Other Coursework
Definition: Any academic courses that don’t fall under the UC A-G subject requirement. Courses in philosophy, religion, business, and other subjects often fall into this category.
Our advice: Your child should include any non A-G courses that are directly relevant to and aligned with their interests, goals, or motivations for applying to the UC system.
If your child was involved in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), for example, they should include any courses they took related to business, as it reflects a deeper commitment to their interests.
In the description section, your child should note where they took the course and describe in detail what they studied (e.g. the major units and themes of the course; books read; skills learned) and what they produced and accomplished. Your child can quantify accomplishments by noting grades, but qualitative accomplishments are important and helpful, too. If their teacher praised their capstone or other major project, your child should consider adding a quotation or a callback to that moment.
Student example: This is an example from a student, Anish. Notice how Anish uses active verbs in his descriptions, describes his courses in specific detail, and quantifies his accomplishments.
Course #1:Moral Philosophy
Description:Semester-long seminar at my school. Read, analyzed, discussed foundational works in field, including Kant, Bentham, Mill & Locke. Only freshman in class. Earned A (top 25%); completed 10-pg. capstone project on deontology & utilitarianism with focus on applications to education policy. Teacher noted, “One of the most original papers I’ve ever read.” (350 characters)
Volunteering/Community Service
Definition: Any unpaid work that your child donated their time and effort to. Tutoring, volunteering at food banks/soup kitchens, and fundraising for charity are common examples. Unpaid internships also go in this category.
Our advice: Many students have long records of community service involvement, so we advise prioritizing activities based on three criteria:
The level/duration of commitment made
The depth of impact
The level of leadership/responsibility taken on
Impressive community service activities involve multiple years of commitment, and measurable, tangible impacts on the community, beyond simply the number of hours volunteered.
In this category, your child will be given an extra 250-character field to describe the organization that they worked with. Then, in the description field, they should note what they experienced, learned, and accomplished, as well as any leadership role or major project, initiative, or fundraiser they organized.
Student example: This is a successful student, who we’ll call Harry. Notice how Harry emphasizes his leadership and ties it to a quantifiable impact.
Organization #1:Food for Thought Food Bank
Organization description:Food for Thought Food Bank works to end hunger in the greater Fresno area, providing needy families with free food and knowledge on low-cost, healthy eating. (157 characters)
Description: Stocked & inventoried food bank shelves, assisted in distributing items to customers, solicited donations every holiday season. As Student Coordinator, recruited 10 students from high school to assist at food bank, providing an additional 200 volunteer hours. Spearheaded project to include gluten-free items, which over 30 customers regularly used. (349 characters)
Work Experience
Definition: Any paid job or internship that your child held for a sustained amount of time (i.e., getting paid once to babysit the neighbor’s kids isn’t a sustained experience).Remember that unpaid internships fall under the Volunteering/Community Service category.
Our advice: Not every student will have had a paid job or internship in high school. Summer jobs or part-time jobs after school or on weekends are usually worth including, especially if they help strengthen a student’s personal brand (e.g. if your child is interested in a teaching/education career, a summer job working as a camp counselor or daycare employee would reinforce their passion).
In this category, work experience is broken down into two components: a 250-character company description and a 350-character description of your child’s job responsibilities.
The company description should be matter of fact: the industry, the mission of the company, products/services built, size of the company/geographical presence, etc. The job responsibilities section should be highly personalized and tailored to showcase your child’s specific, measurable accomplishments and contributions.
Student example: Here’s how one student, who we will refer to as Claire, effectively described her summer job working as a theater technician. Claire’s description not only conveys the essentials facts and responsibilities of her role, but also spells out how she contributed to the theater’s success.
Workplace #1:The Shubert Theatre
Company description:Public performance venue in New Haven, CT serving over 130,000 residents. Founded in 1914, the Shubert has hosted over 600 pre-Broadway caliber shows. The Shubert has featured many premier actors, including Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, & James Earl Jones. (250 characters)
Job title:Technical Intern, Lighting & Sound
Job responsibilities:10-week internship under supervision of Technical Director, working on lighting & sound for full-length, multi-day performances of “Motown the Musical” & “War on the Catwalk.” Despite being youngest member of 16-person crew, I designed & executed lighting & audio for 3 scenes for live performances to audiences of 1400. Local paper rated shows 5/5. (350 characters)
Part 3: Steps to create impressive UC Activities & Awards entries
Phase 1: Pre-write
Create a Microsoft Word Document, Google Doc, or other easy-to-use file to draft everything. Your child shouldn’t write their responses from scratch in the actual UC application portal—they don’t want to risk losing their work if the webpage crashes or closes. Additionally, they need to see their activities written out neatly in one place so they can easily visualize how to rank and organize everything.
Phase 2: Draft
Write down as many activities and details as possible for each section. Your child needn’t worry about writing down insignificant or inconsequential activities/details at this step, as they’ll analyze everything later and decide what should go on their final list.
Full sentences aren’t necessary—it’s fine to use fragments, phrases, and abbreviations to a reasonable degree (“with” is preferable to “w/,” for instance, but your child shouldn’t waste space spelling out “National Honor Society” in the activity description when they can say “NHS”).
Additionally, your child should still follow grammatical conventions, aside from use of fragments. For instance, don’t let them forget about comma rules or splices, and don’t neglect spelling.
Phase 3: Analyze and rank
Once your child brainstorms all possible activities that they could include, it’s time to identify which are the most impressive and reflective of who they are. Your child should focus on evaluating each item against a few different criteria:
Does this activity represent who I am and what stands out about me?
For how long was I involved with this activity, and how much time did I invest in it?
Compared to other people who did this activity, how much did I accomplish? (Or how impressive/prestigious is this award, based on its level of competition?)
To what extent was I a leader in this activity, and how many measurable outcomes and accomplishments do I have to show for it?
Phase 4: Sharpen and polish
Once your child has a list of 20 or fewer items and has evaluated each item for impressiveness and authenticity, it’s time to dig into the descriptions.
Does each description include key details, like leadership positions and measurable/quantifiable accomplishments?
Does each description include contextualization to show how your child stands out compared to their peers?
Does each description include precise, action verbs that make it clear to the reader exactly what your child did?
Is each description below 350 characters and also free of extraneous, irrelevant information?
Phase 5: Ask for edits and feedback
Since the UC Activities & Awards section can make or break your child’s chances of getting in, your child should consult with a teacher or trusted advisor. External readers can help catch errors and flag unclear language.
Phase 6: Incorporate edits and feedback
Based on feedback, your child should incorporate edits and make any necessary revisions. Make sure to leave time for this and to avoid submitting the Activities & Awards section at the last minute.
Phase 7: Finalize and submit
Your child should use the UC application portal to copy and paste information into the appropriate places. All of the hard work is done, so now it’s just about assembling the finished product. Always double-check everything before clicking submit!
