The Official June 2015 Waiter's Thread (GREY DEY 7/1) Forum

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:31 pm

yellowyak46 wrote:How do people feel about geographic/neighborhood diversity? I'm a middle class white cismale, but I'm from the Southwest and grew up in a farm town outside of a city. Being the Southwest, my hometown has lots of Spanish speakers, native americans, and cultural diversity. Though I myself am not hispanic, Mexican, or Native American, having much more exposure and contact with those groups of people and their respective cultures gave me a different perspective than that of many of my college friends-- upper/upper middle class people from New England/mid-atlantic. Thoughts?

YOU GREW UP ON A FARM

HOLY SHIT THAT WILL MAKE FOR AN AWESOME DSTATEMENT

Seriously people everyone has something that makes them a snowflake. The D-Statement is optional yes, but do you really wanna pass up on the "optional" extra credit assignment when you're teetering on an A and B?

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:33 pm

AbbeyS wrote:I don't think I'm going to write a diversity statement cause everyone's ideas seem to be along the lines of different race/culture, poverty, etc. I always thought there were more ways to be diverse but if that's what the adcoms are expecting then I shouldn't do one

THAT'S EXACTLY WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE ONE

DO SOMETHING THEY HAVENT SEEN 1,000 TIMES BEFORE.

whacka · Post by **whacka** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:34 pm

Post removed.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:35 pm

If you can get them to say "oh that's cool" while reading your application that will be the difference between accept and reject.

AbbeyS · Post by **AbbeyS** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:36 pm

ruizdaw wrote:
AbbeyS wrote:I don't think I'm going to write a diversity statement cause everyone's ideas seem to be along the lines of different race/culture, poverty, etc. I always thought there were more ways to be diverse but if that's what the adcoms are expecting then I shouldn't do one

THAT'S EXACTLY WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE ONE

DO SOMETHING THEY HAVENT SEEN 1,000 TIMES BEFORE.

I don't think so. I ran my idea by my dad (lawyer so I trust his opinion on getting in law school) and he interrupted my sentence with "No." So I think I'm gonna pass on it

yellowyak46 · Post by **yellowyak46** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:38 pm

ruizdaw wrote:
yellowyak46 wrote:How do people feel about geographic/neighborhood diversity? I'm a middle class white cismale, but I'm from the Southwest and grew up in a farm town outside of a city. Being the Southwest, my hometown has lots of Spanish speakers, native americans, and cultural diversity. Though I myself am not hispanic, Mexican, or Native American, having much more exposure and contact with those groups of people and their respective cultures gave me a different perspective than that of many of my college friends-- upper/upper middle class people from New England/mid-atlantic. Thoughts?

YOU GREW UP ON A FARM

HOLY SHIT THAT WILL MAKE FOR AN AWESOME DSTATEMENT

Seriously people everyone has something that makes them a snowflake. The D-Statement is optional yes, but do you really wanna pass up on the "optional" extra credit assignment when you're teetering on an A and B?

It's not quite a farm... The town used to be 100% farms, but now it's been broken up into smaller plots of land, but there are still a bunch of small farms, as well as the farm infrastructure. Good to know, though. I hadn't at all considered writing one, and I'm still leaning towards not, but I'll think more seriously about it. Thanks for the advice.

Scalvert · Post by **Scalvert** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:39 pm

jumbo2016 wrote:
Scalvert wrote:Lurker here, I'm another white female middle class PoliSci major, and would also feel pretty weird writing a diversity statement. Does being an atheist in the South qualify? ( We're pretty frowned upon, but IDK how "diverse" that is in other areas of the country).
Haha literally the only thing I can think of for me is growing up as an atheist in a really conservative part of upstate NY but that really isn't essay material. I can't think of anytime it actually impacted me beyond just feeling kind of weird when my friends couldn't hang out Cus they all had youth group or REACH

It did impact me somewhat in HS, but mainly because I can't keep my mouth shut. It would literally be me vs the whole class anytime a subject came up that could even remotely be tied to religion. People would quote scripture during biology class discussions and I wanted to stab things. Lol. Some of my HS teachers were also Sunday School teachers, so yeah....

