Personal statement advice Forum

[mazz]

hey,

I'm nearly finished writing an outline for my personal statement. Since I'm a URM, I'm unclear about whether or not I should withhold information about my family's "diversity" and save those anecdotes for a diversity statement. Actually, I'm really unclear on the necessity of a diversity statement. Would it hurt me to integrate a tale of "diversity" into my PS?

Thanks for any advice.

[WayBryson]

I wouldn't put anything into the personal statement that doesn't thematically fit the whole. So if you have a diversity angle that supports the themes you are working with then I say go for it, but if it is just being tacked on, then I would leave it out. When I sat down to write my statement, I made a list of all the character traits and values I wanted to convey, and then tried to find a narrative that could demonstrate as many of them as possible so the essay would flow as one cohesive whole. Incidentally, I did work in a few diversity themes, but only where they supported the larger thrust of the narrative and never as major selling points (if you want to read it, I posted it under the examples thread). Anyway, I hope that helps. Good luck with your applications.