<p>I am thinking about choosing the diversity topic for the common app, and was wondering if writing about living in China, Japan, Canada and USA would be too broad of a topic because I have to describe my experiences in 500 words. Do you think I should just focus more on a single occurrence or stick with this idea?</p>
<p>Maybe you can describe how you bring the Chinese/Japanese/Candian culture to the USA?</p>
<p>You don’t necessarily have to choose either/or. You can focus on a single occurence
within the context of your experience of living in all of those places – one that reveals
the person you are and how you think. </p>
<p>The diversity question is designed to give you a chance to explain what interesting qualities you’ll bring to the college community, because colleges don’t want a bunch of
like-minded robots who have nothing to teach each other wandering the campus. ; ) They want students to grow from their interactions with each other in a learning environment that reflects different perspectives. So you want your essay to reveal your
unique perspective, passions, or ideas. And I bet you can do that with the material you have to work with!</p>
<p>How did living in all of those places make you the person you are? Did it change your
perspective about something in a meaningful way? Is there one incident or occurence you could write about that shows how you traveled from one perspective to another and learned a lesson or seen the deeper meaning in something? </p>
<p>Just keep in mind that colleges want to get to know you, so if your entire essay simply describes living in all these places, that won’t get the job done. You want to reveal your character, values and personality through your experiences.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, good luck!</p>