2026–27 application
University of California-Merced supplemental essays
Every prompt and word limit, from the application itself.
Leadership in Action
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.
How to approach it. Goals prompts fail when they stay noble and vague. Pick one real problem you care about. Connect it to something you’ve already touched in real life. Make the goal clear enough that a reader could disagree with it. Specific beats impressive.
Your Creative Side
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.
Your Greatest Talent
What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
Opportunity or Barrier
Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
Facing a Challenge
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?
How to approach it. The challenge is the setup, not the essay. Spend most of the words on what you did and how you changed. Readers are wary of a hard story used as currency. Growth is the currency.
A subject that inspires
Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
Making It Better
What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
How to approach it. Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.
Beyond the Application
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?
Only for some programs.
These apply if you’re applying to the program named on the prompt.
Offer to Honors
What do you have to offer the University Honors Program and to your fellow Honors students?
How to approach it. This is the most literal question on the application. Why this training, for your goals. Answer in that order. Name the goal first. Then point to the two or three parts of the program that serve it. Then show one thing you’ve already done that proves the goal is real.
One Global Issue
If you could solve one global issue but had to ignore all others, which would you choose and why?
Curiosity-Driven Project
Describe a project or idea that you pursued outside of school simply because you were curious.
Different Perspectives
Describe a time that you collaborated with individuals having a different perspective from your own. How has that contributed to your personal growth?
How to approach it. Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.
Honors Leadership Role
Describe any leadership role(s) in your school or community. What did you learn from that experience and how would that impact any future leadership?
How to approach it. Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.
Your Creative Product
How does your creative product reflect your identity and values?
How to approach it. Here, specific beats important. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label. Write it as someone who was there, not as an observer. End on what you carry into a campus, not on a moral.
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