Diversity essay - how to write?

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circulus vitios

circulus vitios

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Realistically, how am I supposed to respond to this prompt?

What makes you a unique individual? What challenges have you faced? How will these factors help you contribute to the diversity of the student body?
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I'm a first generation college student from a rural, middle class, blue collar background. I'm unique in this way. That is literally one sentence. I haven't faced any challenges, or at least they have not been noticed by me. I don't know how these factors contribute to the "diversity" of the student body. I personally don't care about diversity one way or another, but that's besides the point.
 
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Welcome to the BS of writing secondaries. Without knowing you I can't really help you but I was in a similar situation. You will find something!

Survivor DO
 
survivordo said:
Welcome to the BS of writing secondaries. Without knowing you I can't really help you but I was in a similar situation. You will find something!

Survivor DO
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I mean this is beyond ridiculous. What is there to do beyond deprecating myself into some caricature of a backwoods hillbilly e.g. MUH DADDY DONE TAUGHT ME THE VALUE OF HARD DANG OL WORK. I can't even think of a way to lie my way through this. :laugh:
 
circulus vitios said:
Realistically, how am I supposed to respond to this prompt?



I'm a first generation college student from a rural, middle class, blue collar background. I'm unique in this way. That is literally one sentence. I haven't faced any challenges, or at least they have not been noticed by me. I don't know how these factors contribute to the "diversity" of the student body. I personally don't care about diversity one way or another, but that's besides the point.
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I think there are always ways to twist who you are into a "diversity" essay. Go into your upbringing, how it shaped you, how you will bring that to the medical profession and how it will help you relate to your classmates and patients from different backgrounds. Have you not faced any challenges being rural? I know a lot of rural people have a tough time adapting to city life or what not...turn that into a similarity with immigrant populations? There are so many random things you can do.
 
I had a pretty similar problem. I think part of it is that some people don't realize how their life differs from others. Just take some time to sit down and think about things you find to be challenging. It doesn't have to be a lifetime movie. Just be genuine.
 
dfogt said:
I had a pretty similar problem. I think part of it is that some people don't realize how their life differs from others. Just take some time to sit down and think about things you find to be challenging. It doesn't have to be a lifetime movie. Just be genuine.
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I've been doing this for the past 3 days. I cannot think of anything.
 
circulus vitios said:
I've been doing this for the past 3 days. I cannot think of anything.
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I thought I gave some pretty good pointers, but hey what does a URM who started a multicultural non-profit know about diversity 🙄 :laugh:
 
If you're out of ideas, you should go for a walk, just do something completely unrelated to the task at hand. You need inspiration, sir or m'am.
 
I thought about diversity not in terms of race, language, culture or upbringing but from my own experiences. I had experience with health care from a number of different angles as well as research. I just went on about how the combination of these exposures would be an advantage in adding diversity to the experience of the total student body...and so on and so forth....
 
I think the 1000 character thing offers a challenge. Also - when prompts like this say something about how diversity will contribute to that particular school, is that an invitation to discuss specific aspects of that school you are well-matched to? Just wondering ..
 
I grew up in a family of significant privilege that looked down on medicine as the work of the underclass. The lifestyle of a physician is really alien to everyone in my family, and it's difficult for them to understand why anyone would want that kind of sacrifice when the world is their oyster. I had to overcome the prejudice of being just another of "their doctors and nurses". They don't support my decision to pursue medicine at all, and as a result I'll have to cover the cost of my education in it's entirety myself. Fortunately our banker has assured me that I can use my trust fund as collateral on a minimal interest personal loan.
To this day, I still have to suffer this prejudice at the the club and when staying at the family compound in Newport. The looks, whispering, and snickers of my parents friends, even my former friends, it's almost too much to bear, but I understand the decision that I am making and am willing to commit myself completely to a career as a physician. I eventually see myself setting up a private foundation that I would run full time until I decide to run for political office. In the senate, I would be able to leverage my experience as a physician with that gained in my foundation to help guide fundamental changes to the US health care system.
 
