Penn/Michigan Essays Forum

[FlamingCow]

Both Penn and Michigan have diversity statement-type essays in their list of additional application essays. I'm thinking about going this route, but I'm not sure if it would be the best strategy.

Being a middle class white kid, the most "diverse" thing I have going for me is living and working in West Africa for a couple years after college. One experience in particular is the focus of my PS. Would it be a bit much (or one-dimensional) to write another essay about how this would add some degree of diversity? Or should I skip it all together and write different essays?

[AreJay711]

Depends how you spin your PS. Working in West Africa might have brought about a good deal of personal growth and clarity in your life but the diversity statement can be a good way to specify exactly what you will bring to your law school that not very many other applicants won't. I'm not sure what you will bring from your experiences in Africa to the law school (maybe some reasonable guesses but it isn't an experience I've had) so specifying it could the adcomms.

[Hedwig]

Are you referring to Essay Seven? (Essay Seven: How might your perspectives and experiences enrich the quality and breadth of the intellectual life of our community or enhance the legal profession? )

[FlamingCow]

Are you referring to Essay Seven? (Essay Seven: How might your perspectives and experiences enrich the quality and breadth of the intellectual life of our community or enhance the legal profession? )

That's the one.

[canuck]

I wrote an essay on my amateur sports background as a teenager. Basically harped on the perspective it gave me and how that perspective can lend itself to a more diverse class. I think the time in Africa could work for you if you explain well how it makes you see the world differently than your average joe.