UCSD Supplemental Essays 2024-2025: Writing Tips + Examples

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) requires four 350-word supplemental essays, which they officially call Personal Insight Questions. There are eight prompts you can choose from.

UCSD ranks #29 in national universities and #6 in top public schools. The institution is especially known for its STEM programs too. Its admissions process is quite competitive, with an acceptance rate of 26.8%.

If you want to increase your chances of getting admitted to UCSD, keep reading. We’ll discuss the eight Personal Insight Questions and give tips and examples to help you craft your own excellent supplemental essays.

• UCSD Supplemental Essay Prompts
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #1
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #2
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #3
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #4
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #5
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #6
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #7
• How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #8
• Mistakes to Avoid When Writing UCSD Supplemental Essays
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Takeaways

UCSD Supplemental Essay Prompts

UCSD requires only four supplemental essays that are 350 words each, but you’ll have eight prompts to choose from. As one of the schools in the UC system, UCSD doesn’t use the Coalition or Common App, so you won’t need to write personal statements either.

Here are the UCSD essay prompts for 2024-2025:

• Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.
• 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.
• What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
• Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
• 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?
• Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
• What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
• Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Rest assured that all prompts are equal, so you can really choose any four that resonate with you the most.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #1

For this prompt, UCSD is asking not only if you’re a leader but also how you lead and whether it has led to positive change. They want proof that leadership is not just about holding a title for you—it’s about showing how your actions also affected the people or community around you.

Brainstorming ideas

If you want to showcase your leadership abilities, here are tips to polish your ideas:

• Reflect on your experiences. Consider all times when you assumed leadership roles. Think about school clubs and sports teams, or even informal settings like family situations and group projects.
• Identify the impact of each experience. For each idea you have, ask yourself how your actions changed the group dynamics or outcome. What challenges did you overcome, and what did I learn? How did this experience help me grow as a leader?
• Choose the best example. Choose an example that best showcases your leadership qualities, demonstrates a clear before-and-after impact, and is rich enough to tell a compelling story in under 350 words.

Essay structure tips

Once you’ve chosen the idea you want to go with, here’s how you can write it down:

• Set the scene. Grab the reader’s attention by dropping them in the middle of the situation. What was the challenge that needed a leader?
• Describe the situation. Give background details about the circumstances. Why was there a problem in the first place, and has it been getting worse? Has anyone tried solving it before you stepped up?
• Show the before and after. Focus on specific steps you took to address the problem or unite the group. Highlight any creative or thoughtful solutions. What happened after? Did they work?
• Reflect on the experience. Talk about what the experience taught you about leadership and how it can help you in the future.

For example, you have a group project in class, and members were having a hard time agreeing on what to do.

Give some context on the problem—did your classmates just have differing opinions, or were tensions also running high? Mention if anyone else tried to improve the situation. Show your thought process on what you think went wrong and how you then stepped up. Maybe you organized regular meetings and facilitated discussions until things were smoothed out. Then you delegated tasks based on individual strengths.

Talk about how things worked out in the end and what you learned about leadership and the importance of good communication and collaboration.

Supplemental essay example

The library meeting room smelled like dry-erase markers and anxiety. We were organizing our town’s first youth-led LGBTQ+ open mic night, and tensions were rising. One student wanted it to be a protest. Another envisioned a glittery drag show. Someone else suggested a quiet poetry circle. The ideas clashed, voices got louder, and I shrank into my hoodie, palms sweating, wishing I could disappear.

But then I did something that surprised even me. I took out my sketchpad.

Without speaking, I started drawing what the night could look like: a softly lit room with art-lined walls, a cozy mic stand, folding chairs in a semicircle, space for quiet poems and loud drag numbers. As I slid the drawing across the table, the arguing stopped. People leaned in.

We had found a middle ground and called it “Patchwork.” A space for all kinds of voices stitched together.

Over the next six weeks, I designed the flyers, tested the lights, and built a website where people could sign up anonymously because I knew what it felt like to be out but not really out. I listened. I noticed when someone got overwhelmed and needed a break. I stocked the green room with stim toys and noise-canceling headphones, just in case.

