Can an unconvincing diversity statement hurt my application? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I wasn't planning on writing a diversity statement because i'm an asian american so i'm not an URM. However, I'm an immigrant who wasn't born in the US and I have some moderately unique experience that I can probably cobble together into a weak diversity statement (weak content-wise, not weak writing-wise).

I know common wisdom is that a DS based on being an immigrant/climbing the social-economic ladder won't really make a significant positive impact on my application but It wouldn't take me too long to write the DS so I figure I might as well do it since it's another opportunity to show the adcomms more about myself and my background in addition to what my PS says (i don't really talk about any of this stuff in my PS). I've hit the page limit on my PS and writing about my background wouldn't really fit into the topic anyways; It would just seem contrived if i tried to squeeze it in so that's not really an option.

So here's where my question comes in: assuming that I have a very well written diversity statement but with experiences that may not be as unique as those coming from an URM, is there anyway it could be a detriment to my application? I wouldn't want adcomms to think that i can't follow DS intructions or that I'm somehow deluded into thinking that i'm a special snowflake. I know it won't really be a boost, but as long as it couldn't hurt, I want to include a DS.

Thanks!

[lawschool2014hopeful]

If you bought steak + potatoes, and the order came with steak + potatoes + a shitty salad on top, would you like it?

Perhaps, the person is happy with free food, but unlikely.