Diversity Achievers Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z Lehigh University
1

For those who have been accepted and attended or are applying for the DAP fly-in at Lehigh, what did you talk about in your essay? This year’s prompt is the following: “Why have you chosen to apply for a diversity-based program as a way to learn more about Lehigh University?”

I’m hoping to write about my own experiences with diversity and following that by discussing how I can contribute to Lehigh.

2

@knguyen119

The question is “Why have you chosen to apply for a diversity-based program as a way to learn more about Lehigh University?”

Be careful to answer the question they asked.

I would start by trying to think of it from their perspective, and considering why they may have chosen this question.

Imagine you work at Lehigh and are in charge of reading these essays. Imagine you have to decide who is invited because you have more applications than seats available in the program. Your supervisor has told you that the goal of the program is to attract more high-quality minority students to make Lehigh a more diverse and inclusive place. How might you decide if that is what you were trying to achieve?

I hear their question as:

  1. Why are you interested in learning more about Lehigh? and
  2. Why did you choose the DAP as a way to learn more about it?

That is because a thoughtful applicant, who knows some basics about the university, the majors offered, and has some basic understanding of why they think Lehigh may be a good fit for them, is probably more likely to end up attending Lehigh than another applicant who can’t spell Lehigh, and is only applying because their mom told them to apply.

I imagine the part about why you chose the DAP program to learn more about Lehigh is wanting you to help them be sure that they understand the needs, concerns and interests of the attendees, so they can be sure to answer the questions that you have in your mind.

I am were a minority student attending, in addition to the usual information about Lehigh, I might want to understand more about:

  1. The Lehigh experience from someone who is of the same race and gender that I am.
  2. Understanding Lehigh’s level of commitment and approach to supporting minority students so that they are successful in their college experience.
  3. Opportunities to talk with current Lehigh minority students one-on-one and ask questions about their impression of their decision to attend Lehigh.

Those are a few questions that come to my mind, but I am not you, and you may have very different questions. Obviously, the best way for Lehigh to be sure that they are answering the questions of the attending students is to ask the attendees what they want to know more about. I think that is what they are doing here.

I hope that is helpful.

jmho