The night of the event, as one student read a poem about their grandmother’s cooking and another lip-synced in full drag to Bowie, I stood by the lightboard, watching the colors shift. The crowd clapped, laughed, and cried. No one questioned whether they belonged—that was the win.

Leadership, I’ve learned, doesn’t always look like taking the mic. Sometimes it means noticing what’s missing and quietly adding it. Sometimes it’s the one who creates space for every voice to rise.

Since Patchwork, I’ve helped the LGBTQ+ center run more inclusive events, and more quietly confident teens are showing up each time. Moving forward, I want to bring that same kind of sensory-aware, radically inclusive design into every space I’m part of, from research labs to community halls. That’s the kind of leadership I believe in: subtle, thoughtful, and built to last.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #2

This essay asks you to reveal your creative side by discussing how you express creativity in any of its many forms—whether through problem-solving, innovative thinking, the arts, or other areas.

Brainstorming ideas

If you’re already thinking of the many ways you can be creative, below are some ideas to help you narrow your choices:

• Choose your best medium. Think about how your creativity is best expressed—is it through traditional arts like writing and music, innovative problem solving in academic or community projects, or unique approaches to everyday tasks?
• Talk about your process. Focus on the process you went through. If you went through several trial-and-errors before getting to the process that works, you can talk about that too.
• Think of how your creativity had a meaningful impact. Focus on examples where you not only showed creativity but also had a meaningful impact. How did your creative approach make a difference for yourself or others?

Essay structure tips

If you’ve chosen something that best captures your creative identity, here’s how you can write your essay:

• Draw the reader into your creative process. Hook your reader in with an intriguing question, a brief anecdote, or a striking statement related to your creativity.
• Detail your process. Describe your thought process, the steps you took, and how you overcame obstacles. Try to emphasize your innovative thinking and problem-solving skills. For instance, did you have to mix your own paint to get the perfect color?
• Talk about the impact. Explain how your creative approach made a difference. What did you achieve, and how did it affect others or change a situation?
• Connect your creativity to broader experiences. Reflect on why you love your creative experiences/outlets. Connect your creative expression to your broader goals or how it influences your perspective on challenges and opportunities.

Let’s say you’re good at music composition. You can introduce it by talking about the moment you discovered that music was your creative outlet.

You can continue by saying you realized you might be good at composition when you forgot or missed certain notes on the violin while practicing and started improvising to cover it up. You can say you began to compose your own music when you couldn’t find a piece or song that fully matched the joy or sadness you felt at a certain time.

When talking about the impact, you can say you performed your compositions for other people. After that, you can discuss why you love composing music and how you think the skills you learned can help you in the future, whether or not you’re majoring in music composition.

Supplemental essay example

I like drawing. Of course, it feels nice to draw something beautiful, but I usually draw to explain the world around me—specifically, the parts most people don’t notice. Like how a mycorrhizal network stretches beneath a forest, passing nutrients from tree to tree. Or how tardigrades survive in space by curling into themselves and entering a kind of stasis. Or how dopamine works like a mail carrier, rushing messages across the synapse.

My sketchbooks are full of tiny worlds: bacteria in a swirling dance, neurons shaped like lightning bolts, moss colonies taking root in sidewalk cracks. These illustrations end up in hand-folded zines I post in my favorite online collective, where other neurodivergent teens trade art like letters in a bottle. My zines mix science, storytelling, and personal reflection. They’re equal parts biology journal and graphic memoir.

Last year, I started leaving some of them around town. I tuck them between library books and inside bus stop benches or slide them under the door at the local community center. 

One of them, titled What To Do When the World Is Too Loud, shows how animals self-soothe, like elephants flapping their ears and cats kneading their paws, and how we can learn from them. Another, The Secret Life of Soil, maps the microbial party beneath your feet. I don’t sign them. I just hope someone who needs it finds it.

My creativity is rooted in translation. I take the microscopic, abstract, and overwhelming and reshape it into something tactile and kind, something someone else might pick up and feel a little more seen by. From this, I’ve learned that art is not only about self-expression but also about building bridges between different kinds of minds. 

