what you want to do is there's three cho remember now you notice I know it says think about an academic subject so just think about the subject and then there are three choices describe how you further this interest inside and outside the class uh inside the classroom or outside the classroom or inside and outside. So you can either do one of the three. Okay, choose one and then describe it. But then remember it's all about the insights. Why does it inspire you? That's the big thing. The inspires you is the key. Why does it inspire you? What makes it h why why does this subject make you get out of bed in the morning and just have you so thrilled? I know there was there was a a um a young lady that I was working with and the one thing that she loved was numbers. Okay, she said, "I can't get enough of numbers. I wake up, numbers are there. I look at a wall, numbers are there. I look at uh I look out in the street, numbers are there. Um every she was constantly always, you know, she could relate things to numbers and she loved it because it was something that she was so good at and that that inspired her. Of course, you know, she She made it into math of course, but it was one of the things that she loved numbers and it was so interesting to get her insights about the the the things that she saw, you know, the simple things like her plate and she saw numbers. Okay. Um uh or you know uh formation of her friends, she saw numbers, right? Okay. So anyway, that's PQ number six. Okay. Uh so the one thing with PIQ number six is don't have a very long intro about it. Don't don't go so so much into the academic subject. You know, the first couple of lines that's all you need to tell the reader of this is what it started. This is how the that that inspiration is. And then don't just say uh say you did it. You need to provide evidence just to say don't say oh you know what this inspired me this and that. Focus on the second part where you have gone further and you need to be quick about the inception of the interest or the or the um inspiration. Okay. Now number seven is what have you done uh to make your school or your community a better place. Now this is very critical with this one. The what is what's wrong with your school or community? Meaning what's the problem? If there's something you want to make sure that you ex truly state what was the issue? What was the problem in your school and community? And the why is what have you done to make your school or your community a better place? what is it that you did to address this issue or this this problem? And um and then you got to tell them what you did and why you did it. What inspired you? What was it? What what did what are the things that you learned from doing that in helping your community? Okay. Now, talking a lot students in this pq number seven, they talk about volunteering, which is fine, but make sure that you articulate how you made your community better. That's really really important. So for example, you know if if a student says student uh you know I volunteered at beach cleanup. Well okay great but so what you know what came about it? What type of community was created? Uh how did how did you try and foster it further in the future? Where does the community what you know what does the community look like now versus before? Okay. So, these are all things that I would never have seen, but it's an impact on the community and you're telling them because of your efforts, this is what happened, right? Okay. Now, number eight. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for the admissions University of California? We recommend to avoid this question. The reason why it is too difficult to answer the exact question because it's so open-ended. Remember the key thing here is a lot all of the readers are trying to find out who you are. And so the questions really give them context right from the very beginning. Oh, you're answering the leadership. Okay, they're going to expect leadership. Oh, you're going to answer creativity. Okay, they expect something about creativity. you're gonna um a subject that inspires you. Okay, they're gonna expect subject here. It's this is just tell us whatever. There really isn't any way for you to to really refine this and to to make sure that it is very impactful, very concise, very tight. And so that's very very difficult to do this if you if you answer this question. That's the reason why we try to avoid this question as much as possible. Okay. Was that helpful? If you can, please give me a give me some hearts. Was that Was that okay, good? Yay. And sometimes I I did see some hearts along the way. So, thank you so much. Now, here are some uh some tips. Okay, here are some tips. First of all, give yourself time to think right. Think right. I can't tell you enough. That's the reason why for those juniors that you're listening to me now, start now with writing because what you need to do is you need to give your time that process I would say is you know in June you're doing a bunch of brainstorming and the stories. Okay, in July you're adding all of the insights if you want to do it this way. In August you you're really starting to revise and everything else. In September, you're finalizing so that by October, you're ready to go and and October 1st, frankly, is when the UIC's open up their normally their applications. You can submit them as early as October 1st. They're not going to get reviewed earlier, but what I'm saying is you could get that out of your way and then enjoy the rest of your your your senior year, okay? But give yourself time. Be yourself. Don't write what you think colleges want to hear. I can't tell you enough, and I can't tell you this as much as I can. Too many students sit there and they say, "Oh, I'm wondering if this is what the reader wants to hear." I don't care about that. What you want to do is you want to write about um yourself. Tell them what you want to tell them. Don't tell them what they want to hear. Okay? Because then now you're not telling them who you are. You heard this from me. Slap the reader in the face. Get to the point from the very beginning and be bold. Be bold. Okay. I had a young lady where she was writing and you know she was she was very into women's rights. Women's rights. Okay. And she was so very