dreid

@klavierstucke wow, that’s incredibly helpful! Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. Wishing you the very best of luck with your applications too!

Hello everyone, My question is a somewhat...particular one, so apologies in advance if this seems like it is wasting anyone's time! I am in the process of applying to Comparative Literature at NYU, and there is the option to include a personal history statement to explain how "your background will add to the diversity of our school". I am British, with experience living abroad, studying languages and volunteering/participating in community outreach initiatives, so I think I will try and work some of those things into the statement. However, I also come from a pretty chaotic working-class background - without going into too much detail, my family is enormous, my mother is a baker and my father is a butcher, and the whole situation made applying for undergraduate programs a bit of a challenge (you try writing a coherent college essay in a house full of twelve noisy people, with cakes covering every available surface and half the village trooping through the kitchen!). I am considering including this aspect of my background in the statement, but whenever I try to articulate it, it just sounds comical - which, to be fair, it is. So I guess my question is, how do I go about this? I know that NYU is a very liberal place, so maybe explaining the bizarre eccentricities of my upbringing would work in my favor (I don't know if it makes me a more "diverse" candidate, but it might make me a more memorable one!). But, then again, it also might make me come across as someone who isn't taking the application seriously. Does anyone have any words of wisdom to help me out with navigating this? Thank you so much!