So, who writes a diversity statement?

[Insei]

I'm narrowing down the schools I'd like to apply to at the end of the year, and I've noticed that many of them give the option of including a diversity statement with one's application. The description of what it is supposed to be is consistently and remarkably vague, however. Here's some stuff I think sets me apart from other people that may be applying to these schools:

1. I'm a girl in science, but that's not really so uncommon anymore.

2. I will be the first person in my family to earn a bachelor's degree, let alone to go to graduate school.

3. I spent much of my childhood in a bad financial situation; as a teenager, I worked to help my single mom pay bills.

4. I have worked 25-30 hours a week to financially support myself as an undergrad. This fact becomes impressive when one considers how much research I do.

Do any of these things warrant the writing of a diversity statement? For the record, I'm white If I weren't, this would be a no-brainer.

[FingersCrossedX]

Diversity means things other than being non-white. You are female in the sciences, which is less rare than it used to be, but its not 50/50 by any means. Being the first in your family with a bachelor's and going on to get a master's is also a big deal. Its easy to think that diversity means race only, but it doesn't.

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, it sounds like you have a lot to write in a diversity statement. Diversity isn't just about race; you have several experiences that would contribute to the diversity of a "normal" science department and to the university. You don't lose anything by writing the statement, so why not do it?

[enginerd]

I applied to Berkeley, where they require you to write the diversity statement. There request was a little bit more specific with one of the things they ask being something like, "What do you do to further or help minorities in education.." or something remotely like that. I don't remember exactly. But you could also include any service work that you do or organizations (like society of women engineers etc). I didn't have a lot to put for that but I wrote about what I would like to do to encourage underrepresented people to pursue engineering. Just an idea.