passionate about it. She's like gosh I wish you know equality and all of that, right? And so what happened was she kept on going back and around in the beginning and I said well what are you? And she said well I'm a feminist. And I go, "Well, then that's your first line. I'm a feminist." And that was the first line of her, you know, of her essay. And it said exactly what she needed to say because it told the reader right from the very beginning, okay, she's a feminist and this is what I'm going to write about. And that's okay because it slapped the reader in the face. And it really and and she made it into many of the UC's because and I truly believe it's because she was very bold in the writing that she did. Okay. Show don't tell. This is the whole 7030. And you know, you want to show them, not just tell them, oh, I'm a tennis player. You want to show them by giving them the details and the motivations and the insights, right? So, instead of saying, I love math, describe a moment that shows that you love math and how it it you know, and how that really shows the the love of the math and your insights about it. Okay. And lastly, keep it concise. The essays are 350 words. Do not, this is the key thing for the four. They have to be unique. Do not repeat topics out of the four. It's as if four different people wrote four different PIQ's and you put them together and it's a superhum. Do not repeat. Do not have any relationship between any of your PIQ's. That is extremely extremely important. And the reason why is because you want to show the reader that you have diversity, okay? In the in the causes and the interests and the things that you do, okay? And as I mentioned, be concise. Ask so what. If you cannot answer the question so what with respect to the question of the PIQ, then you take it out. Okay. So, here are some don'ts. Don't write about controversial topics. is it's a no no. Don't write about them, please. Okay? As much as you may be, you know, so passionate about certain things, but don't write about necessarily um, you know, a political position that could be polarizing. Okay? Don't write like a 40-year-old professor. I can't tell you enough. Again, this is the whole thing of trying to guess what the reader wants to hear. No, they're expecting and I they're expecting a a 17-year-old high school person to write. Okay? You just have to write clearly your ideas. Don't write things that don't answer the entire question. It's so I mean, it happens so many times when I first start out or if I read somebody that didn't make it in and I look at them, I'm like, "What does this have to do with the question at all?" It doesn't. And that is truly truly annoying for a reader because they know that you really didn't do the exercise correctly. Don't write about someone else something else or some event not related to you. So there are too many times and I and and unfor and this has nothing to do I'm not bashing any high school teachers or anything else because they're amazing and great. I think we should pay them as much as we can. But the one thing is is that you're um in high school you are taught to write about something else. an event, a person, a thing, whatever it is, but you really are not um, you know, trained to write about yourself, to brag about yourself, to boast about yourself. And again, I'm not saying is that you have to be, you know, boastful or or or so, but what you want to do is you want to be confident and to tell them, yes, I'm compassionate about people or I'm very confident in the skill that I have because the only thing that they are going to evaluate on you on is your application and the actual writing that you do. They're not going to look outside that application because they don't have the time. So, you got to make sure you don't write about something else and spend a time. I see so many people like, "Oh, my grandma was my inspiration and she came from the old world and she she all she had was, you know, the the clothes on her back and she worked so hard for 40 years and she helped these people and they go on and on and on and three4s of the essays about their grandmother." Well, your grandmother's not the one going to college. It's you going to college. It's okay to say, "I was inspired by my grandma." And then you talk about and say, "I learned from her perseverance, compassion. I learned how to take care of other people and to and to value um life and learned how to care for myself." Okay? But then you see, you're talking about yourself. You're not talking about your grandma. Don't write a glorified list of your activities. I can't tell you enough. So many people fight us on this, saying, "But I need to tell them my achievements." No, you do that in your activities. They're not looking for your achievements. They see their activities. They're looking for the type of person you are. What's inside of you, okay? All the accolades and all that. You know, save that for the the slots, the 20 slots that you have. That's a lot of slots that you have for the activities section. Talk about yourself. Okay. And lastly, don't use AI to write your essay. And I I'm going to caveat this by saying this. Um using AI um the UC's told us last year, last summer, and they said that basically um it's okay if you're going to use it it to help you, for example, make the the sentence better. But what you can't do is just go to to to AI and say, "Write me an essay about how courageous I am." Okay, that's not your idea. That is not who you are. It's not personal because now you're taking whatever AI knows about courageous people and it having it write an essay. Okay. So if you know be very cautious now with the UC's right now they have taken the stance I think that you know as of right now you know it's okay because of writing the essays you know as long as it helps you just have uh make the sentence clear but we'll see what they say um because there are other schools that have taken the other side of it saying do not use AI if we detect it you know it will be your your your your application will be you know be taken out um UC's have not taken that stance yet. So, we'll see how it goes once they once they put out their report um on the current 2020 uh six or 20 sorry 2025 seniors. Um but we'll see. But again, don't use AI to write