PennDesign - Dean's Diversity Scholarship?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I'm applying to PennDesign for grad school and want to apply for the Dean's Diversity Scholarship. I need to submit a 500 word response to this prompt:</p>

<p>PennDesign seeks to bring students to our school whose backgrounds and experiences offer varying perspectives on living and learning in a multicultural world. In order to accomplish this, we offer special Dean's Diversity Scholarships to students whose backgrounds and experiences demonstrate the ability to contribute to increasing socioeconomic and multicultural diversity awareness at the School of Design.</p>

<p>How can I respond to this, given that I am a white, middle-class female from the suburbs and the prompt explicitly states "socioeconomic and multicultural diversity"??</p>

<p>I really hate this question, honestly. I am 75% european "mutt" (eastern, central, and northern) and 25% ojibwa native american. I did not grow up with a "culture" to reference because my family does not necessarily identify with any of these ancestral backgrounds (who would when you're 7% this and 2% that??). I don't believe that you need an ethnic culture to be a well-rounded member of society and contribute to the educational environment. To say that we need X% minority A and X% minority B is to say that a student body's collective intellectual merit means nothing--that it is solely based on what kind of skin-colored "rainbow" we can produce by enforcing these percentages. </p>

<p>While I strongly value diversity on the level of varying life experiences, intellectual inquiries are simply more interesting when we come from different backgrounds, I strongly disagree with UPenn's set-up here. WHO THE F*** CARES what color we are or how much money our families grew up with? A person's ideas and approach are what matter, and as long as mine are different than the other 99%, shouldn't I be considered an individual instead of just another piece in the "middle-class white girl" bracket? This question, to me, is just another example of how society will be better off when our generation is in the seat of current admissions committees. </p>

<p>How can I respond to this prompt without being disrespectful, given that I disagree entirely with the premise here?</p>

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<p>Aren’t you missing or ignoring a piece of the prompt:</p>

<p>“students whose backgrounds and experiences demonstrate the ability to contribute to increasing socioeconomic and multicultural diversity awareness at the School of Design.”</p>

<p>Ok so you’re background isn’t x% minority (thought it is bc you mention being Native Am though obviously you can’t discuss that since you don’t identify with it). What about your experiences? I guarantee you a middle class white female from Long Island who has spent her free time working with Habitat developing low or middle income housing in areas that look different from her own suburb will not be seen “just” as a middle class white female. She will be seen as someone who has an understanding of what is important in low income neighborhoods. Is your ranting a way of saying that you don’t have any kind of experience that sets you apart from the 99% you reference?</p>