VictorAlpha said:
I thought about diversity not in terms of race, language, culture or upbringing but from my own experiences. I had experience with health care from a number of different angles as well as research. I just went on about how the combination of these exposures would be an advantage in adding diversity to the experience of the total student body...and so on and so forth....
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That's a really unique and cool approach 👍
 
on an unrelated note if you dont mind telling us what school is this essay for?
 
circulus vitios said:
Realistically, how am I supposed to respond to this prompt?



I'm a first generation college student from a rural, middle class, blue collar background. I'm unique in this way. That is literally one sentence. I haven't faced any challenges, or at least they have not been noticed by me. I don't know how these factors contribute to the "diversity" of the student body. I personally don't care about diversity one way or another, but that's besides the point.
Click to expand...

At least you have more to say than me. I'm the epitome of anti-diversity. Over-represented minority from a white-collar, middle class, suburban background. Parents went to college. Haven't faced any challenges or obstacles. Pretty much lived an extremely average life. Might as well call me an average joe.
 
Your essay is going to be good. Why? Because although you're not unique at all, you're actually crazy enough to believe that you're unique and you'll sell that in your essay. You sound like every family south of the dakotas, west of the mississippi and east of nevada. Some of the different spins on diversity listed above sound cool. Good luck!
 
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Strudel19 said:
How the hell does living in a rural area, being a first-generation college student, being middle class and being blue-collar make you unique? Simple answer - it doesn't. I lived in a small town in Kansas for most of my youth, and you sound like nearly every family south of the dakotas, west of the mississippi and east of Nevada. Being first-generation is the only aspect that comes close to making you unique.
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I don't have any data to support this, but I imagine most applicants are from large cities or at least went to school in a large city. I live in a town of 3k people and I attended a very small public school in a town of similar size.

52% of fathers of medical students hold a doctorate, 35% of mothers. 12% and 10%, respectively, of the general US population hold a doctorate. My dad dropped out of high school and my mom has just a high school diploma. https://www.aamc.org/download/142770/data/aibvol9_no10.pdf

In 2006 the median family income for med students was $100k/year. I remember reading a $110k/year figure from more recent stats. https://www.aamc.org/download/102338/data/aibvol8no1.pdf My family's combined income is about $60k/year.

I'd say that makes me unique with respect to a medical school student body.
 
I originally believed your numbers but I decided to just read it for myself. After taking a look at those charts, the top 25% of salaries is ~85K. 75% are below that. Both of our families make more than ~60-70% of all applicants. The numbers you listed represent graduate degrees, not doctorate degrees. If the data between masters and degrees and doctorate degrees were compared it would most likely show a very large difference. Based on the data you provided you're hardly unique at all.

There's another table on AAMC that shows # of med school applicants by state. You can bet your bottom dollar that the vast majority of in-state applicants to schools in kansas, nebraska, oklahoma and other schools in the great plains are not the children of XY, Ph.D and XX, Ph.D. Your upbringing isn't unique at all on paper, but your experiences might be, so use your experiences in the essay. Good luck!
 
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IlDestriero said:
I grew up in a family of significant privilege that looked down on medicine as the work of the underclass. The lifestyle of a physician is really alien to everyone in my family, and it's difficult for them to understand why anyone would want that kind of sacrifice when the world is their oyster. I had to overcome the prejudice of being just another of "their doctors and nurses". They don't support my decision to pursue medicine at all, and as a result I'll have to cover the cost of my education in it's entirety myself. Fortunately our banker has assured me that I can use my trust fund as collateral on a minimal interest personal loan.
To this day, I still have to suffer this prejudice at the the club and when staying at the family compound in Newport. The looks, whispering, and snickers of my parents friends, even my former friends, it's almost too much to bear, but I understand the decision that I am making and am willing to commit myself completely to a career as a physician. I eventually see myself setting up a private foundation that I would run full time until I decide to run for political office. In the senate, I would be able to leverage my experience as a physician with that gained in my foundation to help guide fundamental changes to the US health care system.
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damn that's like in downton abbey when matthew crawley says he wants to keep his job as a lawyer and run the estate on the weekends. then lady grantham goes
tumblr_m5jqe6bsz31rthxhxo3_500.gif
 
