نظرات رد و بدل شده ی چندین کاربر در یک فروم خارجی در مورد personal history statement (http://www.urch.com
I think this type of information is not relevant at all. I have a hunch its just a relic of some sort left over from other areas or from undergraduate applications. I am almost completly sure no one will be reading your "diversity statement" unless the adcoms are bored and are looking for a good laugh.
Another thought, why would they be interested in your personal "diversity" if 2/3s of the students in the program are from all over the world!! You can't get much more diverse than that. Who cares if your grandmother is Italian, if they want good pasta at the economics potluck, they can accept a couple of real mediteraneans, imported direct! Same goes for mexican food, indian, etc.
Now I can imagine why the "great hardship" category could be usefull if you think the X's (gre, grades, etc) adcoms look at are determined by some funcion of your IQ,motivation,talent AND oportunities. If your have the same X's as someone else but not the same oportunities, that might mean your a lot smarter/motivated...?
However, since you can bullshit al you want, I suspect the signal won't be very informative.
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I'm writing this right now. I'd really like to go to Berkeley so if this helps, I'll put in a few hours of effort.
I was reading the sample that someone linked. Yeah it .... but I'm willing to play their game. That was until I read this:
Growing up within a male-dominated culture and family has made me keenly aware and sensitive to the contextual confines that oppress women's actions and desires; it has also made me appreciative of the imaginative and courageous ways in which women have collaborated and conspired sometimes tacitly, other times quite overtly to challenge and subvert patriarchal authority.
You've got to be f'ing kidding me. What kind of self-aggrandizing crap is this? She just said she's a female student of Mexican descent. If she's an American citizen and this was written in the last 20 years, then it's an insult to people that actually struggle in male-dominated cultures.
Simply awful.
I think this type of information is not relevant at all. I have a hunch its just a relic of some sort left over from other areas or from undergraduate applications. I am almost completly sure no one will be reading your "diversity statement" unless the adcoms are bored and are looking for a good laugh.
Another thought, why would they be interested in your personal "diversity" if 2/3s of the students in the program are from all over the world!! You can't get much more diverse than that. Who cares if your grandmother is Italian, if they want good pasta at the economics potluck, they can accept a couple of real mediteraneans, imported direct! Same goes for mexican food, indian, etc.
Now I can imagine why the "great hardship" category could be usefull if you think the X's (gre, grades, etc) adcoms look at are determined by some funcion of your IQ,motivation,talent AND oportunities. If your have the same X's as someone else but not the same oportunities, that might mean your a lot smarter/motivated...?
However, since you can bullshit al you want, I suspect the signal won't be very informative.
===========================================
I'm writing this right now. I'd really like to go to Berkeley so if this helps, I'll put in a few hours of effort.
I was reading the sample that someone linked. Yeah it .... but I'm willing to play their game. That was until I read this:
Growing up within a male-dominated culture and family has made me keenly aware and sensitive to the contextual confines that oppress women's actions and desires; it has also made me appreciative of the imaginative and courageous ways in which women have collaborated and conspired sometimes tacitly, other times quite overtly to challenge and subvert patriarchal authority.
You've got to be f'ing kidding me. What kind of self-aggrandizing crap is this? She just said she's a female student of Mexican descent. If she's an American citizen and this was written in the last 20 years, then it's an insult to people that actually struggle in male-dominated cultures.
Simply awful.