Hi all,
I'm debating on whether to mention in secondary essays that my father is from South Africa. He immigrated here in the 80s, and his nationality is part of my culture; I grew up eating babotie and South African pancakes and other foods, taking part in some traditions, and learning some Afrikaans. I learned about the immigration process and my dad's experiences adjusting to a new culture. This seems like a natural thing to talk about in diversity essays.
My qualm with mentioning this is that the reputation of white South Africans may raise concerns to adcoms, considering the country's troubled history with racism and Apartheid. My father is a very tolerant person and did not support Apartheid; he voted for Mandela via absentee ballot from the states. As part of educating myself on my family's history, I learned about Apartheid and wrote a big essay about Mandela in high school.
I'm not quite sure how I'd concisely write about his nationality in secondaries in a way that doesn't raise a red flag to adcoms.
While I feel this is part of what makes me diverse, I worry that this would be too complex of an issue to write well in limited space on secondary essays.
I hope this post makes sense. Anyway, I'd appreciate advice on if this is a topic I should talk about in diversity essays, or if I should stick to my other "diverse" elements.
My other ideas for the diversity essay:
- being a business management/entrepreneurship major (learned leadership and innovation skills, how to structure and lead diverse teams, emphasizing individuals' strengths)
- experiences in entrepreneurship (pitch competitions, trying and failing to start a business, writing a business plan for a local entrepreneur's home healthcare business)
- having a small photography business mostly taking headshots and senior pictures
- riding and training horses
- hobbies of baking and backpacking
- being the only girl in debate club and computer club and chess club in high school (qualm: being a girl isn't diverse; but from these experiences I know what it's like to feel excluded and thus now emphasize being inclusive in groups)
- in the vein of the South Africa thing: since most of my dad's family is still in Africa and our family here is small, our family invites friends to holidays, often international students that may not have somewhere to go for the holidays
Sorry that this is long and confusing, and thanks in advance!
**for context, I am a white woman born & raised in NE, my heritage is like 13 or so European countries
I'm debating on whether to mention in secondary essays that my father is from South Africa. He immigrated here in the 80s, and his nationality is part of my culture; I grew up eating babotie and South African pancakes and other foods, taking part in some traditions, and learning some Afrikaans. I learned about the immigration process and my dad's experiences adjusting to a new culture. This seems like a natural thing to talk about in diversity essays.
My qualm with mentioning this is that the reputation of white South Africans may raise concerns to adcoms, considering the country's troubled history with racism and Apartheid. My father is a very tolerant person and did not support Apartheid; he voted for Mandela via absentee ballot from the states. As part of educating myself on my family's history, I learned about Apartheid and wrote a big essay about Mandela in high school.
I'm not quite sure how I'd concisely write about his nationality in secondaries in a way that doesn't raise a red flag to adcoms.
While I feel this is part of what makes me diverse, I worry that this would be too complex of an issue to write well in limited space on secondary essays.
I hope this post makes sense. Anyway, I'd appreciate advice on if this is a topic I should talk about in diversity essays, or if I should stick to my other "diverse" elements.
My other ideas for the diversity essay:
- being a business management/entrepreneurship major (learned leadership and innovation skills, how to structure and lead diverse teams, emphasizing individuals' strengths)
- experiences in entrepreneurship (pitch competitions, trying and failing to start a business, writing a business plan for a local entrepreneur's home healthcare business)
- having a small photography business mostly taking headshots and senior pictures
- riding and training horses
- hobbies of baking and backpacking
- being the only girl in debate club and computer club and chess club in high school (qualm: being a girl isn't diverse; but from these experiences I know what it's like to feel excluded and thus now emphasize being inclusive in groups)
- in the vein of the South Africa thing: since most of my dad's family is still in Africa and our family here is small, our family invites friends to holidays, often international students that may not have somewhere to go for the holidays
Sorry that this is long and confusing, and thanks in advance!
**for context, I am a white woman born & raised in NE, my heritage is like 13 or so European countries
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Most adcoms should have some representatives for diversity and student services who can provide that historical context when needed. Do not worry about raising red flags by talking about your family.
