From August 1 to November 30, seniors planning to attend a UC are filling out and completing their UC applications. Over two months in, seniors are in different stages of the process.

Since the UC application takes a lot of time to complete, some have struggled to find that time, and work on it. “Yes. Since I play varsity volleyball, a lot of my time is spent on the court. I usually get home really late in the day and struggle to balance my homework, well-being, and applications. However, I usually dedicate my weekends or lunchtimes to working on my applications or scholarships,” Lucia Langaney, ASB vice president, said.

When it comes to the financial information, some find it difficult since this is information from the previous year, and digging up income, taxes, and such can be a hassle. “ I think that the longest to fill-in is probably when we fill in information about financial aid and the income of our own families…we need to find how much our parents make a year, and overall it’s hard to access that information,” Luis Curiel, a senior, said.

The PIQs, short for Personal Insight Questions, have been the longest part of the application to complete, and that’s because the questions are very personal, and require lots of time to think, reflect, and dedicate to each of the questions. “It’s the part where you can describe yourself and be creative, so you need to make sure you are putting your best foot forward with those,” Langaney said.

Time and effort have been the key factors to completing the application. To dedicate a large amount of time, and a couple of weeks, just to perfect an application is very difficult in itself, yet it’s necessary in order to get into any one of the top-notch, best of the best universities in California.

Although the process has been long, students are dedicating a majority of their time in completing the PIQs. “So far, I am working on my PIQs. I am drafting them and later on I’m going to be asking for feedback on them,” Langaney said.

One teacher has been through the process already. She knows the ins and outs of filling out the application. “When I filled out my UCLA application, I had the support of my college counselor. I was the first in my family to attend college, and my family was not knowledgeable on the application process much less on the process for receiving financial support,” Gabriela Mancilla, a math teacher, said.

At this moment, some helpful advice and encouragement would be useful to motivate students, and give that push to complete their applications. “My advice to students applying to college is don’t leave anything to the last minute and make sure that your personal insight questions really provide insight to who you are as an individual and highlight what you are passionate about,” Mancilla said.

The deadline is a month and a half away, but seniors are encouraged to complete them as soon as possible so that they have better chances of getting into the university that they want. The College Center will be helping seniors throughout the weeks, with looking over applications, as well as revising the PIQs. “We are offering College application support through extended hours every Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Also, on Monday November 8 we will be in senior English classes to support students to complete and submit both the UC and CSU application. In addition, we are posting a weekly schedule of UC and CSU that are offering open office hours and clinic hours. For example, UC Irvine is offering a PIQ workshop this Thursday. We also implemented the “Second Set of Eyes” PIQ review program where students can submit a draft of their PIQ or Personal statement and have a MaCES staff member to provide feedback and revisions,” Ms. Ostos, the college counselor, said.