LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement Forum

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vincenz0

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LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by vincenz0 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:06 am

I was hoping that I could get some advice on my statements. I have an LGBT diversity statement outlined that follows the structure of growing up, realizing that I am gay, my struggle with coming out with myself, peers and parents, my triumph over my struggles and becoming an active member in the community for youth who had similar experiences as I did.

I figure this would make for a solid diversity statement. (Although constructive criticism is very much appreciated)

I also want to write an LGBT personal statement and take it in a different direction without being redundant. I was going to include some similar information and then tie it into politics and the law and that being my reason for wanting to go to law school.

I was hoping I could get some feedback on this issue. Perhaps a more refined framework for my statement. Ultimately, my goal in writing the 2 is not to be repetitive.

Thanks!

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No13baby

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Re: LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by No13baby » Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:50 pm

I think this has the potential to be okay, if you are very, VERY careful about not being too repetitive. Your DS sounds like it has the right slant; talking about adding diversity to your community and being a mentor for others is a great DS topic.

To avoid the subject matter being too similar, you might try focusing your PS around the more general idea of social justice, instead of exclusively LGBT issues. When you want to speak about your own experiences (again, in a way that doesn't overlap with the content of your other essay) you might say something like "As a gay man, I have firsthand experience with injustice/bigotry/inequity..." and briefly mention political/legal ways in which homophobia has affected you, then discuss your career goals.

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rinkrat19

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Re: LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by rinkrat19 » Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:54 pm

No13baby wrote:I think this has the potential to be okay, if you are very, VERY careful about not being too repetitive. Your DS sounds like it has the right slant; talking about adding diversity to your community and being a mentor for others is a great DS topic.

To avoid the subject matter being too similar, you might try focusing your PS around the more general idea of social justice, instead of exclusively LGBT issues. When you want to speak about your own experiences (again, in a way that doesn't overlap with the content of your other essay) you might say something like "As a gay man, I have firsthand experience with injustice/bigotry/inequity..." and briefly mention political/legal ways in which homophobia has affected you, then discuss your career goals.
Except the PS is not supposed to be about a general idea of anything; it's supposed to be about the writer as a person. That's why it's a personal statement, not a position paper.

vincenz0

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Re: LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by vincenz0 » Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:36 pm

Thanks guys for your feedback.

rinkrat19 - aside from just criticizing no13baby's advice, can you offer any other insight that may help my writing process?

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No13baby

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Re: LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by No13baby » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:11 pm

rinkrat19 wrote:
No13baby wrote:I think this has the potential to be okay, if you are very, VERY careful about not being too repetitive. Your DS sounds like it has the right slant; talking about adding diversity to your community and being a mentor for others is a great DS topic.

To avoid the subject matter being too similar, you might try focusing your PS around the more general idea of social justice, instead of exclusively LGBT issues. When you want to speak about your own experiences (again, in a way that doesn't overlap with the content of your other essay) you might say something like "As a gay man, I have firsthand experience with injustice/bigotry/inequity..." and briefly mention political/legal ways in which homophobia has affected you, then discuss your career goals.
Except the PS is not supposed to be about a general idea of anything; it's supposed to be about the writer as a person. That's why it's a personal statement, not a position paper.
Yeah, that wasn't super clear on my part. I meant that OP should talk about his own experience/commitment to social justice - if there's volunteer work you did, if there was something that happened to you or that you observed that made you aware of inequality/injustice, etc. - and then tie any social injustice you personally have faced into your statement, perhaps.

The more I think about this, though, the more difficult I think it will be to avoid having the two statements overlap. Is there another topic you're considering for your PS?

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rinkrat19

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Re: LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by rinkrat19 » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:34 pm

vincenz0 wrote:Thanks guys for your feedback.

rinkrat19 - aside from just criticizing no13baby's advice, can you offer any other insight that may help my writing process?
Just repeating some of the other parts of no13baby's posts: make sure they don't overlap. It's fine if both PS and DS have being LGBT as a significant element, but the main topics need to be different. If you made one about, say, a specific anecdote or two from working with kids (and less about your own LGBT-ness, except insofar as it is what qualifies/inspires you to work with the kids), and the other about your own struggles with coming out, those might be sufficiently different. But recall that the adcoms are going to read both in quick succession, and you don't want two essays on the topic "What it's like to be gay."

The two essays also serve different purposes. This is my personal breakdown:

PS
- introduces you as a person
- implies certain qualities or skills that will be useful in legal career/law school
- explains your motivation/inspiration for applying to law schools (optional)
- shows off your writing skills

DS
- describes your personal flavor of diversity
- explains how being that flavor will enrich your class at the law school, both ensuring your success and broadening the experiences of your classmates
- shows off your writing skills

So the DS is not just another personal statement, on a topic of 'diversity.' It has a specific goal that is different from the PS.

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jetissent

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Re: LGBT Personal Statement vs LGBT Diversity Statement

Post by jetissent » Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:53 pm

Initially, I specifically chose not to write a DS because my personal statement was LGBT focused and I didn't want overlap. However, later in the cycle, I updated my applications with a DS that was focused on other aspects of my diversity.

IE PS involved LGBT marriage issues, my previous academic research, etc and then my DS was about growing up in a military/hyper christian family and eventually coming out.

If you can find ways to make a clear divisions between their subjects and purposes, you shouldn't have much overlap.

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