Adrian’s Essay Brainstorming Exercises

Three Ways to Find Your Potential “Super” Topics 
 
A. Look to your Activities List. 
 
B. Find inspiration in the UC Personal Insight Question Prompts, which are:
1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively 
influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time. 
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. 
3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and 
demonstrated that talent over time? 
4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or 
worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
5. 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? 
6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this 
interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 
7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? 
8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes 
you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California? 
Examples of “four potential topics” (i.e. topics) from 10 past students who applied to the UCs: 
● Surfing, overcoming challenges related to dad’s cancer, Red Cross volunteering, love of 
reading 
● Officer Cadet School, computer programming, overcoming challenge of being 
overweight, internship at Accenture 
● Robotics Club, drumming, developing an app, gardening 
● English tutoring, working professionally as an actor, love of Chemistry, working in a 
restaurant as a server 
● Model United Nations, Leadership class, spreading awareness about disaster 
preparedness, experiencing three very different educational systems 
● Science Olympiad, how art has shaped me, taking care of brother, love of Biology 
● Volunteering for American Youth Soccer Organization, how fashion has shaped me, love 
of History & Film, being undocumented 
● Improv comedy, ice skating, teaching science to middle schoolers, being an amazing cook 
● Being vegetarian, internship at local hospital, acapella singing, advocating for worker’s 
rights 
● Love of writing, professional voiceover work, experiences attending 13 different schools, 
lessons from leading a camp at Burning Man for the past few years (this one’s me) 
● Adrian chose: Overcoming the challenge of being undocumented, Math (academic side), 
California Scholarship Federation (leadership), Working construction (hard-working + 
differentiator) 

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C. Additional questions: 
○ 
What’s the most responsibility you’ve ever had? 
○ 
What activity do you do that makes you feel most like yourself? 
○ 
What is your actual superpower? How and where do you express it?
○ 
What’s the toughest decision you’ve ever made? 
○ 
What’s a rockstar accomplishment you’ve had--either in or out of school? 
○ 
What are your “two truths and a lie”?