UMinn Supplement

[jhanago]

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This is what the supplement asks

If accepted into the DDS program, how will you contribute to the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and to the profession of dentistry? Please also include your contribution to diversity in this essay. Please limit your comments to 6000 characters.


Would I be okay talking about how I grew up in a diverse area and in a area with crime and bad education or am i not understanding the prompt? Should I talk about how I will BRING diversity to minn? like recruiting ethnic patients or something? im not fully understanding the prompt any help?

 

[jhanago]

any quick ideas or examples of what you wrote about

 

[amalgamgrillz]

This is what the supplement asks

If accepted into the DDS program, how will you contribute to the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and to the profession of dentistry? Please also include your contribution to diversity in this essay. Please limit your comments to 6000 characters.


Would I be okay talking about how I grew up in a diverse area and in a area with crime and bad education or am i not understanding the prompt? Should I talk about how I will BRING diversity to minn? like recruiting ethnic patients or something? im not fully understanding the prompt any help?

It's essentially asking you what makes you/your situation unique, and how will your life experiences benefit the class. If you think growing up in a high crime/bad education (I don't know how you would judge that) area has made you who you are, then sure..go for it. Just make sure you can contribute something positive to the class with that experience.

 

[jhanago]

Hmm.. thanks. that helps.


Anybody got any examples of what they wrote?

 

[lululime]

I wrote about my unique volunteer experiences and about my family background being diverse and all.

 

[TXistheReason]

Yeah I think that would be good. Since 6,000 characters is pretty long, it gives you the opportunity to talk about multiple ways that you can contribute to the "diversity" (broadly defined) of the university. They give you a whole list of different things to choose from to show your diversity like unique volunteer experiences, etc, so I think it'd be good to pick a few things you've done that fall under those categories.

 

[jhanago]

Yeah I think that would be good. Since 6,000 characters is pretty long, it gives you the opportunity to talk about multiple ways that you can contribute to the "diversity" (broadly defined) of the university. They give you a whole list of different things to choose from to show your diversity like unique volunteer experiences, etc, so I think it'd be good to pick a few things you've done that fall under those categories.

yeah but the problem is i dont really see how that contributes to the class. like ME being diverse as a student or me BRINGING diversity as a separate phenomenon? Unique volunteer just seems like "What makes you a unique applicant"? Is that what they're going for?

 

[chippy]

Ya I touched on each of those "things that make you diverse" from that list they gave. A lot of it was repeating from my PS, but anything that I repeated I made sure to explain how it makes me unique or different from other applicants.

 

[TXistheReason]

yeah but the problem is i dont really see how that contributes to the class. like ME being diverse as a student or me BRINGING diversity as a separate phenomenon? Unique volunteer just seems like "What makes you a unique applicant"? Is that what they're going for?

Well I think in this case it can mean diversity in the sense of a strong background in a variety of volunteer, EC, dental, and whatever else type experiences. It's not necessarily diversity in terms of "In what ways are you not male, middle class, and white?"

 

[amalgamgrillz]

yeah but the problem is i dont really see how that contributes to the class. like ME being diverse as a student or me BRINGING diversity as a separate phenomenon? Unique volunteer just seems like "What makes you a unique applicant"? Is that what they're going for?

I think they view those things as synonymous. If you've traveled, been abused, founded an NGO, are married with kids, etc..those make you who you are, and will likely contribute your unique experiences to the class.

 

[lululime]

I think they view those things as synonymous. If you've traveled, been abused, founded an NGO, are married with kids, etc..those make you who you are, and will likely contribute your unique experiences to the class.

She's right. Just look at what you got and put a positive spin on it. If you've not experienced anything, you haven't lived. Show adcoms what you've got out of 20+ years of living.