I want to merge visual storytelling with environmental science to create tools that educate and soothe at the same time. Science communication is often loud, fast, and inaccessible to people like me, but I want to change that. I want to make learning feel like finding a quiet zine in a noisy world—unexpected, gentle, and deeply human.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #3

This prompt wants you to talk about your greatest talent or skill and your journey of dedication and perseverance that allowed you to hone it over time. UCSD wants to see if you have the self-awareness to know what you’re good at and if you actively sought opportunities to improve your talent.

Brainstorming ideas

If you have a talent or skill that you’re really proud of, here are some tips to help you refine how to present it:

• Choose a unique talent. Think about what you most enjoy doing and sharing with others. Consider feedback from teachers, coaches, or mentors that highlighted this talent.
• Think about your journey. List key experiences, challenges, or turning points that contributed to your improvement. You can talk about any mentors, classes, or practices that were important in developing this skill. Be specific about what you developed. Did you learn to play with shades to paint in monochrome, or play with a light hand for a more whimsical musical tone?
• Reflect on its impact. How did your talent benefit others or make a difference in your community or school? What was its impact on you?

Essay structure tips

When you’re ready with your ideas, below are some tips to structure your essay:

• Introduce your talent. Don’t just simply say “I’m good at math.” Draw the reader in with an anecdote, observation, or question related to your talent.
• Explain its importance. What does your skill mean to you? Did it improve your self-confidence or make you feel connected with others?
• Talk about the before, during, and after. Describe your development process. How did you find out you had this skill? What challenges did you face and what did you do to improve? What are your next steps now? How else can you utilize your talent in the future?

Maybe your greatest talent is communication. You can start by saying when you unknowingly showed it off—such as that time in kindergarten when you confidently delivered a graduation speech in front of all the parents.

Talk about how important your communication skills are to you since they let you be more connected to others. Then, discuss your development journey. When did you realize you were good at communication? Did you face any setbacks that might have shaken your confidence? What did you do to be better?

You can end by saying how you can expect to keep using your skills in the future. Do you plan on joining a debate club or hope to present a paper at a conference?

Supplemental essay example

I notice things other people don’t: the slight difference in chirps between two sparrows nesting near my window, or the repeating shape of fern leaves and lightning strikes, or even the way the cafeteria always gets louder right before third period, like a pressure valve about to burst.

Pattern recognition is my greatest skill—not in a competitive, number-crunching way, but in the way my brain naturally links rhythms, relationships, and meanings across things that seem unrelated. It’s part instinct, part training, and part how I’m wired as someone who’s autistic.

When I was younger, this made me feel strange. I’d get lost in details, miss social cues, and repeat facts about lichen or marine plankton at lunch because they lit up some internal circuit board. But over time, I realized this sensitivity wasn’t a flaw but a superpower. While other students memorized vocabulary for biology class, I made flowcharts and doodles that mapped entire systems—how a drop of water moves through the ground, how nitrogen cycles, how microbes shape coral reef health.

This way of thinking bleeds into every part of my life. I design zines that braid together ecology, neuroscience, and personal reflection. I troubleshoot hydroponic systems for our Biota Club by sketching out water flow like a subway map. I help friends draft essays by tracing emotional arcs they didn’t know were there.

Pattern recognition taught me that the world is woven together in threads we often overlook. It’s also taught me patience. I learned how to slow down, observe, and let meaning reveal itself over time.

Going forward, I want to channel this way of seeing into environmental systems research and inclusive science communication. I want to build tools and stories that reveal the hidden threads between people and the planet, especially for those who think they don’t belong in science because their minds work differently. My mission is to make complexity feel beautiful and welcoming. Because sometimes, seeing the invisible is both a skill and a way to build a future that includes all of us.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #4

You have two options on what topic your essay can have for this prompt: an educational opportunity you took (such as enrolling in a specialized program) or an educational barrier you conquered (such as financial constraints).

Brainstorming ideas

If you want to try your hand at this prompt, here are some brainstorming ideas to help you get started:

• Reflect on your experiences. In what ways have you taken advantage of educational opportunities—from attending webinars to engaging in research? Or, have you faced challenges like lack of access to resources that affected your academics?
• Identify important moments. Think of a specific event or series of events that captures your experience. What was the moment when you decided to make the most of an opportunity, or when you decided you had to overcome an obstacle?
• Talk about the process and impact. How did you navigate the situation? What specific actions did you take? What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them? How has the experience changed you?

