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I know this is the last minute for the applications but I really need some quick help! I am actually confused about some basic logistics of the personal history statement. So UCLA allows an 8000 character limit which falls to about 2 pages of 12 point text. I wrote my statement according to that but googling a bit I found that the ideal length is around 500-700 words which is about one page. My application to UC Berkeley also needs a personal history statement and I am now confused as to what length of a statement should I stick to.

Hello hello! Hoping for a last minute review of a personal history statement that is due TODAY for a UC. To be blunt, I am a white female who grew up affluent. In my statement, I tried to 1) acknowledge my privilege, 2) acknowledge where my commitments to diversity and marginalized groups have fallen short in the past, and 3) how I now view my responsibilities as a person with privilege. I'm not sure my statement follows through with those three goals, however. I would sincerely appreciate anyone who can offer a quick read through and feedback as to where my points are getting lost or I might sound tone-deaf or something. Reply and I'll send you a link to a google doc! Happy to help review an SOP or personal history statement in return, if you'd like

I came to the US as an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador and graduated in Business Analytics B.S. with a Computer Science minor. I am applying to Statistics and Biostatistics PhD programs for Fall 2019 and am currently a Database Analyst using Python and SQL at a tech company. My biggest concerns for a PhD application are my GPA (3.25 GPA) and lack of research experience. No research: I only found out about formal academic research until my 6th/7th year of undergrad. I did a few years of music degree and by this time, I was 100% focused on internships, technical skills, and the salary that came with a full-time industry job post-graduation 3.25 GPA I constantly overloaded on credits. Over my 7 years of undergrad, I took over 200 credits because I was always in a hurry to graduate and make money. I finally settled down during the end but I always cared more for making a white-collar income ASAP than getting a B as opposed to an A. These explanations boil down to that I never considered graduate school as an option for me until it was "too late". I have had a few successes. I have published an article in ASA's AMSTAT News October 2017 issue detailing my experiences entering and sticking through a STEM degree. I also had a talk proposal accepted to PyData 2018 on the Value of Null Results. I'll be presenting on data that I collected while delivering pizzas and how results weren't always statistically significant. I am confident in my empathy, communication, and curiosity. But I fear that I can't make it past the metrics filtering of schools which prioritize arguably safe, applicants. How can I best use my resources (money and time) and apply for schools that actually care for accepting students like me, who the academic system was not built for? It seems many schools and programs have diversity statements but I don't know how to judge authenticity. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi gradcafe! We're the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT) at the University of Chicago. We're a team of graduate students committed to the recruitment and retention of students from marginalized backgrounds to graduate programs in the Biological and Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago. For students from marginalized backgrounds, the road to grad school can be confusing, downright scary, and may seem impossible. The lack of diversity in STEM is a huge problem, generating unsupportive and sometimes hostile work environments for students of color, LGBTQ+ students, students with disabilities, and female-identifying students. GRIT aims to help fix the "leaky pipeline" in graduate school recruitment by actively recruiting minority students to graduate school, connecting prospective students with faculty members of interest, and fostering personal connections with prospective students to ensure they find the best graduate program for their interests. In addition we aim to bridge gaps in marginalized student retention by providing programming that aims to provide supportive environments, community building, and increase access to mentors and role models (such as seminar series featuring LGBTQ+ scientists, womxn's networking and mentorship events, and community-focused events). So... why are we here? We want to reach out to the prospective graduate student community and offer our support! We're here to talk diversity and inclusion, talk about struggles we have faced, talk about the graduate school experience, talk about applications: ranging from "am I a competitive applicant" to how to talk about non-scientific strengths (i.e. you balanced 3 jobs in undergrad and don't have a high GPA because of it) and even what graduate and non-graduate programs to consider, to talk about our successes in recruiting, STEM identity etc. We are here to help other students have a better experience, both in the application process and after they get in. Reach out and let us know what we can do.

I have no idea where to begin writing an equity and inclusion statement for Boston University school of Education. If anyone has any advice or ideas where I could get started and what I should write about that would be very helpful! This is the prompt they included: Equity and Inclusion Statement: Boston University School of Education is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Please upload an equity and inclusion statement, and comment on these principles in the context of your professional aspirations. The statement should be approximately 2 pages, double-spaced.

Hey all, I'm currently wrapping up my last application of the cycle (Glad to almost be done!) and it's for Cornell's program. Part of the application asks whether I'd like to be considered for a diversity fellowship. The prompt is pretty straightforward but other than the prompt itself there is no other information provided. Is anyone else submitting a diversity essay, and if so how long is/was it? Thanks for the help!

Hi everyone, For some of the programs I'm applying to, a "diversity statement" or "personal statement" is required in addition to the standard Statement of Purpose. However, for schools that only ask for the Statement of Purpose, there is a field where I can attach additional documents. Would it be wise to provide a diversity statement to a school that isn't asking for it? Similarly, if a school is not asking for a writing sample, what are your opinions on providing one in the space to upload supplemental files? Basically, long question short is: to what extent should you/should you not upload supplemental files not specifically requested? Could it ever hurt to provide more? Thanks!

