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? 

 
Lying lazily on the couch, the two women on the television show I was watching were 
caught in an intense kiss. At the same moment, my dad walked in the room, frenzied, and yelled 
at me for watching a show where two women were kissing. I was exasperated considering that 
we had family that was a part of the LGBT+ community, so I explained to him that if I can watch 
a show where a girl and a guy are kissing, then I should be able to watch one where two girls are 
kissing. This was one of my first cases of defending an idea that I believed in.  
I could imagine the wheels in his head turning as my father tried to crank out another 
justification for prohibiting the watching of the show, but I just kept shooting back well-thought 
responses. As he struggled to find another reason, I slumped back down onto the couch and 
continued watching the scene. 
However, my situation is different. I wasn’t conditioned to fear authority. I allowed 
myself to speak up in my home which then carried on to my outside life. I’ve stood up for myself 
in a classroom where the teacher was sarcastic and rude to me solely. I’ve spoken up for an 
autistic girl in my PE class when the rules didn’t conform to her needs. I want to be able to think 
clearly and speak up when I have to. I need to be able to use my voice now and in the future to 
advocate for the people that I serve.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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. 
 
My junior year of high school, I opted out of taking a basic art class and decided to take 
AP Art History instead. In the class I was taught that pieces such as ​Les Demoiselles d’Avignon 
by Picasso or ​Improvisation 28 ​by Kandinsky were the epitome of creativity. However, my 
current beliefs on creativity lean toward innovative thinking; the intangible.  
In my sophomore PE class, there was a girl named Emily who had autism. She was very 
quiet and shy and wouldn’t warm up to many people, but then I spoke to her. When we figured 
out what we had in common and bonded, she started to trust me more. 
After about a week, my teacher asked me if I could help Emily learn the basics of 
swimming. Emily was skeptical, but I told her I’d help her the whole time. When we got in the 
water she was fear-stricken and wouldn’t even put her head in. Then I thought of an idea. I asked 
her if she’d ever seen Toy Story and she said yes, so I told her that on three we’ll drop 
underwater like Woody and the other toys drop on the ground when Andy comes. So I counted to 
three, and she went underwater with me. Dunking her head underwater became her new favorite 
thing to do since she could relate to it now. For the rest of the year, I helped Emily get through 
P.E. by deviating from the class rules.  
If you slap a canvas down in front of me, I won’t know what to do. My creative side 
comes out when faced with situations that don’t accommodate other people’s rules. I treasure 
finding “art” to help people in need when the guidelines of society don’t comply to their needs.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this 
interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 
 
Anatomy and Physiology was a fairly straightforward class; learn the bones, learn the 
muscles, learn the bodily systems. But this class affected me in a tremendous way.  
At first, I slumped through the course, just focusing on passing my AP classes. I became 
so interested in the variety of topics covered in this class that I ended up being a leader to my 
peers. I led my group in all of our labs and presentations, and I also reviewed the material with 
students that had difficulty grasping the concepts and completing labs. My teacher always 
applauded me for asking an extensive amount of questions and told me it would help me in the 
future.  
Anatomy and Physiology introduced me to several new opportunities that I wouldn’t 
have even thought of before. Because of my newfound interest in science, I decided to help run a 
blood drive with the school’s Medical Club, with my teacher’s recommendation. It ended up 
being a huge success with the club raising almost 80 pints of blood for Stanford Hospital. This 
year, I’ll be volunteering with an organization called VIDA to help organize medical supplies 
that will go to disadvantaged patients in Latin America. I am now a Medical Club board member 
and I am planning to have events with guest speakers from the medical field in order to inform 
prospective medical students about career opportunities in different fields. I’m hoping to further 
my knowledge of science through my school’s AP Biology class this year, and I plan to major in 
neurobiology at an accredited university.