Essay structure tips

Once you’ve chosen the experience you want to focus on, here’s how you can structure your essay:

• Introduce the opportunity or barrier. Start your essay with an anecdote of your experience. You can start from the beginning or drop the reader in the moment you take action for a more compelling hook.
• Detail your actions. Explain the steps you took to either take advantage of the opportunity or overcome the barrier. Include challenges faced, decisions made, and strategies used. You can also say if you had mentors or peers that helped you along the way.
• Reflect on your growth. Talk about what you learned from the experience. How will it shape your future educational endeavors and personal growth?

Imagine you’re an immigrant, and English isn’t your first language. Start the essay by talking about your first week of school in the US and how it hit you that you needed to learn the language (and culture) of the place fast.

Continue by explaining what you did to quickly overcome the language barrier. Did your parents hire a tutor? Did you read children’s books to practice since they use easy-to-understand words? Did you practice conversation with that nice lady across the street?

End the essay by talking about your realizations from that experience. Aside from your fluency, how else did the experience contribute to your personal growth and to your future plans?

Supplemental essay example

The first time I looked through a microscope, I cried. Not in a dramatic way. It was just a quiet moment alone in the corner of a lab at the local community college, where I was taking a dual-enrollment microbiology course. 

The lens revealed a teeming chaos of life in a single drop of pond water: ciliates twitching, spirulina spiraling, a tardigrade drifting like a sleepy astronaut. I’d drawn these creatures a hundred times in my sketchbooks before. But seeing them alive? That made them feel more real to me.

This class was my first real chance to go deep in a subject that had always lived in the margins of my high school curriculum. Our school’s science offerings were limited, and our lab equipment barely functional. I’d tried to fill the gaps by teaching myself through watching lectures, reading Ed Yong, and sketching out microbial food webs for fun. 

Nothing matched the experience of doing real, hands-on work in a lab where curiosity was expected, not contained. The course was hard. The textbook was dense, and I struggled to keep up with the neurotypical students around me who didn’t get overwhelmed by fluorescent lights or abrupt schedule changes. 

But I learned to advocate for myself. I spoke with the professor about my needs. I built color-coded study maps, recorded audio flashcards, and carved out quiet corners in the library where I could reset when things got too loud. By the end of the semester, I was thriving. I presented my final project on the role of soil microbes in carbon cycling, complete with diagrams, watercolor visuals, and even a mini-zine for the class.

This course definitely expanded my academic knowledge, but it also confirmed that there’s a place for students like me in science. 

I want to make that place even more accessible to others. I plan to research microbial ecosystems and create inclusive science communication tools that help others, especially queer, neurodivergent youth, see themselves in STEM. The world is full of unseen life—and the right lens, whether scientific, emotional, or otherwise, can change everything.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #5

For this prompt, UCSD wants to see how you faced a challenge that had an impact on your academics. You should show that you can recognize and understand challenges, and have the ability to develop and implement solutions.

Brainstorming ideas

To help you choose what your biggest challenge is, below are some ideas:

• Consider a wide range of challenges. Think of events that might have disrupted your daily life and academics—from experiencing bullying to trying to bounce back from a natural disaster.
• Identify turning points. Think of major events or decisions that marked a change in how you approached the problem. Did you start to regularly consult your math teacher when you realized you were failing class and needed extra help to understand the harder problems?
• Think about personal and academic growth. Talk about both the negative impacts and the positive outcomes of your experience and reflect on how the whole thing had a lasting impact on your personal and academic growth.

Essay structure tips

If you already have a challenge you want to talk about, here’s how you can write it down:

• Start with a compelling hook. Introduce your challenge with an anecdote or other statement that sums up the core of it. You can include how much it affected you.
• Talk about the challenge you faced. Go in-depth on your challenge. How did it start? What was your initial response to it? How did it affect your academics?
• Discuss how you responded. Once you’ve spent some time to absorb and think about your challenge, what did you do? Were you able to slowly but surely get back on track or was adjusting still a rollercoaster?
• Reflect on the outcome and future impact. Talk about the lessons you learned and how the experience has prepared you for future challenges. You can even connect your experience with your future academic or career aspirations, showing that you’re ready to handle new challenges.

