Diversity Statement on death of a parent Forum

[Facelessgod]

Hi,

So I'm considering writing a diversity statement about dealing with the loss of my father when I was 10 years old due to lung cancer. I did mention this in my personal statement, but a brief summary is that I talked about how this experience made me want to help others after I got involved with a student organization in college that involves helping a specific set of children; kids who've been affected by a parents' cancer. At first I never really thought about writing a diversity statement but after reading the guides on TLS and seeing that you can write a diversity statement about some sort of adversity you've overcome I thought that I could use this experience to complement my personal statement.

I'd say the biggest adversity I've faced regarding my father's death is people telling me that they're glad that my father died or making jokes about it. As a kid I knew that I would have to deal with the inevitable awkwardness when people would ask what my father does for a living and I'd have to explain what happened, but I never would have imagined that I'd have people telling me that they're glad my dad died on the ice just because they're being beat by a rival high school in a hockey game. As an Asian I can deal with the racial slurs but this kind of stuff just really made me feel powerless.

I'm trying to write this about overcoming this adversity growing up but I'm not sure how I should conclude it. I was thinking maybe saying how it made me have tougher skin or something like that but I'm not sure if that's the best route to go. If anyone has written a diversity statement on losing a parent or has any advice that would be greatly appreciated!

[cavalier1138]

This seems like a good PS, but I'm not sure that it's fertile ground for a diversity statement.

[Rigo]

As cav said, elaborate on this loss and how it impacted you more in your PS if you feel like you've left important things unsaid.
This is not a good DS topic imo

[nalls96]

Hi,

So I'm considering writing a diversity statement about dealing with the loss of my father when I was 10 years old due to lung cancer. I did mention this in my personal statement, but a brief summary is that I talked about how this experience made me want to help others after I got involved with a student organization in college that involves helping a specific set of children; kids who've been affected by a parents' cancer. At first I never really thought about writing a diversity statement but after reading the guides on TLS and seeing that you can write a diversity statement about some sort of adversity you've overcome I thought that I could use this experience to complement my personal statement.

I'd say the biggest adversity I've faced regarding my father's death is people telling me that they're glad that my father died or making jokes about it. As a kid I knew that I would have to deal with the inevitable awkwardness when people would ask what my father does for a living and I'd have to explain what happened, but I never would have imagined that I'd have people telling me that they're glad my dad died on the ice just because they're being beat by a rival high school in a hockey game. As an Asian I can deal with the racial slurs but this kind of stuff just really made me feel powerless.

I'm trying to write this about overcoming this adversity growing up but I'm not sure how I should conclude it. I was thinking maybe saying how it made me have tougher skin or something like that but I'm not sure if that's the best route to go. If anyone has written a diversity statement on losing a parent or has any advice that would be greatly appreciated!

I disagree with the other two posters if and ONLY if you have some sort of volunteer experience related to kids on your application. Because then you can conclude the DS with how this motivated you to get involved and your view point on juevenile jurisdiction and law has changed because of it. Thus, you can then allude to this diversity as something that you can defend in class that others may not think about.

If there is no volunteer work/ work ex. to back the conclusion than I would write it as a PS.

[cavalier1138]

I disagree with the other two posters if and ONLY if you have some sort of volunteer experience related to kids on your application. Because then you can conclude the DS with how this motivated you to get involved and your view point on juevenile jurisdiction and law has changed because of it. Thus, you can then allude to this diversity as something that you can defend in class that others may not think about.

If there is no volunteer work/ work ex. to back the conclusion than I would write it as a PS.

But that's not really the "diversity" that these statements are for. Sometimes, diversity can encompass a different life perspective (e.g. first-generation student, growing up in poverty, etc.), but there are also circumstances where it doesn't (e.g. growing up Republican, growing up without a relative). You need to think about what actually makes a law school class diverse, and having a slightly nuanced viewpoint on a specific subject because of the death of a family member isn't really it.

[Platopus]

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