“Tell us where you have lived - and for how long - since you were born; whether you’ve always lived in the same place, or perhaps in a variety of places. (150 words)”
I’m having a lot of trouble with this particular supplement. Coming from a reasonably affluent, completely homogeneous town, I have really no way to simply and elegantly discuss how my residence in this town has influenced my worldview. In fact, most of my worldview comes from my research on places that aren’t here. Is there any way for a kid from a totally non-diverse hometown to properly discourse on this?
The question doesn’t mention world views. If you’ve always lived in one place, you can talk about it and how you love it, why you’re tired of it, why you can’t wait to live somewhere else.
One of the things that was concerning me is that I didn’t want to sound whiny about my hometown. I feel like, considering people are applying from all over the world and some of them are from places where things are actually bad, I didn’t want to come off as somebody who is ungrateful at the luck I have to be born in a place with no real problems.
If your worldview comes from research as a way to broaden your mindset from where you live I feel that could easilybe incorporated. You ‘live’ in one place, your mind can live in many.
The prompt doesn’t ask anything about your world view. I’ve heard an admissions officer say that this is not a trick question - they honestly just want to know where you live. I’m sure they get some very mundane answers and some very creative ones. Brown accepts many students who live in boring affluent suburbia, so don’t think they will hold that against you. (FWIW, I don’t think this is a great question, but I’m not in admissions so my opinion doesn’t account for much.)
They are not asking you about your research, about your daydreams, about the movies you watch. They want to know where you actually live.