Maybe you came back after a week or two of fighting against COVID-19 and have been overwhelmed by the projects you need to do and lessons you need to study. You can start the essay by talking about that overwhelming feeling on your first day of school.

Aside from needing to catch up on schoolwork, you can say you also felt out of place since you weren’t with your classmates for quite some time. How did that feeling affect your motivation to study? You can talk about what you did to solve both the loneliness and schoolwork. Maybe you consulted with teachers to help you understand the past lessons faster. Maybe you asked your friends if you could have a study group so they could help you as you studied the materials.

End the essay by discussing how it all worked out. Did you catch up and pass? What else did you gain from the experience? Maybe you realized how much of a fast learner you really are. How will you carry what you learned from the experience to the future?

Supplemental essay example

Some people smell like shampoo or laundry detergent when they get to school. I smelled like grilled onions.

I used to hate the scent that clung to my clothes after early morning shifts in my family’s food truck. While other students came to zero period with earbuds in and coffees in hand, I arrived with grease-stained sneakers and a head full of mental checklists: Did we restock the tortillas? Did Dad get the propane tank refilled? Did I remember to finish my chemistry homework?

I started working on the truck when I was fourteen. What started as occasional weekend help quickly became part of my daily routine. We couldn’t afford to hire extra hands, and every dollar mattered. So I learned how to chop cilantro at lightning speed, take orders in both Spanish and English, and wake up at 4:30 AM to help open before school.

Managing hours was definitely hard, but what I found harder than that was managing the mental whiplash of switching from business mode to student mode without letting one side fall apart. There were times when exhaustion caught up with me. I’d force myself to concentrate during lectures and will my hands to write assignments.

But I never stopped showing up. I carried flashcards in my apron pocket, studied in the passenger seat between catering stops, and stayed after school for tutoring even when I wanted to go home and sleep.

Over time, I stopped seeing my two worlds as separate. Working on the truck taught me time management, customer service, and adapting under pressure. I started applying these skills in class projects and group work.

I’m proud of the student I’ve become, not despite my family’s business, but because of it. I want to use my education to give back—whether through community-based entrepreneurship, food security advocacy, or supporting other first-gen students like me. My goal is to prove that students from working-class families don’t have to choose between showing up for their community and succeeding in the classroom.

We can do both. I already have.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #6

This UCSD prompt wants you to demonstrate your intellectual curiosity and passion for learning by talking about how you delved deeper into a subject that interests you both in and out of the classroom.

Brainstorming ideas

Not sure which of your interests you want to talk about? Here are a few tips to help you:

• Reflect on your interests. Think about specific moments or experiences that sparked your interest. Did dissecting a frog reel you in on anatomy? Did your sleepiness go away when it was time to discuss Shakespeare?
• Go beyond the classroom. Yes, we know the prompt calls for what you do in and out of the classroom. But there’s only so much you can do in class—from participating in class discussions to going above and beyond projects. What you do outside the classroom can be more interesting. Did you take additional online courses, participate in research opportunities, or connect with professionals or experts in the field?
• Think of your growth. Think of how your spark of interest evolved into an active, ongoing involvement. Show how your love for the subject has changed into a deeper appreciation of it.

Essay structure tips

Ready to nerd out? Below are some tips to help you organize your essay:

• Begin with a good intro. State the academic subject that inspires you. Be as specific as possible. Do you love music? What aspect of it do you love the most?
• Explain your inspiration. Describe why this subject fascinates you so much. What is it about the subject that resonates with your interests or future goals?
• Talk about the journey and your future aspirations. Take the reader through your journey—from feeling that spark of interest to the different ways you nurtured it. Has the whole experience affected your mindset in learning? How can you carry this in your future endeavors?

Let’s say you’re deep in the genetics rabbit hole. Start the essay by talking about the moment the subject caught your interest. Is there a particular branch of genetics you like more than the others?

