What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field - such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities - and what you have gained from your involvement.
Ever since I took a World War II class in my senior year of high school I knew I wanted to study history. I had always been interested in history, but I had never understood the weblike quality that a single event has in the course of history until this class. In my previous history classes World War II started when Hitler invaded Poland and the first shots of the war were fired. My World War II teacher, Mr. Hansen, pulled the class back from the narrow view of wars beginning when battles did and he painted a web of diplomatic, social, political, and economic issues that began in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 that culminated in World War II.
Mr. Hansen's method of teaching about the war as a result of decades of multifaceted issues, instead of a semi-isolated event like previous classes taught it, was revolutionary to me. I felt like a switch had gone off inside of my head. Every event in history was the result of a series of what can initially appears to be unconnected actions in a time period that can span centuries. The idea that every action, be it an event in history or an action in my life, is a repercussion of early events, is a beautiful and comforting one to me.
During my second semester at California State University, Sacramento I was invited to take an upperclassmen course on the history of U.S. cities. This class emphasized analyzing why certain events happened and discovering the impact the event has on our lives. The majority of class assignments required an explanation of what caused the event, a synopsis of the event, and the bulk of the assignment analyzed the impact the event had in its time period as well as its impact today. The process of finding how history affected my own life changed my view of history from a collection of interested and interconnected stories to a way of understanding the world that we live in. This class taught me that a student of history was like a detective trying to uncover clues to what happened and find out why it happened.
The most valuable knowledge I gained from history is how closely our individual lives parallel the interconnected web of actions and reactions that make up history. Each action we take is the result of actions we have taken in the past and the effects of our actions have repercussions into our future. For example, I am able to write this essay because I learned to read and write in my past and, hopefully, this essay could result in my future acceptance into a UC school.
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?
"You're going to be a great historian one day," my history professor Dr. Simpson said as she reviewed the rough draft of my history essay. It was my first year of college and I was still figuring out what I wanted to focus my studies on. I found in Dr. Simpson's U.S. history class a love for history that had been growing in me since high school. Dr. Simpson offered me a spot in her upper-division History of U.S. Cities class for the next semester if I was interested.
When my second semester began I accepted her offer and enrolled in the class. To this day the History of U.S. Cities class is the hardest and most meaningful class I have taken. It required me to understand how the growth of American cities impacted society during its time period as well as analyzing its effect on modern society, my own personal life, and what impact it will likely have on society in the future. I did not think I was capable of keeping up with the upperclassmen and history majors in the class.
I discovered that I was capable of keeping up with the coursework just as well as my upperclassmen classmates and I managed to pass the class with an A. The class not only taught me about the history of U.S. cities but also a great deal about myself. I learned that I was able to handle the pressure of advanced classes and that I could excel at them. This experience taught me that I was capable of accepting challenges and that I had the ability to overcome them.
Hi Tacomantaco
As nice as that first personal statement was, I believe you are slightly deviating away from what the prompt addressees. The UC personal statement prompt #1 states, "Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations." I see where you are going but talk more about yourself as in your family and keep history limited in the first prompt. The second prompt is good but add more closure. You need more words on either prompt, preferably the second, only 796. Do not write "For example, I am able to write this essay because I learned to read and write in my past and, hopefully, this essay could result in my future acceptance into a UC school". It seems unprofessional but other than that, the essay shows your passion and devotion of history and how it the WW2 class changed your life. Good Luck on admissions! I am doing the same.
