How do you answer these? What unique traits, identities, experiences, skills, perspective, etc. are they looking for and what have you personally seen in the past (was it effective)? Might not apply to me but it might get some ideas flowing
I think that UW-Madison asks or asked this question on its application. It was kind of challenging for my white, suburban, daughters to answer and I can’t remember for sure what they said. I think one of them wrote about the experience of attending a grade school that is the one in our district with a substantial number of students who are not white, not middle or upper class, and not English speakers. I think this gave both daughters a different perspective (a good one) in high school than that of many of their classmates.
You can speak about your religion and what it means to you or the country you come from. Diversity is not just racial. Everyone has a story. Even the white girl from suburbia has to have some part of her that she values.
You can answer honestly: white, suburban, middle class American student. Whites will be a minority soon. Many states are minority majority. Recently I helped to grade college applications - white middle class applicants were definitely in minority (California).
I had to chuckle at your question. I have to tell you a little story. A few years ago, both my D1 and a close friend the same age (we’ll call her F1) who are both bi-racial, BTW, were offered diversity trips to colleges that they had been admitted to. Both D1 and F1 thought they shouldn’t accept, because they aren’t really diverse. See, we live in Seattle, and these kids know plenty of multi-racial kids and kids of various races, ethnicities, and different countries. Its all normal. Not diverse at all in a sea of diversity. If they had felt discriminated against they would have felt fine accepting these trips. I told both of them that their perspective - that they just feel normal - was something perhaps the college might appreciate. After all, some colleges report that while they admit students of different backgrounds, sometimes at the school, kids of dissimilar backgrounds don’t mix socially. Students who are used to having all kinds of friends would be helpful to expanding the social scene.
That’s what I think this question is about. It isn’t purely social, but that has to be one aspect of it. A school that is asking this wants students who will be in study groups, or work with, and especially to be friends with different kinds of other students. I don’t think colleges feel that diversity is working if the Greek houses don’t let in non-white students, or if the Asian kids only hang out with other Asian kids, or black kids only with other black kids.
Both my kids have written essays on the diversity question on different college applications. One wrote about our annual block party - since we live on a very diverse street, and the different families and lifestyles. The other one wrote about her friends, who are from all different backgrounds. I think being open to new ideas, people and cultures is really the point of this kind of essay.
I hope that helps.