Diversity statement question Forum

[arism87]

First of all, the general question: is it worthwhile for me to submit a diversity statement for SES? They always say this is diversity that interests them, but I'm not willing to discuss my parents' financial status. However, I am a first generation college student that grew up in a single parent home- something that helped me earn my scholarship to my undergrad. Do law schools care? It's not always/usually asked on applications. I feel awkward about it since I really feel like an application should highlight my strengths, not talk about less than ideal circumstances, when I was blessed in many ways?

If so, should I submit them separately, for example- Under the personal statement heading, Stanford's app says to describe these things. However, it doesn't fit very nicely into my personal statement and I definitely don't want to force it.

And how would you word the damn thing anyway?!

Thoughts? Thanks a lot!!

[ChiButterfly]

A diversity statement should not hinder you from highlighting your strengths. Everything in your application should be a highlight of your strengths. My humble suggestion is that perhaps you should focus more on how your circumstances have shaped your unique perspective and how that has led to your prior accomplishments and how it WILL lead to your future achievements.

I would just stay away from any type of statement that sounds as if you're whining (for lack of a better term) about prior circumstances. I think that would just make them automatically label you as if you're making excuses.

[ChiButterfly]

Quick note: The only reason I say this is because I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to set up my own Diversity Statement. That was how I came to the solution that I stated earlier. I had a pretty rough background, but I'm actually wording my statement in a way that doesn't really put emphasis on it.

[arism87]

Thanks! So are you including it in your PS or using an addendum?

[ChiButterfly]

Thanks! So are you including it in your PS or using an addendum?

I'm using it as an addendum for those schools that allow diversity statements. For those schools that don't allow it, I just don't include it. I don't really view it as majorly important anyway. I think I pretty much stated everything I needed to in my PS (which actually didn't really touch on anything in my background). But I think that would depend on your own preferences. I guess I could've put something in my PS about my background, but I just opted not to.