What is the Difference Between the Common App and the UC System Application?

As students prepare to submit their College Applications across the country, it is important to differentiate between the key features of the Common App and the University of California System Application. The Common App is the main application portal for the vast majority of private Colleges and Universities in the United States, as well as some public schools. However, the UC System Application is specific to the 10 University of California campuses in the state of California. The features of each of these application portals also differ in terms of the Writing section, Extracurricular Activities, and other features.

The Writing section of the Common App consists of a 650 word Personal Statement that is the most important essay of a student’s high school career. Several prompts are given, where a student needs to select one and write a thoughtful essay, generally about a life changing experience. There is one open-ended prompt, which allows students to write about any topic of their choice. Regardless of which prompt is chosen, at Dow Educational Solutions, we highly recommend that our students write about an event that has had a significant impact in their life!

The Writing section of the UC System Application consists of 8 Personal Insight Questions with a maximum word count of 350 words each. The student must choose their top 4 writing prompts and submit their answers to only those 4 Personal Insight Questions. Examples include a diversity essay, challenge essay, leadership essay, and an open-ended essay. These writing samples provide an opportunity for the UC System Admissions Officials to learn about the student and “get to know them better,” in their words.

The Common App has a separate Activities section and Awards section, where up to 10 Activities and 5 Awards can be inputted. The ranking of the Activities is extremely important in terms of the order in which they are listed, because this indicates to the Admissions staff which Extracurricular Activities hold greater value in the mind of the candidate. Therefore, if community service is of utmost value to the student, then these activities should be listed first. However, if there was a significant time commitment associated with an athletic endeavor (e.g. Equestrian), then this activity should be at the top of the list. Having a College Consultant, such as Dow Educational Solutions, guide you through this process is critical to preparing the most competitive College Application.

The UC System Application, on the other hand, has a combined Activities & Awards section, which allows you to input up to 20 entries. Therefore, if your student has 15 Activities and 5 Awards, then all of them can be inputted into this combined section. Again, we at Dow Educational Solutions underscore the importance of ranking these Activities and Awards in order of importance to the student. Often times, the student has been granted an Award that is closely associated with an Activity that they have participated in. In these cases, we recommend that the Award be listed immediately following that Activity, especially if it is a significant Award. Additionally, the UC System Application allows the student to describe the Community Service organization for which they volunteered by inputting their mission statement or some other explanation of the organization. This is a feature that is not provided on the Common App.

Finally, although both the Common App and UC System Application have an Additional Comments section that is used to explain special circumstances (e.g. anomalous grades, caring for an ill parent, or several moves due to family military service, etc.), only the Common App provides a COVID-19 Essay, where students can explain the effect that virtual distance learning may have had on their academic performance and GPA.

Ultimately, it is also important to note the values of the University of California when producing writing samples and inputting other information into the UC System Application. The University of California System highly values DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) initiatives, Community Service (e.g. serving others from underprivileged areas and disadvantaged backgrounds), and Employment while in high school. With this in mind, one should focus on the values of the Colleges and Universities that they are applying to when filling out their College Applications. Here at Dow Educational Solutions, we provide expert consultation on how to craft competitive and first-rate College Applications for the best outcomes… Fill out a form submission today, using the Contact tab on our website, to setup an Introductory Assessment to get your student on track to get into their dream College or University!