Diversity Statement (Northwestern)

[nutmaeg]

Has anyone encountered a prompt like the one below? It kind of feels like I'm being asked to share how I fill a minority quota... which might not be the intent, but I feel weird about it. Also, who reads this? The graduate school or the department specifically? I'd love aaaany advice.

"The Graduate School at Northwestern University considers having a diverse student population a key element to the educational experience of its graduate students. Diversity presents itself in many different forms such as: socioeconomic status, race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or place of origin, disability, unique work or life experience, etc. We invite you to use this space to tell us how you may contribute to the diversification of The Graduate School, your program and Northwestern University. "

[alyssatipler]

I actually applied to Northwestern and had to submit this diversity statement. I don't know why you feel weird about it, but it may be because you don't know how you have contributed to diversity. If you aren't a minority, they want you to skip over that, of course, and talk about your life experiences. You may have worked with a diverse group of students while in college. This could be students from different underserved backgrounds, you may have volunteered for the homeless while in your sorority/fraternity, worked with the disability, etc. 

But if you haven't contributed to diversity, it will be wise to just be honest with the committee and say that. Continue with the diversity statement and just say although you haven't.. this is what I can do better at the university to contribute to a more diverse community. You may want to look at the different organizations they have that may be helpful to you while you are there. 

[nutmaeg]

Thanks for the reply @alyssatipler. My confusion comes because usually when I encounter a question about diversity, it's asking me for my experience with DEI work. Whereas this prompt seems to be about my personal identity and how it contributes to the community in a unique way. I haven't seen this specific question before and I wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly.