I’m an international student from a Caucasian country. I was wondering if I should point out the fact virtually no one from my country ends up in the top US colleges as an undergraduate. I looked MIT for example. No undergraduate who is a citizen of my country set foot into MIT as an undergrad since 2008. Occasionally 1 student gets accepted to the IVY league each year. But it’s a rare occasion worthy of celebration.
So, should I point out the statistics in the optional essays and state my contribution to the student diversity in their schools? How will it affect my application?
Perhaps it may make a more positive impression if you integrated into your essays something about some interesting cultural aspect that you participate in, instead of blatantly trying to be a diversity applicant with stats and stuff. Probably some admissions readers’ curiosity may be piqued by something that they have not heard of before from a place like Armenia, Azerbaijan, or Georgia.
Trust me, they are aware of exactly how many applicants they’ve seen from your country, whether they’ve granted admission, and whether the student attended. They have their own thoughts and policies on countries or regions with less representation. You don’t need to point it out.
In one of my essays, I pointed out that my family is from the countries of Azerbaijan and Georgia and how I traveled back and forth between these countries, which helped me gain a lot of insight into these cultures and languages. What should I write about? Imagine you are the admission officer. What would “pique your curiosity” about a 3rd world country?