Explain why the topic interests you so much. Are you curious about cross-breeding plants or the idea of genetic engineering for healthier people? Does your interest align with your career goals? Discuss your journey. Maybe you’ve pursued this interest through contests, lab work, research opportunities, and reading scientific journals.

End the essay by talking about how you grew as you pursued your interest. How did it affect your mindset regarding learning? How do you plan to continue pursuing genetics in the future?

Supplemental essay example

The first time I saw a zoning map, it felt like someone had handed me the city’s diary.

It was in AP Human Geography when we studied how space reflects power, about who gets parks and who gets freeways, who lives near pollution and who lives near trees. I remember pausing over a slide about redlining, thinking: Wait, so cities aren’t just messy, but they’re really designed this way?

That realization sparked something. Yes, Human Geography explained how people live in space, but it also gave me the tools to ask why that space was built the way it was, and who it serves.

In class, I became obsessed with patterns. I’d pause Google Street View to examine how bike lanes disappeared across district lines or how corner stores in low-income neighborhoods were clustered near payday lenders. I created a final project tracing food deserts in Los Angeles and proposed policy changes to increase equitable grocery access. My teacher encouraged me to submit it to a local youth civics competition. I did, and ended up presenting to a panel of city planners.

Outside of school, I took my interest further. I joined city planning webinars, read books like Palaces for the People, and taught myself how to use GIS mapping tools. I used that knowledge to co-lead walk audits with my Mobility Justice Club, where we documented infrastructure gaps like cracked sidewalks and unmarked crossings and mapped them using census and crash data. Aside from marking what was broken, we also tried to trace how and why it had been neglected for so long in the first place.

Human Geography made me realize that cities are built on decisions, and decisions can be changed. I want to analyze those patterns and help redraw them.

Studying this subject has shaped how I understand inequality, systems, and space itself. It’s made me curious, critical, and hopeful. I plan to keep exploring urban geography through policy, planning, and research so I can help design cities that reflect the people who live in them, not just the blueprints they were born from.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #7

For this prompt, UCSD wants evidence of your initiative and the positive change you’ve caused, whether through formal roles or informal actions. They want to see if you can identify the needs of a community and take action to address them.

Brainstorming ideas

If you’re active in your community, here are some ideas that can help you think of how to choose that one moment for your essay:

• Think of all your civic contributions. Your contributions don’t have to all be as big as organizing an event or visiting nursing homes. Things like creating art to brighten a space might seem small to you, but they surely made someone’s day.
• Focus on your most memorable one. Out of all your contributions, which of them do you hold closest to your heart? Did you present a recipe at a soup kitchen that everyone loved? Do the stray animals on your street know you already because of the feeding initiative you started for them?
• Focus on your impact. How did your actions affect you and your community? What did you learn from your experience?

Essay structure tips

When you have the one special moment you want to talk about, here’s how you can structure your essay:

• Start with an overview. Introduce the context of your essay and hint at what will follow.
• Talk about the before, during, and after the contribution. Discuss why you wanted to make a specific contribution to the community. What inspired you? How did you go about your contribution and was it received well by the community? Give details.
• Reflect on your realizations. What did you learn about yourself and your community through your contribution and what does it mean for you? Connect your past experiences to your future goals to help show that you plan to continue making a positive impact.

Let’s say your goal was improving mental health awareness and support within your school. You can start the essay by saying you noticed a lack of open dialogue surrounding mental health, which creates a stigma that stops students from seeking help.

Why did you feel the need to do something about it? Maybe you or someone close to you also struggled with mental health. How did you take your advocacy to the next level? Maybe you recruited a diverse group of students who were also passionate about mental health advocacy and collaborated with other clubs to raise awareness and promote inclusivity. Did students feel more comfortable talking about their mental health challenges? Was there a decrease in bullying and social isolation?

End the essay by saying the experience taught you the importance of empathy, compassion, and the power of community support. You can say you plan to continue the advocacy work at UCSD to contribute to the university’s efforts to promote student well-being.

Supplemental essay example

I used to think restoration was loud work with all the digging, planting, and hauling buckets of mulch. And yes, sometimes it is. But what surprised me most was how much of it starts with paying attention.

I learned this the first day I volunteered with Earth Care, a local environmental restoration group. I’d signed up because I wanted to “help the planet,” but I didn’t really know what that meant. I showed up in old sneakers, ready to work. But before anyone handed me a shovel, our supervisor asked us to just… observe.

We spent the first hour walking through the foothills, taking notes on which plants were thriving, which were struggling, and where invasive cheatgrass had crept in. I remember crouching next to a clump of native buffalo gourd, tracing the way its roots wove through the dry soil like threads in a tapestry. 

Restoration, I realized, was not about rushing in and fixing things but about learning to see the ecosystem as it really was—not how we assumed it should be.

Since then, I’ve spent almost every weekend helping restore these landscapes. I removed invasive species, replanted native ones, and documented soil conditions to track our impact over time. I started bringing my sketchbook along, creating visual field notes that combine data with illustration. I share these notes at community meetings and on our group’s social media, hoping to make ecological science feel more personal and accessible.

Through this work, I’ve learned that small, local actions can ripple outward. Our projects might only cover a few acres, but they can change the way people in my community relate to the land around them. I realized that I want to continue bridging science, art, and community action. 

Whether through ecological research, environmental education, or public science storytelling, I hope to help more people experience the quiet power of restoration both in nature and in how we care for each other. Because when we slow down and pay attention, we realize that every small act—planting, observing, sharing knowledge—can help rebuild something bigger than ourselves.

How to Write the UCSD Supplemental Essay #8

In your essay for this prompt, you’ll have to talk about what makes you uniquely you and why you’re a good fit for their specific environment. UCSD wants to see if you have a deep understanding of your own strengths, values, and aspirations, and how these align with their mission, values, and academic programs.

Brainstorming ideas

If you want to try answering this prompt, here are some ideas to help you:

• Reflect on your unique journey. Ask yourself what personal experiences have significantly shaped your worldview, character, or academic interests.
• Think of underrepresented strengths. Look for qualities or skills that might not be obvious from your transcripts or tackled yet in your other essays. Think about feedback you’ve received from mentors, teachers, or peers that highlights an aspect of you not reflected in other parts of your application.
• Eyes on the future. While past experiences are relevant, emphasize your future potential and how UCSD will help you achieve your aspirations. How do you see yourself making a difference?

Essay structure tips

If you’re ready with your ideas, here’s how you can structure your essay:

• Grab the reader’s attention. Start with an anecdote, observation, or question that captures what you want to talk about and connects to your aspirations.
• Talk about your unique qualities. Clearly discuss what makes you a strong candidate—this could be a unique aspect of your personality, a formative experience, or a combination of qualities that set you apart.
• Connect to UCSD. Explain why UCSD. Talk about what programs or aspects of the campus and community appeal to you and how they can help you in your personal growth and career goals.
• End with a looking-forward statement. Reiterate your strengths, and end with enthusiasm for attending UCSD.

For example, you’re interested in sustainable technology, and you know UCSD has great STEM programs. You can start your essay by saying you tinkered with salvaged electronics in your makeshift lab in the garage. You can continue by talking about why you started that hobby and what sparked your interest. Say how this experience has shaped your character and future aspirations.

Maybe the challenges of troubleshooting and refining a project taught you the value of persistence and interdisciplinary thinking. Maybe you want to pursue further research in renewable energy and environmental engineering—and UCSD’s emphasis on research, innovation, and community engagement aligns perfectly with your hands-on approach to learning and desire to develop solutions that benefit society.

You can end the essay by saying that you look forward to collaborating with fellow innovators and engaging in interdisciplinary projects through programs like the Jacobs School of Engineering, where you can further refine ideas and work towards sustainable solutions.

Supplemental essay example

Late at night, after finishing my homework at the kitchen table, I’d scroll through the threads on r/FemaleDatingStrategy—a Reddit community built by and for women learning to set boundaries, prioritize their self-worth, and navigate relationships safely.

It wasn’t a flashy space with memes that were rough around the edges and posts that were blunt. To me, however, it felt like finding the group chat I never knew I needed. I didn’t go there to give advice at first. I just lurked, soaking in the conversations on how to recognize manipulation, set digital boundaries, and unlearn the idea that being “low maintenance” makes you more lovable.

Over time, I started participating. I posted about growing up in a culture where women are taught to put others first, even at the cost of their own safety. I shared tips I’d learned about blocking scam accounts on social media or avoiding phishing schemes that target teens in low-income communities like mine. 

I started connecting with moderators and even helped draft a guide on digital consent, which was a topic I became deeply passionate about after seeing friends fall into situations they didn’t fully understand online.

This community shaped my personal life for sure. But it also sparked my academic interest in Human-Computer Interaction, specifically how design, psychology, and technology intersect to shape people’s digital experiences. I started researching how platforms can build in safety by design, rather than just completely relying on users to protect themselves.

That’s what draws me to UC. I’m excited by programs like the Design Lab, where students and researchers collaborate to make human-centered technology. I want to learn from faculty in the Cognitive Science Department, especially those focused on human-computer interaction and ethical design. 

Outside of UC, I also hope to connect with peers in organizations like Triton Software Engineering and Women in Computing to turn research into real tools that empower people online. Because behind every screen is a real person with a story, a voice, and something worth protecting. I want to help design digital spaces that treat them like they matter.

Mistakes to Avoid When Writing UCSD Supplemental Essays

UCSD’s supplemental essays are very important to your application, and avoiding common mistakes can definitely strengthen it more. So, here are what you shouldn’t do in your essays and quick tips on how you can avoid them:

1. Ignoring prompt nuances

Students can misinterpret a question, which can lead to irrelevant essays. Straying off-topic or not addressing every part of the prompt can leave the reader confused about your main message.

Carefully read and understand every word of each prompt. Pay close attention to the specific wording and tailor your response accordingly.

2. Rehashing information

Repeating details from other parts of your application can waste valuable space. The supplemental essays are your chance to reveal new dimensions of your personality.

Focus on unique experiences, personal growth stories, or perspectives that aren’t covered in other parts of your application.

3. Trying to be someone you’re not

Supplemental essays are a chance for you to show who you really are outside of academics rather than a way for you to simply impress admissions officers. They read thousands of essays and can already spot inauthenticity.

Write in your own voice. Don’t try to be what you think they want. Be genuinely you. No matter how big or small you think your experiences are, UCSD wants to see why they matter to you so much and what makes them a part of who you are.

4. Superficial answers

UCSD values genuine, reflective insights. An essay that feels overly polished may signal that you’re not showing the real you. Don’t just skim the surface of your experiences either since it shows a lack of self-awareness.

Write in a voice that reflects your true personality. Let your enthusiasm, curiosity, or even vulnerability come through in your writing. Reflect honestly on your experiences, values, and aspirations.

5. Language and structure issues

Spelling and grammar aren’t part of the criteria for essays, but having too many mistakes can make admissions officers think that you didn’t give time to take your essays seriously enough. Having a confusing structure can also land you in the pile of denied applications since UCSD can’t clearly pinpoint your main topic.

Have an outline first before writing. When you’re done, proofread your work and ask for feedback from peers and mentors to help you polish your work more. You may also seek the help of a college essay expert.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does UCSD require supplemental essays?

Yes, UCSD requires four supplemental essays, but you can choose from eight prompts.

2. Does each UC have their own supplemental essays?

No, all UC schools share the same supplemental essay prompts.

3. Does UCSD look at essays?

Yes, UCSD looks at essays. Admissions officers use them to understand your personal qualities, interests, and aspirations. From that, they can assess if you’re a good fit for the campus community.

Takeaways

UCSD supplemental essays showcase your unique strengths and potential, significantly increasing your chances of admission.

• For UCSD, you’ll have to submit four essays that are 350 words each. You can choose from eight prompts.
• When writing UCSD supplemental essays, be careful that you do not ignore prompt nuances, rehash information, try to be someone else, give superficial answers, and have issues with language and structure.
• It’s very important to choose the most ideal prompts and revise your essays multiple times. A private consultant can help you decide what prompts to work on and offer a fresh set of eyes to polish your work.