Welcome back! Today we are going to discuss another concept we are seeing with some of our clients: cultural affiliation.
This is most commonly coming up with personal statements where applicants have the flexibility to offer information about their background that will be used to provide college admissions officers a lens to view the applicant’s background.
In light of the affirmative action decision, this is an opportunity for an individual to use these essays as opportunities to discuss how race has actually impacted their background.
What we are seeing is that there is a lot of variation in how individuals are addressing these types of essay questions.
Some are using this as a way to simply state that they are a minority for college admissions purposes, which is expressly what the SCOTUS affirmative action decision expressly forbids.
Some are using it as an opportunity to discuss their journey. And others are using it in different ways.
Today, we are hoping to provide some background and knowledge if you are going to go this route.
Key Warnings
Before we go forward, there are some key warnings we want to provide for anyone who is looking to actually provide their cultural background as a personal statement or essay candidate.
The first thing we will say is that this is actually a very risky essay to write and should not be taken lightly.
Why? This is the first year for college essays to be written discussing race and background as an optional essay. So no matter what anyone says, no one knows how these essays will actually be viewed by admissions officers. This is all a crapshoot, and each college can view these differently. With no data, you have no idea how much it will be weighted in the overall admissions decision.
In simple terms: no one knows how colleges will actually weigh diversity statements in a post-SCOTUS world. It could be huge, it could have no impact. Without the data, no one knows what it will do. Do you want to take that chance with your application?
But beyond that, there is another reason why this is a risky essay to write: you have to be fully committed to write an essay that may not really resonate with the individual reading it.
This is not meant to discourage, but diversity/background statements are inherently emotional in part.
Take an individual who writes about their experience being the product of generations of farmers and the first to go off to college. That story may be inspiring to some, but there are others that may not think that story is particularly meaningful or adds any color into who they are evaluating.
So for that story to really work, you have to be committed to telling a story that has a lot of appeal. You cannot partially tell the story. If no one feels connected to the story, the essay is dead on arrival.
Again, nothing we are saying is meant to discourage, but it is meant to provide proper perspective so you are aware of how what you write may be perceived.
That being said, let’s dive in.
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