Hello all,
I'm pre-Writing secondaries and I've been a little stuck on the diversity essay. I'm a pretty unique applicant so I have a lot I could write about, but I'm wondering what to focus on. Here are some things that I've thought of.
1) Both of my parents had serious medical issues come up within a few months of each other when I was thirteen. My mom had two major strokes during a brain aneurysm surgery and my dad had a whole host of medical/psychiatric issues stemming from his childhood/time in the military (his story is more complicated). They are both still disabled 13 years later. I talked about this in my PS, but I think this might work better for my adversity rather than diversity essay. In fact, I don't know what else I would talk about in an adversity essay since everything else would seem rather trivial compared with this.
2) I was a music major in college. I talked about this in my primary a fair amount already. It was in my PS and music was one of my most meaningful activities. I feel like I've talked too much about music on my app, so I don't think this one is a great idea even though it does separate me from most applicants.
3) I'm half black and I grew up in one of the whitest states in the country. At first, I didn't think I had anything that profound to say about my experience. I didn't grow up in the inner city or anything like that, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to take a racial angle with this question. I may have changed my mind though. I'm wondering if I could talk about my experience growing up as one of the few people of color in my classes? I was simultaneously the "token black friend" while also being "not black enough" due to the way I naturally act/my lighter skin tone. When I was younger I tried to "show my blackness" by subconsciously conforming to societal expectations of what "being a black male" means (being good at sports rather than school for example). As I got older I rejected this idea and began to excel in high school/college. I could talk about how I hope to use my experience to motivate other people of color to reach their full potential when that's not always encouraged? Or something like that.
I'm wondering if #3 would work? I guess it runs the risk of being slightly offensive, but also true in a sense.
I'm pre-Writing secondaries and I've been a little stuck on the diversity essay. I'm a pretty unique applicant so I have a lot I could write about, but I'm wondering what to focus on. Here are some things that I've thought of.
1) Both of my parents had serious medical issues come up within a few months of each other when I was thirteen. My mom had two major strokes during a brain aneurysm surgery and my dad had a whole host of medical/psychiatric issues stemming from his childhood/time in the military (his story is more complicated). They are both still disabled 13 years later. I talked about this in my PS, but I think this might work better for my adversity rather than diversity essay. In fact, I don't know what else I would talk about in an adversity essay since everything else would seem rather trivial compared with this.
2) I was a music major in college. I talked about this in my primary a fair amount already. It was in my PS and music was one of my most meaningful activities. I feel like I've talked too much about music on my app, so I don't think this one is a great idea even though it does separate me from most applicants.
3) I'm half black and I grew up in one of the whitest states in the country. At first, I didn't think I had anything that profound to say about my experience. I didn't grow up in the inner city or anything like that, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to take a racial angle with this question. I may have changed my mind though. I'm wondering if I could talk about my experience growing up as one of the few people of color in my classes? I was simultaneously the "token black friend" while also being "not black enough" due to the way I naturally act/my lighter skin tone. When I was younger I tried to "show my blackness" by subconsciously conforming to societal expectations of what "being a black male" means (being good at sports rather than school for example). As I got older I rejected this idea and began to excel in high school/college. I could talk about how I hope to use my experience to motivate other people of color to reach their full potential when that's not always encouraged? Or something like that.
I'm wondering if #3 would work? I guess it runs the risk of being slightly offensive, but also true in a sense.