Submitting a Diversity/Personal Statement When Not Requested

[OnlyGodandAdComsCanJudgeMe]

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!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

I would be interested to hear what others think about the Diversity Statement. Short answer to your last question is that it could hurt to provide more, but it depends on the program and the adcoms. If a program says something like "no writing sample required but highly encouraged" you should submit it. If it makes no mention of the optional supplemental material, well that's trickier. 

For me, many of my programs do not require, but "highly encourage" a writing sample so I'll be submitting a sample to every program. Only two of my programs require or mention a Diversity Statement, so I don't know about including it for the others.

[OnlyGodandAdComsCanJudgeMe]

6 minutes ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I would be interested to hear what others think about the Diversity Statement. Short answer to your last question is that it could hurt to provide more, but it depends on the program and the adcoms. If a program says something like "no writing sample required but highly encouraged" you should submit it. If it makes no mention of the optional supplemental material, well that's trickier. 

For me, many of my programs do not require, but "highly encourage" a writing sample so I'll be submitting a sample to every program. Only two of my programs require or mention a Diversity Statement, so I don't know about including it for the others.

Thanks for the response, I agree with you about submitting if it's optional. There are some that say writing sample is optional for me as well and I plan to submit. 

My bigger question is the diversity statement... since I have to prepare it for some of the programs it'd be easy enough to provide to others I'm applying--and I do think the content of the diversity statement could benefit me. However, I'm just a little concerned the reception would go something like: "Huh, we didn't ask for this."

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

Yes, the Diversity Statement is fairly tricky as an optional doc. It's one of those things where it could either help or really hurt and I don't know if there's a way to be sure which way it'll go. Have you been in contact with the DGS of each program? Maybe you can ask if a Diversity Statement would be welcome.

[TakeruK]

I would advise you to not submit things that aren't requested. I can't see how this would be helpful to you. I think the best case scenario is that the committee ignores the extra document and the worst case is that they think you have mistaken their requirements with another school that does require these statements.

However, maybe you are asking because there is some specific information in the diversity statement about your academic background that you think the admissions committee would be interested in knowing or would explain something else in your application package. If this is the case, then I think the "additional documents" page is a perfect place to succinctly provide the explanation or additional detail that you wanted to include. I advise against just plopping a diversity statement here because such statements are a response to a prompt and I think submitting an essay responding to an unasked prompt will appear out of place. However, if you need to explain some gaps in your CV or some other special scenario, a few sentences submitted as an extra document might be helpful.  For example, one thing a student might put into this extra space might include personal reasons on why they didn't pursue graduate studies right after undergraduate work that they think are relevant enough for the committee to know but not relevant enough to add to their SOP. 

[_kita]

I agree with @TakeruK, I would not add extra work to the adcom. Leave additional the documents for your academic writing samples and CV. If a diversity statement, they would have requested it. Without their prompting, the statement could easily come across in a way you don't want it to. I wouldn't even add a few sentence addendum, but that's just me. If it's that important, weave 1-2 sentences into the SOP for schools not requesting one.

 

[OnlyGodandAdComsCanJudgeMe]

Thanks for the guidance @TakeruK and @_kita

[cowgirlsdontcry]

One of my applicant schools last year wanted a separate document with every English class I had taken listed including the grade I received. Although I think it could have been helpful to the other programs I applied to, I did not send it to any other program for the reason Takeruk discussed.

[AdmissionsTrack]

As a general rule you should not include additional documentation unless it is specifically requested. Those optional text boxes on admissions forms are for unusual circumstances. These include prolonged absence from school or gaps on a resume or academic career transcript. - Admissions Track

[AP]

I think that the extra space is for submitting documents you were specifically required. For example, as an international student I had to send departments the full curriculum of my degree. There wasn't a special place for me to upload, I had to send it to the department directly. 

[K@tie]

I've never thought to attach a diversity statement to my application when it asks for additional documents, but if you're looking for something to add, I would add a polished research paper. If you have some to choose from, pick one that reflects your research interests.