Hello, UMass Boston is currently inviting applicants for the PhD track in Organizations and Social Change, part of the PhD program in Business Administration at the College of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston. We are seeking outstanding applicants with a broad interest in the business-society-environment interface. Prospective students with prior degrees in management, sociology, economics, political science or other relevant areas are encouraged to apply. Most successful applicants have a Master’s degree. Prior research experience (e.g. data analysis, literature reviews, academic writing) is highly recommended. Support of $25,000 per year is available for up to four years for admitted students who remain in good standing. The Organizations and Social Change (OSC) track responds to the growing interest in issues at the intersection of business and society. The research interests of our faculty include (but are not limited to): - How current business-society interactions challenge existing management and organization theories - How companies, communities and industries strategize for climate change adaptation and mitigation - New trends in the workplace relating to diversity, inequality, and employee involvement - The causes, characteristics, and consequences of employee ownership for workers, firms, and society - How social movements influence corporate behavior and the diffusion of new corporate practices - Development of labor and sustainability standards, local geographic clusters and global production networks, and local/global governance processes - The dynamics and implications of socio-economic crises, financialization, and inequality - How entrepreneurs and established firms work to address local and global challenges through their missions, business models, products, and strategies - Diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship ecosystems, and drivers of inclusive economic development and growth - Using organization and network theory to understand the emergence, operation, evolution and sustainability of creative geographic clusters and project networks The interdisciplinary OSC track is distinctive among PhD programs in business schools, in our explicit commitment to diverse perspectives, theories, and methodologies. UMass Boston is guided by a mission of social justice and community involvement, and is an extraordinary place to learn about the relevance of business and organizations in addressing societal issues. The College of Management at UMass Boston is dedicated to supporting students’ efforts to understand and analyze organizations and social change in their complexity and embeddedness in real world issues. We offer a unique blend of academic rigor and practical relevance, drawing from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, such as organization studies, entrepreneurship, strategy, organizational behavior, political economy, sociology, feminism, and globalization. Our current and former students are very active in developing, presenting, and publishing papers around business-society issues – and several have won awards. For a sense of engagement by students and faculty, please see our website and OSC blog for profiles and posts by faculty and students. In addition, the College of Management hosts several centers that engage students and faculty with events and research projects. They include the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness, the Center for Collaborative Leadership, and the Entrepreneurship Center. We are also a founding member of UMass Boston’s Sustainable Solutions Lab. If you are considering a grad program like ours we'd love to hear from you. The application deadline is February 28, 2018, and more information can be found at https://www.umb.edu/phdcmosc. If you have specific questions please post, or feel free to contact me directly on nardia.haigh@umb.edu. Regards, Nardia Haigh, Ph.D. Associate Professor, OSC PhD Track Chair College of Management University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston MA 02125-3393

Does anyone have experience with writing a diversity statement for a successful application for clinical science? I do not mention adversity in my academic personal statement, but a program I might apply to specifically asks for diversity/adversity history. Is it okay to bare all if the program asks and you use that information to explain why you are a better candidate for it? Or will certain information work against you and seem divulge-y?

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone applied to the HHMI fellowship of Gilliam for advanced study. June is almost over and I haven't heard anything (I assume a bad sign).

I am applying to I/O psychology programs with the hope of studying bias and discrimination in the workplace, and I am concerned about Trump's policy implications and potential withholding of funding from universities conducting research in this area. Anyone else have similar concerns? I imagine this is also applicable to other fields as well (natural sciences, biology, etc.) Anyone currently in doc programs that have insight or perspective here?

The UCLA graduate application requires a personal history statement where you have to talk about how your life experiences and how they led to the decision to pursue the graduate field of interest. It specifically says that "this statement should not duplicate the statement of purpose". In my SoP, I am already writing about how my experiences, both personal and academic, made me apply to XXX programs so I am not sure how this personal history statement is different from the statement of purpose.

Even though most of my applications have been sent in, there's something bothering me. I tried to search for a similar and active topic, and did not find any. Applications tend to ask "diversity" questions. For example (using myself as the applicant), all of my schools know that I'm female and that I'm a minority. Most applications I've seen ask about military status (I marked dependent if the option was present, otherwise I would mark non-military), some ask for religious affiliation or if you identify with the LGBTQ+ community. Now, this type of question is frequently optional, which makes sense. What doesn't make sense to me is that none of my applications asked about disabilities, even as an optional question. I am not physically disabled, but am diagnosed with what legally qualifies as a learning disability, and it's a huge part of my life. Obviously. This is part of the reason that I had mediocre grades right up until I was diagnosed and began treatment, which is when my grades (and, frankly, quality of life) skyrocketed and stayed high. I have a small section of my SOP that touches on this by naming the diagnosis and explaining some of the near-magical results gained through proper treatment. Part of the reason I felt I needed to talk about it is because there's a very obvious difference in my academic and professional life before and after diagnosis. My life is, without exaggeration, almost entirely different. I don't mean to "play a card" to help me get an edge, but it is an extremely important part of my life and who I am. If I'm going to be a good fit for a university, this detail might matter. So I'm a Hispanic female who is a military dependent with a disability that is not physical. Did I make a huge mistake? Is this going to haunt me? Does it even matter? Can anyone else share similar experiences? Anything?

Hey all, I'm just wondering how other people are dealing with stating their race of their forms? I'm especially interested to know what multi and bi-racial people are doing. As a bi-racial, I'm conflicted about acknowledging any race at all. I claimed my minority background for my undergraduate applications, and I think that this hurt my chances. Especially since my other half is Asian, I felt that I was being compared to other Asians on some sort of achievement scale. Is it ok not to claim any racial background? Does it negatively affect one's application? Thanks.