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I thought I was almost done with apps until a couple friends brought up they were writing diversity statements and "Why X?" for all their schools. I just wanted to get some opinion on this. The schools don't require this addendum, but would it help my chances if I did? I imagine they might not weigh these heavily, if at all. But then again it couldn't hurt. I just don't want to run the risk of sounding too generic. Thanks for your input!

Bump...

They aren't that big a deal. They will help at the margins and "Why X" will help you avoid YP, but they are not likely to alter your cycle that significantly.

Only planning on writing why X for one school I really want.
Only write a DS if you have something real to say and if it's relatively well-written.

Thanks guys! A follow-up...as a general rule of thumbs, would 1-2 paragraphs suffice for these or should be longer?

Confused7 wrote:Thanks guys! A follow-up...as a general rule of thumbs, would 1-2 paragraphs suffice for these or should be longer?

Not longer than 1 page double spaced each.

General rule is no more than a page for all supplemental essays. If it can be shorter, make it shorter. Don't spend half a page telling them how much you just love the Ann Arbor weather and the Michigan economy.

As for why x's, they're not really necessary, but are usually the most helpful for schools like Michigan, Virginia, Penn, and Duke, which receive a ton of applications per spots available and know that their applicants are just pulling their names from USNWR rankings and applying...

mst wrote:General rule is no more than a page for all supplemental essays. If it can be shorter, make it shorter. Don't spend half a page telling them how much you just love the Ann Arbor weather and the Michigan economy.

As for why x's, they're not really necessary, but are usually the most helpful for schools like Michigan, Virginia, Penn, and Duke, which receive a ton of applications per spots available and know that their applicants are just pulling their names from USNWR rankings and applying...

other than michigan, where it probably won't make a difference anyway, there's no point in it unless you have a really compelling reason for attending a specific institution. If you don't, you're just wasting your own time as well as the adcomm's time. From my personal experience and talking to a decent sample size, YP and Why X essays for virginia, penn, and duke weren't correlated.