Strudel19 said:
Your upbringing isn't unique at all on paper, but your experiences might be, so use your experiences in the essay. Good luck!
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Are you sure you grew up in a rural town? I, and most other applicants from a rural area, don't have "diverse experiences" with cultures or languages. :laugh:
 
Don't some schools have a thing for rural med? Maybe you can say something about that? I thought that you would be the last person to have a problem with this (no offense) but just bs as hard as possible.
 
circulus vitios said:
Realistically, how am I supposed to respond to this prompt?



I'm a first generation college student from a rural, middle class, blue collar background. I'm unique in this way. That is literally one sentence. I haven't faced any challenges, or at least they have not been noticed by me. I don't know how these factors contribute to the "diversity" of the student body. I personally don't care about diversity one way or another, but that's besides the point.
Click to expand...


Actually, your story sounds really interesting to me. Maybe there's something about the area in which you grew up and your surroundings which lend you a personal (rather than unique) perspective on people? By personal rather than unique, I'm trying to emphasize that your background may not be different than that of people around you and what I think you're trying to do is that you're trying to find things that will make yourself sound super-different than all the other applicants. What may help you get over your writer's block is to write about your own upbringing without focusing on trying to be different. In other words, write about yourself! Tell us more about the place where you grew up. Tell us about what challenges not just your parents but your neighbors and people in your town faced. Because the thing is that your story is already different to begin with since you aren't ORM and/or from a suburban area.
 
You've been here long enough to know that you're going to have to BS your way through this and give adcoms what they want given your background. You're making this way more difficult than it should be.
 
I agree with some of the other posters - diversity does not have to interpreted in the narrow racial/cultural context. Diversity can stem from unique experiences, abilities, or personal characteristics. For example, I would submit that there are more URM applicants than those who have done Arctic research, competed in international-level sports, or have run for local political office. All of these examples would allow for increased diversity at an institution and could inform one's medical practice in the future.
 
This is the 5th or 6th diversity secondary thread that has passed through here this week alone. The same questions are asked, the same answers are given, and nobody has cried "search button!" yet. I don't understand this forum sometimes.
 
Farmerboy said:
I agree with some of the other posters - diversity does not have to interpreted in the narrow racial/cultural context. Diversity can stem from unique experiences, abilities, or personal characteristics. For example, I would submit that there are more URM applicants than those who have done Arctic research, competed in international-level sports, or have run for local political office. All of these examples would allow for increased diversity at an institution and could inform one's medical practice in the future.
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This. I started my diversity essay by noting that I was not genetically diverse at all (I have an identical twin). What makes me different from my sister is my experiences and then I went from there. Granted I do have some more interesting experiences to speak about (1 year deployment to southern Iraq), but that's what diversity means. To quote MLK, it's not the color of your skin, but the content of your character (shaped by your experiences).
 
Doctor Strange said:
You've been here long enough to know that you're going to have to BS your way through this and give adcoms what they want given your background. You're making this way more difficult than it should be.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess so. I decided to talk about my rural, blue collar background and my extensive experience working with the 'everyday Joe.' I mentioned the challenges I faced, like how my family and coworkers subtly imply that I should just get a job instead of spending like 12 years of my life in school or training. Because of my background and my own blue collar work experiences, I think I more easily identify with the everyday patient. I understand where they're coming from and I understand some of the challenges they face, like having to balance their health with a ****ty job that's physically intense and on a horrible swing shift schedule.
 
A lot of these secondary essays are worded something like "How will you contribute to the diversity of your class at X School of Medicine?" Just remember that you can always spin this question in the sense that just because you don't have anything unique by med school admissions standards does not mean that you can't CONTRIBUTE to the diversity of the class by being a nice person who listens, learns from, and empathizes with those from more dramatically different backgrounds. If you have really unique experiences or characteristics, I think that this essay can make you, but if not, it shouldn't break you.
 
