<p>My mom is asleep but I have ideas now, and therefore need opinions now....</p>
<p>U Wash Seattle prompt: Describe an experience of cultural difference, positive or negative, you have had or observed. What did you learn from it?</p>
<p>They go on to explain that culture can be defined very broadly, and I quote from the quick tip below the prompt, "For example, it may include ethnicity, customs, values, and ideas, all of which contribute to experiences that students can share with others in college." </p>
<p>I want to write about the relationship I have with someone I have been going to school with since the first grade who is completely deaf. I feel like writing about my friends' deafness would be more effective because of how well I know him and how personal it is to me. </p>
<p>Would writing about a disability like that fulfill the prompt that asks about "cultural differences" or would I be better off talking about something more straightforward that more obviously relates to culture?</p>
<p>Colleges look for students to fill gaps in the university’s ethnic/geographic diversity so if you fit that profile, I would recommend that you use this prompt to demonstrate what you would contribute to the school’s diversity. I think the danger in your proposed topic about disability is that you are not the one disabled. You will need to focus on how that friendship changed you (e.g. you learned sign language, advocated for the deaf, etc.).</p>
<p>There definitely is a “deaf culture” but can you write about it? </p>
<p>You don’t want your essay to be about your friend’s deafness and how he/she overcame it, rather, how your friend’s deafness caused you to be aware of this culture and perhaps learn sign language or other ways to communicate and to be inclusive.</p>
<p>I agree with mommusic. It’s possible to talk about it, but you want the essay to be about you and what your experiences will bring that is positive to the college. My kids, as white boys from the NY area, had to take a similar approach. Obviously their own culture wouldn’t add much, but they talked about how their very diverse high school (many nationalities, ethnic groups, income levels, religions etc.) gave them an appreciation for the big wide world around them.</p>
<p>I plan on taking an angle that focuses on how I gained understanding of a frustration that those with communication barriers face, and how we as a society dismiss many brilliant and capable people with meaningful ideas because of something so arbitrary like deafness. In getting to know him for 11 years, I have watched our peers and sometimes our teachers get frustrated and ignore him because of his severe stutter and deafness, and in effect, discriminate against him and his ideas as an individual. </p>
<p>I would be talking about his deafness as a language barrier, and how it has lead me to gain a greater understanding of the importance of looking past arbitrary traits that society has historically used to explain someones intellect… race, religion, gender, and in this case, deafness. In this prompt I would be using his disability to talk about the diversity of ideas and how important it is to recognize the frustrations many people experience with communicating these ideas.</p>
<p>Oh another thing… I’m having a hard time with the prompt because I am white and upper middle class. Haven’t faced much adversity in my life, nor have I directly interacted with a lot of different types of people because I live in suburban Colorado, in a city with 99% Caucasian residents with a median income of $100,000 a year. The class of 2012 has maybe 14 non-whites, out of approximately 400, and since I am colorblind I really think nothing of their race since they live in my neighborhood and have all had the same upbringing.</p>
<p>I thought of spinning off of the idea that although I do not encounter a great deal of culture and diversity on a daily basis, I have been able to understand that I need to put more of an effort into understanding and learning about the differences of others since I don’t get it in the classroom or at home, but I can’t think of a personal story for it!</p>
That sounds meaningful and authentic to you, especially because the relationship spanned a long period of time. If that genuine relationship forms the basis of your other conclusions about diversity, tolerance, overcoming stereotypes etc. you have a good basis of an essay. You don’t need to undo your good foundation by worrying that your high school lacks racial or economic diversity. You can do a fine essay from your personal experience and the conclusions it has engendered. It’s okay if your h.s. wasn’t tailor-made for this essay prompt!</p>
<p>Can you think a bit more, or research it, about deafness as a culture, rather than just a disability? Part of what makes it a culture is the discrimination and frustration you’ve observed, but there may also be other positive teachings to you from watching your friend interact with the world. You mostly exist in a hearing culture, but both of you got outside your cultures to make and keep a relationship. That’s something I wondered about as you expressed your essay direction here; what the friendship has taught you about a culture not your own, in this case, the deaf culture.</p>
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These are also good conclusions because they are drawn from your personal experience.</p>
<p>looking at the second paragraph of post 6, I like the first idea much better.
Saying you haven’t experienced culture diversity, but you understand it is helpful(paraphrasing post 6), is not what they asked for(post 1).
It is a cultural difference you had or have observed. Writing that you have NOT had a cultural difference experience seems the opposite of what they are looking for. Culture, as they have defined it, is not just ethnicity.</p>
<p>I think writing about this long term “experience of cultural difference” (the culture being deaf culture, or experience) is a wonderful idea, and one that you will write well about, since it is an authentic and deeply felt part of your life.</p>
<p>Google deaf culture to get some background, but write from what you know.</p>
<p>I don’t think colleges ask this because they want to find out how you will contribute to diversity, necessarily, but how you will contribute to a diverse campus with awareness and sensitivity.</p>
<p>That is kind of how I interpreted it, compmom. I hope what they take away from my essay is that I am an open minded and compassionate person who is willing and eager to understand and learn from a wide range of cultures and experiences of others. </p>
<p>younghoss I can see where you got that idea, but what I had in mind would be more along the lines of showing how I as a upper middle class caucasian with a stable upbringing and lots of privilege (surrounded by the same people) have had the opportunity to experience and observe diversity and culture from a different, objective perspective. So it wouldn’t be me just talking about the importance of cultural awareness. It would be me talking about diversity as an outsider looking in. If that makes sense.</p>
<p>No matter! I think I am confident enough to write my essay on what I had originally planned. Thanks for the suggestions, I’m glad some of you brought up learning about deaf culture, I truly don’t understand some of the broader perspectives and shared experiences outside of my friend… </p>
<p>And I like the idea of staying on track with talking about it as a culture rather than just a disability, that’s definitely important. It also might make my purpose more clear to the adcoms. </p>
<p>I agree with compmom and mathmom…there is certainly a ‘culture’ to deafness and I think you are interpreting the prompt correctly. Don’t overthink it and don’t get hung up on the word “culture”…it has many meanings…make it your meaning. The outsider looking in is spot on…don’t get hung up on or work to hard to connect it to the traditional concepts of culture as wealth, upbringing, social class, ethnicity etc. I think your heading in the correct direction thinking about it as the everyday experience of someone in a different “group.” A college essay is really just about getting to know ‘you’ and how you think and if you can string intelligible sentences together!</p>
<p>The UW cultural difference essay is a way of legally adding some degree of “affirmative action” back into the admit process after it was ruled that students couldn’t be awarded points for URM when it was a no essay, raw GPA and test score admit process.</p>
<p>I would do your best to talk about an interest in being in a more diverse environment than you grew up in etc. You are OOS which will give you a boost right now because state needs the tuition and you can’t make yourself URM if you’re not, so don’t kill yourself trying to. Focus on other essay prompts to shine.</p>
<p>“I thought of spinning off of the idea that although I do not encounter a great deal of culture and diversity on a daily basis, I have been able to understand that I need to put more of an effort into understanding and learning about the differences of others since I don’t get it in the classroom or at home, but I can’t think of a personal story for it!”</p>
<p>I would go with this idea. Again, that prompt is a public institution CYA to add racial balance outside of the old point system; so it really doesn’t apply to you, although you want to answer it capably. Your idea above is honest and sounds open minded about your lack of exposure to diversity - could be quite good.</p>