Diversity? Yes I know there are 1000 posts about this but I need help

[strawberryskies]

I've read through dozens of posts about diversity essays on sdn, reddit, a bunch of different websites...and I'm still stuck. There are some things I've done that might be considered unique, but I don't see how they would help my peers. For context, I'm female, Chinese, and from an upper middle class family in the suburbs. So none of that is going to help obviously. I posted some of these ideas on reddit but I thought I would come here just to get some more perspectives. Here's a list of things that I originally thought about writing about but most people have said they're not worth writing about:
-parents are super liberal, which is kind of unusual for Chinese immigrants. I guess that's more diversity for them though, not me.
-I'm an atheist but I went to a Roman Catholic high school where 1% of the student body was Asian. I think the issue here is that being exposed to different religions/ethnicities doesn't really make me diverse. Plus all of the kids there were rich and white so it's not really the kind of population that would broaden my perspective or whatever.
-I took ballet lessons for 15 years. But I only danced for one semester in college. I still dance on my own, but I don't think that really counts for anything. Plus I don't see how knowing how to do ballet will help my peers.
-I'm really into photography and I take portraits for my friends. A weird backstory for this is that I actually had an American girl doll youtube channel until my sophomore year of high school and that's actually how I became good at photography. Maybe a bit strange though, plus it's the same issue as the ballet thing...I don't see how this is going to help anyone
-I joined the Sunrise Movement (climate change org) in March and I've gotten really involved in that, but it's a very recent thing so I don't think it's a good idea to write about

I'm really frustrated at this point and kind of feel like a terrible person for not being interesting enough so sorry if this post sounds pessimistic...

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[deleted480308]

An athiest at catholic school is interesting if you can explain that you can respect and work with folks of different beliefs

 

[LizzyM]

Let's go with dance.... did you acquire any experience, either personally or through your interaction with other dancers, that gives you some insights into injuries specific to dancers? From personal experience, are you familiar with the muscle groups that are most prone to injury or that are most stressed? Would you know how to speak to a dancer about specific positions or moves that are exacerbating her pain? Do you know anything about how to properly stretch and warm-up to prevent injuries? Did you interact with dancers who developed eating disorders? What insights do you have that might be useful if you were treating a dancer?

 

[Goro]

Let's go with dance.... did you acquire any experience, either personally or through your interaction with other dancers, that gives you some insights into injuries specific to dancers? From personal experience, are you familiar with the muscle groups that are most prone to injury or that are most stressed? Would you know how to speak to a dancer about specific positions or moves that are exacerbating her pain? Do you know anything about how to properly stretch and warm-up to prevent injuries? Did you interact with dancers who developed eating disorders? What insights do you have that might be useful if you were treating a dancer?

Agree. Ballet experience is rare in an applicant.

 

[HumanAfterAll]

Let's go with dance.... did you acquire any experience, either personally or through your interaction with other dancers, that gives you some insights into injuries specific to dancers? From personal experience, are you familiar with the muscle groups that are most prone to injury or that are most stressed? Would you know how to speak to a dancer about specific positions or moves that are exacerbating her pain? Do you know anything about how to properly stretch and warm-up to prevent injuries? Did you interact with dancers who developed eating disorders? What insights do you have that might be useful if you were treating a dancer?

Are these the type of questions we should focus on answering when writing a diversity prompt about a sport?

 

[LizzyM]

Are these the type of questions we should focus on answering when writing a diversity prompt about a sport?

In my opinion, if you have experience with a subpopulation that gives you insights that are beyond the general knowledge that most people have, then you might write about your experience with that subpopulation (or as a member of that subpopulation) and how your experience adds to the diversity of the incoming class.

 

[strawberryskies]

Let's go with dance.... did you acquire any experience, either personally or through your interaction with other dancers, that gives you some insights into injuries specific to dancers? From personal experience, are you familiar with the muscle groups that are most prone to injury or that are most stressed? Would you know how to speak to a dancer about specific positions or moves that are exacerbating her pain? Do you know anything about how to properly stretch and warm-up to prevent injuries? Did you interact with dancers who developed eating disorders? What insights do you have that might be useful if you were treating a dancer?

Thanks LizzyM, this is very helpful! I don't think I can fully answer all of these questions but this gives me a good starting point. Am I supposed to talk about how I would share this knowledge with my peers? Because I feel like for something like ballet it's not really something that would come up unless I specifically met a patient with dance injuries.

 

[LizzyM]

Thanks LizzyM, this is very helpful! I don't think I can fully answer all of these questions but this gives me a good starting point. Am I supposed to talk about how I would share this knowledge with my peers? Because I feel like for something like ballet it's not really something that would come up unless I specifically met a patient with dance injuries.

That's the thing... if you do have a patient with dance injuries, or with another condition that leads to wondering if continuing to dance will be possible, it is nice to have someone on the team who has some idea about the demands of dancing, or any other occupation or recreational activity.

 

[stormking]

May I also ask this as I'm writing for the diversity question. I am thinking about writing something along the line that being an immigrant allows me to understand and sometimes be able to help to dissolve the cultural barrier when Chinese patient go to see doctors with a mindset to avoid taking medication? And I am often becoming an unofficial medical translator when I'm in hospitals. Do you guys think it's a good topic to write about?

 

[solitarius]

There are plenty of white / ORM matriculants from comfortable/privileged backgrounds; in fact, they form the majority of every class at every medical school. Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[strawberryskies]

May I also ask this as I'm writing for the diversity question. I am thinking about writing something along the line that being an immigrant allows me to understand and sometimes be able to help to dissolve the cultural barrier when Chinese patient go to see doctors with a mindset to avoid taking medication? And I am often becoming an unofficial medical translator when I'm in hospitals. Do you guys think it's a good topic to write about?

I know you were probably looking for a reply from the more qualified people here but that sounds like a great topic to me!

 

[stormking]

I know you were probably looking for a reply from the more qualified people here but that sounds like a great topic to me!

Hey, Thanks for the reply. i can definitely get more opinion on the topic choices.

Thanks for the input