I’m having a hard time deciding whether to do the optional Duke diversity essay. I’ve already addressed racial diversity in my common app essay so I’m not sure if it would be redundant to do the optional essay as well. By not doing the essay would I be at a disadvantage? Maybe I could address another type of diversity (I’m a female URM)? I’m not sure… Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
@kittrailor , one way to approach this is to write an essay about a different type of diversity topic. For instance, if you CA essay discussed diversity that focused on your status as a female URM, craft the Duke essay around handicapped diversity, or the percentage of international diversity on Duke’s campus, or about diversity in SES.
The potential topics are far more numerous than you might first suspect.
Good luck.
FWIW, my S struggled with this as well. However, for him it was because he doesn’t fit into any type of typical minority category. He tried writing one about being a minority in his HS, but it didn’t come out well. He ultimately left it blank and was admitted.
So this is the question that they are asking…
Duke University seeks a talented, engaged student body that embodies the wide range of human experience; we believe that the diversity of our students makes our community stronger. If you’d like to share a perspective you bring or experiences you’ve had to help us understand you better — perhaps related to a community you belong to, your sexual orientation or gender identity, or your family or cultural background — we encourage you to do so. Real people are reading your application, and we want to do our best to understand and appreciate the real people applying to Duke. (250 words)
Too many people are thinking of diversity as the color of skin, not diversity… read it closely. “perhaps relate to a community you belong to, your sexual orientation or gender identity, or your family or cultural background”
My daughter could have written on several topics just from that… She’s a middle American white girl… nothing special when it comes to checking boxes. However, we all are unique and special… She could have written about her Irish genealogy and traditions our family does that maybe not everyone does. Girls got Aspergers so she could have written about her neurodiversity. She tells me she’s Bi, which I find interesting because she has never taken an interest in anyone nor ever been on a date, but she could have written about that and why she believes she Bi (Gay or even straight)… For her, she has really found herself in the world of cos-playing. and so she wrote about the Brony community. Yep, my kids a Brony and more recently she has become a furry… I support my daughter and all of her diversity!!!
So basically don’t take it as Black and White. Happy writing.
Consider a 3 word DS for Duke: “I’m not preppy.”
My daughter had to do this essay (or something similar) for a couple of schools. She doesn’t fit into any of the typical “diverse” boxes. So, she chose to talk about an aspect of her personality that is unique. I thought it was a really good essay and probably different from what many other kids write about.
I did this essay! When they say diversity, you can totally write about a vast majority of things pertaining to you, that you find display true individuality. For instance, I wrote about how my family consists of and celebrates a mixture of various very different cultures (Asian, European, etc.) and tied it back into my love for learning about cultural anthropology, as well as how I could bring that diversity and yearn for learning about many more cultures to Duke’s awesome campus.