What is a diversity statement?
A diversity essay for graduate school is a one-page document explaining your experiences and commitments to diversity.
You can safely assume that any university that requests one is very committed to inclusivity and supporting their diverse population, so they are looking for someone who would support that mission.
Much like a teaching statement, what you include will vary depending on what you believe or have done.
Diversity statements aren’t just for organizations or for faculty job postings. Many law schools and some graduate programs may ask applicants to provide a short statement about their background and potential contributions to the school or program.
Students can feel overwhelmed by these prompts – especially if they are optional – but these can provide an excellent opportunity to showcase your individuality and contributions to your future program.
Most of the time, diversity statement will be optional in your grad school application.
The Graduate committee might ask for a diversity statement as a qualifications evaluation for scholarships or funding. This is the most common reason to ask for a diversity essay for graduate school.
It’s an opportunity for you to talk about any hardship and/or barriers you’ve overcome.
For example, you may have overcome something challenging, but that may not have been relevant to your SOP(Statement of purpose) or your personal statement.
What does diversity means?
This can refer to a variety of things.
This can be your personal diversity regarding your racial-ethnic background or socioeconomic status.
The best diversity essay for graduate school is the one that is unique to you. So try to make the best out of the previous experiences you had.
As an example, it could be where you grew up, your sexual orientation, any physical disabilities, educational debility disabilities or mental health struggles that you’ve gone through.
This could also be having dealt with systems or institutions that may have been challenging, such as foster care or having an incarcerated family.
Also, it might be a good idea to talk about diversity in a way that makes sense to you.
It would help the reader to understand the values you might bring to the table.
Sometimes, your personal background would not be as diverse, but you might have experience working in a diverse work environment. You can talk about such experiences.
You also can focus on the intersectionality of many different pieces of your life that make you diverse or bring in unique perspectives.
You can also think about unique challenges that you faced or overcut came.
Suppose you were in a situation where you were the only person with a different perspective about things, in terms of pollical orientation or cultural orientations.
In that case, you can mention such experiences in your diversity essay.
To summarize, three areas that might be included in a diversity statement are,
- Your values regarding diversity,
- Your experience dealing with a variety of people
- Your plans for the future in terms of inclusion.
Questions for Drafting a Statement
It will take some time to write a diversity statement. Answer these questions as a basis for drafting your diversity statement.
- How do you view diversity, equity, and inclusion as an individual?
- Why is diversity important to you?
- How will you ensure to keep the fundamental values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your work environment?
- Do you provide any services or work with underrepresented or diverse populations? If so, what?
- Is your research relevant to efforts to promote diversity? If so, how?
- Do you have any personal attributes relevant to your work? Were you, for example, a first-generation student or a woman in STEM working to promote opportunities for these groups?
- What do you want to do to promote diversity and equity in future?
Tips on Writing a Diversity Essay for Graduate School
Be subjective
Consider what diversity could mean for that program. They may define diversity in general in the website, but you may also do some research by looking at the facts and information for that institution or program to learn more about the student body.
Let’s say you’re not sure if you’re physically or culturally diverse. What sets you apart from your peers or the school’s culture? Do you have any experiences that may help you gain a new perspective on the school or program’s community?
Don’t repeat what you’ve already said; instead, focus on providing new facts for the review committee to evaluate. You will almost certainly be requested to submit a separate personal statement explaining why you apply to the programme.
Include your personal experiences
When it comes to variety, no two people will have the same experience. Don’t be frightened to showcase your individuality.
If you are uncomfortable with sharing all of your personal information, you are not obliged to do so.
However, it might be helpful to share these experiences, especially if they provide a unique perspective on dealing with a specific community.
However, any mention of mental health issues that would make you appear incapable of handling the work responsibilities should be avoided.
Be more specific
Diversity essay for graduate school, like teaching statements, are more assertive if you can be particular rather than vague. Come up with a story.
Without specifics, statements tend to seem more like vague clichés. Unique and specific stories will bolster your claim and provide the reader with something solid to picture when they consider who you are.
Iterate
A school with a large Hispanic and African American population may value diversity in slightly different ways than a school with fewer ethnically diverse students but many first-generation or religiously diverse students. Prepare to think explicitly about the students at those schools, especially in terms of any future programmes you might want to undertake.
Follow the word limit. If you don’t have one, try and keep the statement to 500-800 words.
Check your document at least three times, and have some of your colleagues double-check it once you’ve checked it.
Images courtesy: Photo by African lady photo created by cookie_studio – www.freepik.com , Students group vector created by redgreystock – www.freepik.com
