differences between diversity and personal statement Forum

[paulshortys10]

So i emailed Georgetown and they recommended i do both. For my personal statement i'm going to write about the hardships i've faced growing up (poverty) and how I overcame those and how i will apply that work ethic to law school (blAH BLAH BLAH)...I'm not exactly sure what to write on my diversity statement, but here's some information about myself:

1.First generation Mexican American. Born to immigrant parents(have interesting stories about how they got into the country and discrimination they have faced, + hard work ethic that they instilled in me). My father went up to 5th grade and began working at the age of 5(selling gum and newspapers on the streets of his city). my mom barely graduated high school.
2.I'm a very light skinned Mexican and look nothing like most of my relatives. Almost every stranger i've met thinks i'm of Italian descent. So my relatives and Mexican friend never fully accepted me and called me white boy and such, while my white classmates called me wetback and beaner growing up( my english was very bad growing up). This created a dilemma for me growing up.

Some of what i'm going to write on my personal statement is going to be similar to what i write about on my diversity statement. Is that ok?

[bk1]

It depends how similar. I would definitely avoid serious overlap because it just sounds like you're repeating yourself.

Some people in this board prefer what I have heard vanwinkle refer to as the "DS in the PS" approach where you craft your PS with diversity in mind and don't even bother to submit a DS. I don't know how well that works but you may want to PM him and ask his take on that.

[paulshortys10]

It depends how similar. I would definitely avoid serious overlap because it just sounds like you're repeating yourself.

Some people in this board prefer what I have heard vanwinkle refer to as the "DS in the PS" approach where you craft your PS with diversity in mind and don't even bother to submit a DS. I don't know how well that works but you may want to PM him and ask his take on that.

great thanks...

should i mention on my PS that something i read as a teenager inspired me to become a lawyer? should I mention what type of law I would like to practice after law school and why(divorce law, parents are divorced.)

[bk1]

great thanks...

should i mention on my PS that something i read as a teenager inspired me to become a lawyer? should I mention what type of law I would like to practice after law school and why(divorce law, parents are divorced.)

It really depends on how it's written. A lot of great topics can sound like shit when written badly. Conversely, a lot of mediocre topics can sound amazing when written well. It is all in the presentation. The teenager thing could be an interesting anecdote if worked into a larger PS, but if written poorly it could fall very flat. If you can make it interesting and not cliche/whiny/boring then the divorce thing is fine as well.

Shorter version: It's hard to say without seeing the actual PS. It's better to just have people critique the PS and see if it works or if it doesn't.

[ht2988]

I think you should talk about both aspects of your racial experience in your DS. Talking about growing up underprivileged in your PS is a great idea as well. I'm taking a similar approach, though my topics are different - I've been advised that both statements should have a consistent theme and reference each other in the right places. They should read like two separate chapters out of the same book, kind of.

[CanadianWolf]

One shows how well you fit in at that particular law school, while the other shows why you do not.