your essays. Okay. So, with that said, um wondering if there's any questions and I'll also put this up here while I'm looking for questions here. If you thought this interesting and you are not part of our program and you would like to get more information about it, please go ahead and book your free 15-minute assessment. We have assessment uh we do free assessments with our college admission advisors. So, type the word book B at 9497750865 and we will um get you you know that free assessment uh set up really quickly. Okay. question is, "You said not to repeat in your piqs, but what if your extracurriculars relate to the same subject? My leadership and volunteering both involve art." Well, again, uh, as I mentioned here, okay, I understand that's the, you know, they involve art, but the key thing is it's all about brainstorming. too many students. Again, the brainstorming piece is so vital because what you need to do is you really need to explore your experiences, your activities. It's not all about talking about your activities. It could be about your identity. Um it could be about a subject that you're interested in. Okay? And so if you say, "Oh, well, it's related to this and this." Yeah, but find something else. find something else in your life that you know but that will only happen is if you really really do some very introspective work and expand out all the things that you've done and there that's the reason why and I I know it's a little late maybe for some juniors but especially for those parents or or students that are freshman you make sure to document everything document everything from the beginning till the end um of what you've done because even the smallest things and I see this all the time where I see a student write about something and then we find one sentence they say oh I did this or or this is you know something I did and I'm like oo what is that and then we start expanding expanding and that actually becomes their piq and not the main one that they just wrote okay or that they wrote so there's a lot of things in there um again if you uh if you do have something that's very similar you got to just make sure that you don't that you don't um necessarily you know because for example they said my leadership and volunteering both involve art well it could be different pieces of art maybe okay now again that's still kind of bordering on you know them relating to one another but as long as the experiences were completely completely different and you're not constantly you know referencing the same thing then you could be okay all right let me look and see here because if you have any more. Ah, there's a couple more questions. I got about two minutes. It is almost required to choose six connecting the major. I don't understand that question. Is it almost required to choose six connecting the major? Um, I don't know what the question is there. But first of all, it is not required for you to to um to write anything about the major. Okay, they're looking about the person. So, I'll give you again again an example. It's for my son specifically. Uh again, uh went to UC Berkeley, but his four prompts that he wrote was about beatboxing, anime, hurdling, and refurbishing computers for less fortunate um families. Had nothing to do with mechanical engineering, which is what he his major was. Okay. So again, this is because it allowed it gave them the perspective of who he truly was. So you don't need to go ahead and write about your major. Okay. Um let's see. So I wonder PIQ6 is about academic interest. So I wonder if we have to pick PIQ6. Oh, I'm sorry. So remember um when it says academic subject, academic subject doesn't necessarily have to mean that it has to be English um you know physics like the actual subject at school. It could be a subject still academic for example like electricity or um you know um another academic subject could be is um um I one I had one student that talked about uh oh gosh what is it um metallurgy. Okay because it was specifically about knives and how about creating you know uh swords and knives or so forth. Okay. Um so again remember don't necessarily think it has to be exactly about a particular subject like math, science, English. Okay. Um okay last one question here. Um uh let's see. Uh sometimes a student can talk about a lot about a topic. A topic could encompass leadership community. It's okay to use different aspects of same story and write multiple PIQ's and went to a low-inccome neighborhood and taught Dan's and came up with a great Well, again, it's fine, but it remember what you want to be able to. So, the question was if you have all these different aspects of leadership and community and all that, you may have that in there, but you want to answer the question. If the question is about leadership, you need to tell them about leadership. If the question is about community and that really then you talk about community but you want to make sure that the 350 words that you're using is focusing on that question. It's very very important and that's how you get away from wandering from leadership to community service to interesting. It has to answer the question. Okay. Um one question said can you repeat the monthly plan you mentioned earlier for writing? Okay. Again, that was something that's top of my head, but you could do this is June just brainstorm and then July you now you're digging deep and adding the insights or so. Okay? Or you can do that at the same day. It really depends upon and then um August now you're really revising and then September you are now finalizing. Okay? Meaning that you're cutting it down so that by October 1st there you are. Okay? All right. We're at the end. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much again. And if you want to book a 15-minute assessment, please um write b to 949-775865. I truly truly hope that this was beneficial for you guys. Um because uh again uh we love what we do. Um I definitely love essay essay writing as well. Um and I really hope that um you got a lot out of this and that you were able to springboard you into starting your PIQ's. So, with that said, have a wonderful, wonderful rest of your week and I will see you on next Tuesday for another great training with Eagle. Have a good day and have a good weekend. Bye-bye.