3 Supplemental Essays for UMich, 0 for Berkeley? Forum

[ku546]

Berkeley only requires a Personal Statement and Resume. No Diversity Statement, no "Why Berkeley", nothing else.

Other schools like UMich give you the choice of 1-2 for Supplemental, Diversity, PS, and Resume.

What's the deal with Berkeley? They accept a wider range of LSATs, so you'd think they would want more info to justify accepting a 164 vs 169.

[Rigo]

Just because something isn't required doesn't mean they don't accept receiving them.

And Berkeley has the 4 page PS, so I take it they learn a lot about applicants from that.

[ku546]

Just because something isn't required doesn't mean they don't accept receiving them.

And Berkeley has the 4 page PS, so I take it they learn a lot about applicants from that.

Good point on the 4 page PS. I guess I can integrate my diversity statement into my main PS.

Regarding providing essays they don't explicitly request or provide an option for, I was reading Anna Ivey's Consulting blog on supplemental essays and came across this:

If a school doesn't expressly invite another essay beyond the required one, do not send an additional one just because you wrote this nifty other essay for a different school and you can't decide. Follow the schools' instructions. If they want one essay, send them one essay only. Bottom line: Send only solicited essays, and send non-required addenda only if they help your cause.

Bottom of page under "Unsolicited essays" -- http://www.annaivey.com/iveyfiles/2010/ ... s_too_much

I guess if you have something truly helpful to write about then going against this can't hurt.

[PrizeFighter]

When actually filling out the application, the personal statement description talks about allowing a discussion of diversity merged into the personal statement or attached seperately. So, instead of doing a 4 page ps, I did a two page ps and a two page ds. Below is an exchange I had with admissions.

My question:
The application instructions on personal statements say a discussion on diversity can be "incorporated into your personal statement or provided in a short appended statement." I wrote a separate statement for this aspect, but I am curious how you would prefer I submit it. Would you like it following in the same word document as the personal statement with a clear title to show it is separate, or should it be submitted separately in the addendum section?

Their reply:
We have no preference. We suggest doing what ever is easiest for yourself.

[ku546]

When actually filling out the application, the personal statement description talks about allowing a discussion of diversity merged into the personal statement or attached seperately. So, instead of doing a 4 page ps, I did a two page ps and a two page ds. Below is an exchange I had with admissions.

My question:
The application instructions on personal statements say a discussion on diversity can be "incorporated into your personal statement or provided in a short appended statement." I wrote a separate statement for this aspect, but I am curious how you would prefer I submit it. Would you like it following in the same word document as the personal statement with a clear title to show it is separate, or should it be submitted separately in the addendum section?

Their reply:
We have no preference. We suggest doing what ever is easiest for yourself.

Very helpful thank you for sharing.