This year, we’ve seen a big increase in the number of Diversity questions – ones that ask about your background, identity, culture, etc. Last year, we predicted you’d see an increase in these types of prompts in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, because colleges are, above all, reactionary. The decision left a big loophole, which allows colleges to consider race if it’s mentioned in an essay, and many colleges decided to help you take advantage of that loophole by adding this prompt.
This question, however, trips a lot of students up, and it did before it became the hot new trend of the year. You simply may not come from a very diverse background and struggle with what to write, or maybe you have multiple identities that you want to highlight. You might have something really traumatic that you feel compelled to share here, or you might just be stuck on how to answer this essay without going, “My diverse background is…” Never fear, youths; we have some tips and tricks for you. Let’s jump in!!!
Examples
You may notice that this prompt may be the same or ask for the same content as a community essay! This is a good hack for our less diverse readers (more on that later). But, schools ask this question in a variety of ways, so let’s give you some examples of how you might see this one pop up.
Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard?
Princeton values community and encourages students, faculty, staff, and leadership to engage in respectful conversations that can expand their perspectives and challenge their ideas and beliefs. As a prospective member of this community, reflect on how your lived experiences will impact the conversations you will have in the classroom, the dining hall or other campus spaces. What lessons have you learned in life thus far? What will your classmates learn from you? In short, how has your lived experience shaped you?
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVERSITY ESSAY
Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.
BOSTON COLLEGE DIVERSITY ESSAY
In her November 2019 Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned viewers against assigning people a “single story” through assumptions about their nationality, appearance, or background. Discuss a time when someone defined you by a single story. What challenges did this present and how did you overcome them?
What about your individual background, perspective, or experience will serve as a source of strength for you or those around you at UVA? Feel free to write about any past experience or part of your background that has shaped your perspective and will be a source of strength, including but not limited to those related to your community, upbringing, educational environment, race, gender, or other aspects of your background that are important to you.
Vanderbilt DIVERSITY ESSAY
Vanderbilt University’s motto, Crescere aude, is Latin for “dare to grow.” In your response, reflect on how one or more aspects of your identity, culture, or background has played a role in your personal growth, and how it will contribute to our campus community as you dare to grow at Vanderbilt
PITZER DIVERSITY ESSAY
As a mission-driven institution, we value and celebrate the synergy created by our differences and similarities. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, identity, or personal interests that you would bring to Pitzer, and how you plan to engage in our community.
As you can see, this question exists in all types of schools: Ivies, elite public colleges, Catholic schools, private universities, and liberal arts colleges.
Brainstorming
Okay, so for this essay, brainstorming is key. You want to tell the admissions team a story, not just write about vibes. Most college essay writing is a creative writing challenge, so you may have to think about and write this essay in a way you’re not familiar with. We want stories here, so that should be your framework for how you approach this brainstorm.
Start by thinking about the aspect of your identity or background you want to highlight. If you’re wanting to highlight your ethnicity or race, think of a story that can show them that part of you. We’ve seen a lot of students have success talking about an experience with their families, preparing cultural dishes, or writing about how they have engaged with their culture in regards to service orgs or clubs. You want to focus on the positive here, we know all stories don’t have happy endings, but college essays should leave the reader with pleasant thoughts, not with ones of pity.
For those of you who feel like you have to write about the worst days of your life or your trauma, we want to let you know that you absolutely do not have to do that to get into college. It can be retraumatizing to rehash all that, so consider this permission to not have to write about the bad stuff. And if you absolutely must, we encourage you to put that in additional information.
What if I’m not that diverse?
Great question!! Look, we’re gonna be real with you: if you are straight, white, cis, able-bodied, are part of a mainstream religion, and from a financially secure family, this prompt was not designed with you in mind. Absolutely, under no circumstances should you write an essay about how hard it is to be a white guy these days. The point of a college essay is not to take some big stand – it’s to be likable. And if you talk about how diverse you are and your background is plainly not diverse, that will not come across well. But, as you can see from the example prompts, they give you a lot of wiggle room.
This part of the blog applies to everyone: you will have probably written a number of community essays by now, and you can, and probably should, recycle that content into this essay. Your “background” could be talking about a family experience or how close your neighbors are. It does not need to just be about a marginalized identity – they might be fishing for it, but you don’t have to write it if you don’t want to.
Writing
Now that we’ve hopefully answered all your FAQs, let’s talk about writing your story. All good stories have distinct beginning, middle, and ends! So that’s something you should probably also have! You also want to fill your story with descriptive language, really bring us into the moment with you. This might be hard with a prompt like Harvard’s, which is 150 words, but should be a breeze with Princeton’s 400-500 word limit.
The beginning of your essay should set the stage, bring us into the moment with you. Your story ideally takes place in a moment of time, it shouldn’t be an epic tale. Let’s review the immortal lesson from Kurt Vonnegut, who said that good creative writing should start as close to the end of the story as possible. This is good advice! Especially for a college essay! Use a lot of sensory details to give the reader their bearings in your story. If you’re in your grandma’s kitchen, describe the smell of the spices, the hiss of the garlic hitting the pan, the sounds of people’s chattering, the heat from the oven, etc.
The middle should introduce the conflict or the main action of the story. Is there a disagreement? A crisis? Maybe it’s just grandma handing you the spoon and telling you to cook (even though you’ve never done it before). Make sure to keep those sensory details a-comin’, too. The middle should give the reader something to stay interested in your essay or root for you or something that hooks them all the way to…
The end. (See what we did there??) The end of your essay should wrap up the drama of your story and give the reader a nice resolution. It should be as happy of an ending as possible. If you ended up bungling the dish, at least make the ending funny. If you don’t have a happy or funny or generally interesting ending, we give you permission to make it up.
That’s the diversity essay! Remember, if you are not particularly diverse, tread carefully. If you are using this prompt to talk about your race, ethnicity, culture, or any other aspect of your identity, we think telling a small, sweet story is going to be the best vehicle for that.
If you need help with your diversity essay, or any of the supplement prompts, please reach out to us today.