It wasn't like I was the only one around, it's just that I didn't keep a low profile. But great! I'll write one. My gpa is good, I took in Feb and scored mid 160s, a few points below pt average. I feel a lot better about the retake, but who knows? (hopefully us, tomorrow).

EnderWiggin · Post by **EnderWiggin** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:41 pm

The "everyone should write a diversity statement" line isn't helpful or accurate. Someone who submits a diversity statement in a way that comes across as too gimmicky would seem to be someone with poor judgment IMO. Found a YLS blog post on this question a while back. I'm sure there are other tidbits of adcomm's thoughts on the subject out there.

Asha's thoughts: http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/18887.htm

AbbeyS · Post by **AbbeyS** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:42 pm

I read that you should avoid writing about controversial topics like religious views because it could end up offending someone on the admission committee. Just something to keep in mind

jumbo2016 · Post by **jumbo2016** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:44 pm

Scalvert wrote: but who knows? (hopefully us, tomorrow).

From your mouth to the LSAC overlords' ears

jumbo2016 · Post by **jumbo2016** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:45 pm

AbbeyS wrote:I read that you should avoid writing about controversial topics like religious views because it could end up offending someone on the admission committee. Just something to keep in mind

I want to work for women's rights advocacy and my PS focuses on my experience interning with NARAL Pro-choice. Gonna have to risk it...

cdotson2 · Post by **cdotson2** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:46 pm

jumbo2016 wrote:
Scalvert wrote: but who knows? (hopefully us, tomorrow).
From your mouth to the LSAC overlords' ears

anyone think there's a chance it will come out tonight?

AbbeyS · Post by **AbbeyS** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:47 pm

jumbo2016 wrote:
AbbeyS wrote:I read that you should avoid writing about controversial topics like religious views because it could end up offending someone on the admission committee. Just something to keep in mind
I want to work for women's rights advocacy and my PS focuses on my experience interning with NARAL Pro-choice. Gonna have to risk it...

I feel like by mentioning your religious views in conjunction with your plans you talk about in your PS, that should be sufficient. Writing a diversity statement to restate that you have certain religious views might be redundant

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:47 pm

EnderWiggin wrote:The "everyone should write a diversity statement" line isn't helpful or accurate. Someone who submits a diversity statement in a way that comes across as too gimmicky would seem to be someone with poor judgment IMO. Found a YLS blog post on this question a while back. I'm sure there are other tidbits of adcomm's thoughts on the subject out there.

Asha's thoughts: http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/18887.htm

You misquoted me. I never said everyone should. I said everyone has the capability to. Everything you submit that you can edit should be edited into oblivion. If it comes off as gimmickry that has nothing to do with whether or not they had something they cod have stated in a non gimmicky manor.

Scalvert · Post by **Scalvert** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:47 pm

Hmmmm if too gimmicky or offensive, then maybe not.

Crap.

I have no idea. Probably should worry about my PS first.

jumbo2016 · Post by **jumbo2016** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:49 pm

AbbeyS wrote:
jumbo2016 wrote:
AbbeyS wrote:I read that you should avoid writing about controversial topics like religious views because it could end up offending someone on the admission committee. Just something to keep in mind
I want to work for women's rights advocacy and my PS focuses on my experience interning with NARAL Pro-choice. Gonna have to risk it...
I feel like by mentioning your religious views in conjunction with your plans you talk about in your PS, that should be sufficient. Writing a diversity statement to restate that you have certain religious views might be redundant

My religious views arent in my PS. I meant that abortion rights are generally seen as "controversial" but im including my stance on them in my PS

EnderWiggin · Post by **EnderWiggin** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:51 pm

ruizdaw wrote:
You misquoted me. I never said everyone should. I said everyone has the capability to. Everything you submit that you can edit should be edited into oblivion. If it comes off as gimmickry that has nothing to do with whether or not they had something they cod have stated in a non gimmicky manor.

