Post By: COYD Staff
Option 5 of the Common Application essays is “A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.” Below are a few tips to help answer this question:
1. Answer one of the questions, not both.
There are two questions in this essay question and they are quite different. So pick one of the two. Either “describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community” OR “describe an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.”
2. Diversity DOES NOT EQUAL race.
Many times, people believe DIVERSITY = RACE. Thus, Caucasian students might stay away from this question because they think they cannot possibly show more diversity than a minority. And minorities might choose this question because they believe that just being a minority will show diversity. WRONG! Believe it or not, America is a melting pot and almost every race is represented in the applicant pool and many of them are highly qualified. Like the question states, the diversity they want to know about does not mean the color of your skin but “a range of academic interests, personal perspectives and life experiences.”
3. Be the anti-stereotype.
One of the secrets for getting into the college of your dreams that we have reiterated is “Be the Anti-Stereotype.” To learn more about this, download the free report on the Top 7 Secrets.
4. The focus should be on you.
Don’t talk about another person when answering the first question. Remember, they are asking about an experience in your life. For the second question regarding the encounter, you can talk about another person, but make sure that you, your values, and your reaction are the primary focus of the essay.
5. Stay away from writing about 1-week trips to developing countries.
So many Americans go to Mexico, Haiti, or another developing country to do volunteer work during their spring break or summer. Some go because they genuinely care for the people in these countries, but when the experience is only one week, it could be hard to show that you truly are passionate about this country and its people.
Unless you have something novel to say besides a realization that you have more than most people in this world, don’t write about it. However, if you started an organization due to your experience in this developing country, then it is worth talking about because it shows that this trip was actually a pivotal experience in your life that caused you to make some changes in your life and take action. Like I’ve said before, true passion is action. Admissions officers want to see true passion.
