UC Personal Insight Questions Plagiarism Check

According to the UC Counselors and Advisers Bulletin – December 2023:

After the November 30 deadline, UC reviews all PIQ responses for plagiarism by using a plagiarism detection software program. Applicants who are found with a potential plagiarism violation will be emailed in early January.

Applicants will be provided instructions on how to provide information regarding the authenticity of their PIQ responses. The information applicants provide will be reviewed by several campus admissions officials, and applicants will be notified of a decision on the authenticity of their PIQ response.

The deadline to respond is January 19, 2024. Failure to respond to the request by the deadline will result in cancellation of the application.

Make sure you check your email (the one associated with your UC Application) and look in your spam folder (and “Promotions” tab for Gmail) in case you received a notification.

Before you start complaining, I previously discovered UCOP had implemented some kind of plagiarism check beginning with the Fall 2020 application cycle, likely with no notification to the applicants (source; on page 5 under “UCOP Application Verifications”). Now you will at least have a chance to defend yourself.


Know someone who can benefit from this information? Share the page with family and friends using a button below!

Help support this blog by making a contribution by credit card (processed through Stripe) or through Zelle (to ) today! Any amount is greatly appreciated!

Questions or Comments?