IlDestriero said:
I grew up in a family of significant privilege that looked down on medicine as the work of the underclass. The lifestyle of a physician is really alien to everyone in my family, and it's difficult for them to understand why anyone would want that kind of sacrifice when the world is their oyster. I had to overcome the prejudice of being just another of "their doctors and nurses". They don't support my decision to pursue medicine at all, and as a result I'll have to cover the cost of my education in it's entirety myself. Fortunately our banker has assured me that I can use my trust fund as collateral on a minimal interest personal loan.
To this day, I still have to suffer this prejudice at the the club and when staying at the family compound in Newport. The looks, whispering, and snickers of my parents friends, even my former friends, it's almost too much to bear, but I understand the decision that I am making and am willing to commit myself completely to a career as a physician. I eventually see myself setting up a private foundation that I would run full time until I decide to run for political office. In the senate, I would be able to leverage my experience as a physician with that gained in my foundation to help guide fundamental changes to the US health care system.
Click to expand...

How can you family possible "snicker". Most would consider becoming a physician to be one of the most ambitious careers, medicine is constantly ranked as one of the most prestigious professions as well. Though I understand how a physician salary is miniscule compared to real wealth, I imagine the innate rigors and intelligence of the field would still garner respect? No?
 
nabilesmail said:
How can you family possible "snicker". Most would consider becoming a physician to be one of the most ambitious careers, medicine is constantly ranked as one of the most prestigious professions as well. Though I understand how a physician salary is miniscule compared to real wealth, I imagine the innate rigors and intelligence of the field would still garner respect? No?
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It's a joke.
 
nabilesmail said:
How can you family possible "snicker". Most would consider becoming a physician to be one of the most ambitious careers, medicine is constantly ranked as one of the most prestigious professions as well. Though I understand how a physician salary is miniscule compared to real wealth, I imagine the innate rigors and intelligence of the field would still garner respect? No?
Click to expand...

yehhhboiii said:
oh **** totally missed that lol
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The tip off should have been when he said his career goal was to run for US senate.
 
circulus vitios said:
Yeah, I guess so. I decided to talk about my rural, blue collar background and my extensive experience working with the 'everyday Joe.' I mentioned the challenges I faced, like how my family and coworkers subtly imply that I should just get a job instead of spending like 12 years of my life in school or training. Because of my background and my own blue collar work experiences, I think I more easily identify with the everyday patient. I understand where they're coming from and I understand some of the challenges they face, like having to balance their health with a ****ty job that's physically intense and on a horrible swing shift schedule.
Click to expand...

Beautiful....
 
nabilesmail said:
How can you family possible "snicker". Most would consider becoming a physician to be one of the most ambitious careers, medicine is constantly ranked as one of the most prestigious professions as well. Though I understand how a physician salary is miniscule compared to real wealth, I imagine the innate rigors and intelligence of the field would still garner respect? No?
Click to expand...

I've met people where this is actually real life. There are all sorts of people in the world.
 
IlDestriero said:
I grew up in a family of significant privilege that looked down on medicine as the work of the underclass. The lifestyle of a physician is really alien to everyone in my family, and it's difficult for them to understand why anyone would want that kind of sacrifice when the world is their oyster. I had to overcome the prejudice of being just another of "their doctors and nurses". They don't support my decision to pursue medicine at all, and as a result I'll have to cover the cost of my education in it's entirety myself. Fortunately our banker has assured me that I can use my trust fund as collateral on a minimal interest personal loan.
To this day, I still have to suffer this prejudice at the the club and when staying at the family compound in Newport. The looks, whispering, and snickers of my parents friends, even my former friends, it's almost too much to bear, but I understand the decision that I am making and am willing to commit myself completely to a career as a physician. I eventually see myself setting up a private foundation that I would run full time until I decide to run for political office. In the senate, I would be able to leverage my experience as a physician with that gained in my foundation to help guide fundamental changes to the US health care system.
Click to expand...

so uh william kennedy?
 
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