This seems like a silly exercise of hair-splitting. Someone could have the capability of writing a DS and also be someone who should not write a DS.

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:51 pm

Just make write gud word do

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:53 pm

EnderWiggin wrote:
ruizdaw wrote:
You misquoted me. I never said everyone should. I said everyone has the capability to. Everything you submit that you can edit should be edited into oblivion. If it comes off as gimmickry that has nothing to do with whether or not they had something they cod have stated in a non gimmicky manor.
This seems like a silly exercise of hair-splitting. Someone could have the capability of writing a DS and also be someone who should not write a DS.

Just because someone wrote a bad DStatement in no way whatsoever shows that they couldn't have written good or even great one.

oldercoldervoice · Post by **oldercoldervoice** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:54 pm

EnderWiggin wrote:The "everyone should write a diversity statement" line isn't helpful or accurate. Someone who submits a diversity statement in a way that comes across as too gimmicky would seem to be someone with poor judgment IMO. Found a YLS blog post on this question a while back. I'm sure there are other tidbits of adcomm's thoughts on the subject out there.

Asha's thoughts: http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/18887.htm

This. The diversity statement should reflect a real, lived experience or situation which fundamentally differentiates you from the majority of applicants. The "anyone can write a diversity statement" thing is pretty misguided imo. By definition, a diversity statement is not something that everyone has the capability to write. To treat it as "extra credit" pretty fundamentally misrepresents what it's there for.

ETA: by "capability" I mean "appropriate situation or life experience," not "writing ability"

jumbo2016 · Post by **jumbo2016** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:56 pm

EnderWiggin wrote:
ruizdaw wrote:
You misquoted me. I never said everyone should. I said everyone has the capability to. Everything you submit that you can edit should be edited into oblivion. If it comes off as gimmickry that has nothing to do with whether or not they had something they cod have stated in a non gimmicky manor.
This seems like a silly exercise of hair-splitting. Someone could have the capability of writing a DS and also be someone who should not write a DS.

In the Yake article, it says that someone should not write about being a good listener. There are clearly topics that would not warrant a diversity statement not matter how many times it was edited or how well it was written. I feel like if you can't without much difficulty figure out what you should write about for a diversity statement, you shouldn't write one. You might have the capacity to write a great essay about your unique listening skills, but you shouldn't write that essay. And it's not an "extra credit" option like for a test, because getting extra credit wrong on a test can usually not hurt your grade, but a bad or insincere diversity statement can hurt your application

Mint-Berry_Crunch · Post by **Mint-Berry_Crunch** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:57 pm

Post removed...

jumbo2016 · Post by **jumbo2016** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:58 pm

Update: still green

EnderWiggin · Post by **EnderWiggin** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:01 pm

jumbo2016 wrote:Update: still green

what if by this time tomorrow it's grey

Li'l Sebastian · Post by **Li'l Sebastian** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:04 pm

jumbo2016 wrote:
EnderWiggin wrote:
ruizdaw wrote:
You misquoted me. I never said everyone should. I said everyone has the capability to. Everything you submit that you can edit should be edited into oblivion. If it comes off as gimmickry that has nothing to do with whether or not they had something they cod have stated in a non gimmicky manor.
This seems like a silly exercise of hair-splitting. Someone could have the capability of writing a DS and also be someone who should not write a DS.
In the Yake article, it says that someone should not write about being a good listener. There are clearly topics that would not warrant a diversity statement not matter how many times it was edited or how well it was written. I feel like if you can't without much difficulty figure out what you should write about for a diversity statement, you shouldn't write one. You might have the capacity to write a great essay about your unique listening skills, but you shouldn't write that essay. And it's not an "extra credit" option like for a test, because getting extra credit wrong on a test can usually not hurt your grade, but a bad or insincere diversity statement can hurt your application

Picking a bad topic is an editing error of the worse kind.

Everyone has something that makes them unique, maybe I'm taking a humanistic perspective here but I have never met someone who wasn't special.
Maybe I'm getting a little too Disney here but I truly believe everyone has something diverse about them even if they don't see it yet.