berkeley essay

Please read the complete information about the personal statement provided in the application. These are the prompts you will be asked to answer:

For Freshman Applicants

PROMPT #1: Describe the world you come from—for example, your family, community or school—and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

For Transfer Applicants

PROMPT #1: What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field—such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities—and what you have gained from your involvement.

For All Applicants

PROMPT #2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

• Discover and evaluate distinctions among applicants whose academic records are often very similar
• Gain insight into your level of academic, personal and extracurricular achievement
• Provide us with information that may not be evident in other parts of the application

• Initiative, motivation, leadership, persistence, service to others, special potential and substantial experience with other cultures
• All achievement in light of the opportunities available to you
• Any unusual circumstances or hardships you have faced and the ways in which you have overcome or responded to them. Having a hardship is no guarantee of admission. If you choose to write about difficulties you have experienced, you should describe:
  • How you confronted and overcame your challenges, rather than describing a hardship just for the sake of including it in your application
  • What you learned from or achieved in spite of these circumstances

For freshman applicants:

• Academic accomplishments, beyond those shown in your transcript

For transfer students:

• Include interest in your intended major, explain the way in which your academic interests developed, and describe any related work or volunteer experience.
• Explain your reason for transferring if you are applying from a four-year institution or a community college outside of California. For example, you may substantiate your choice of a particular major or your interest in studying with certain faculty on our campus.

• Thoughtfully describe not only what you’ve done, but also the choices you have made and what you have gained as a result.
• Allow sufficient time for preparation, revisions, and careful composition. Your personal statement is not graded on correct grammar, spelling, or sentence structure, but these qualities will enhance overall presentation and readability.

• to a professional college (such as the College of Engineering or Chemistry), it is important that you discuss:
  • Your intended field of study in your personal statement
  • Your interest in your specific major
  • Any school or work-related experience
• for a scholarship, we recommend that you elaborate on the academic and extracurricular information in the application that demonstrates your motivation, achievement, leadership and commitment.
• to the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP)—the support program for students from low-income families in which neither parent is a college graduate:
  • Discuss how the program might benefit you
  • Tell us about your determination to succeed even though you may have lacked academic or financial support

You can use the Additional Comments box in the personal statement section to convey any information that will help us understand the context of your achievement; to list any additional honors awards, activities, leadership elements, volunteer activities, etc.; to share information regarding a nontraditional school environment or unusual circumstances that has not been included in any other area of the application. And, finally, after we read your personal statement, we will ask the question, “What do we know about this individual?” If we have learned very little about you, your personal statement is not successful.

• Personal Statement Do's and Don'ts