Struggling With Diversity Essay

Question

The end is so close, yet so far....

I am currently working on my last application, and I essentially have only one essay left to write from scratch. However, the topic is diversity, and I am drawing a complete and utter blank. As sad as it sounds, I really don't see what diversity issues I can talk about:

First off, i'm just a plain white male. I'm not an international applicant, in fact i've never even left the United States. I was born and raised in a boring midwestern city. I attended a marginal state university and majored in business. All of my post-graduate jobs have been in the field of business/finance, and I want to stay in finance after my MBA. 

I've never had any crazy medical conditions, I didn't play sports in college, I haven't experience any tragedies that have affected my life. I didn't grow up rich, but I didn't grow up poor either - thoroughly middle-class. It sucks to admit, but i'm just a boring caucasian male interested in finance.

What in the world am I going to write about? Just rereading this post makes me want to doze off.

johnnyx9 · Answer

Do you play a musical instrument? Are you a hare krishna? Nothing interesting?

batchgmat · Answer

Can you post the actual essay question so we have a better idea on ways to attack it?

eazyb81 · Answer

Played saxophone for one semester in 7th grade before I got braces.

eazyb81 · Answer

"B. How will your academic and professional background, personal characteristics and life experiences contribute to the diversity of the Tepper community?"

batchgmat · Answer

One thing you could do is talk about how your finance background will enable you to take a leadership position in the Finance club and help your fellow students who come from a non-finance background.

What volunteer engagements have you done in the past?

amorica · Answer

Is there anything in particular you are passionate about?

eazyb81 · Answer

I did a lot of community work and ECs in college with my fraternity, but I have been out of school for almost 2.5 years now. Would that still be relevant? 

Also, it's not like I donated bone marrow to poor kids with cancer - it was all goofy college/greek stuff. I did some good work when I was philanthropy chair of my fraternity (started a memorial charity for a member that passed-away) but i'm not sure how that contributes to my diversity - it seems like more of an accomplishment, and I was going to discuss it in a later essay.

eazyb81 · Answer

I love sports and know more about it than anyone i've ever met, but there is nothing really redeeming about that and it's not unique.

batchgmat · Answer

I think it can be relevant...You can highlight a few of the things (say mentoring children) and how you enjoyed it and would like to continue it at Tepper (mentioning specific clubs/programs that tutor children).

karlfurt · Answer

You are so nomal that it can be regarded as an anormality.
Your self-confidence, your proundness being a white male with a happy youth, grown in a normal family with one father and one mother can bring some normality to a school that gathers people from all over the world, speaking 10 languages, having 4 citizenships and playing chess at the age of four.
Just write that you want to stay as you are in this f... world, that there would be no iraqi/vietnamese/corean/japanese war if the americans were less international and more concerned on their own problems, that the world economy/resources would better off if each country was producing its own goods instead of spending billions to transport shirts made in china, shirt which could easily be produced in the US. 

Sometimes diversity leads to abstruse behaviours...
So say you welcome other nationalities but that your contribution to the school is that you can be a good example of someone normal/american!

fluffydot · Answer

Here's a novel idea...
Why don't you talk about your "all american midwest upbringing"? Something like strong family values or small town hospitality something that makes people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Tell them how this will contribute to the school spirit and collaborative spirit in the classroom.

eazyb81 · Answer

That's actually an interesting idea, but my parents divorced when I was very young so I didn't have exactly an all-american upbringing. I mentioned that briefly in my goals essay, but maybe I can discuss it further in this one. 

That being said, I REALLY don't want to play any woe is me card because I had a rather normal childhood other than the fact my parents lived in separate houses. Furthermore, coming from a divorced household is not really unique nowadays.

squali83 · Answer

Any siblings? If so you can write about how having a split family and not being able to interact with it all the time as a whole made you value you "family" more. you have grown to be adamant about helping your family out if possible and being active in making them a cohesive bunch. Then turn that into how you want to help the Tepper "family" and how your background influences you to hold stronger and care more about family and thus you will be a very interactive student, joinging many clubs and helping out where ever possible.

eazyb81 · Answer

Hmm, that's actually really good, and I think that theme would fit in well with my background and experiences. Thanks for the idea!

fluffydot · Answer

you should definitely stick with more positive experiences if you can... since everyone nowadays are trying to be "unique" with all these extrodinary experiences, it might be refreshing to get a nice "traditional" story.

you can spin your lack of travels into a positive motivation for you to get into consulting, etc where u can travel for work. (as an example)

squali83 · Answer

On a side note, I just wanted to let fluff know that I feel ALOT better after seeing his avatar. I thought I was jinxing myself buying a Cornell T-shirt, Fluff basically says it is in the bag I'm in at Cornell! You are an inspiration, I wish I could be so confident! :wink:

johnnyx9 · Answer

Karlfurt - Should Americans really be making their own t-shirts? Seems too expensive to me!


EazyB81 - Maybe you could talk about overcoming the challenge of playing saxophone with braces? Just kidding. I think you could come up with some interesting angles given any background. Diversity can simply be diversity of thought or attitude. Like maybe your angle could be that you're someone who is always trying to get others to try new things, like the time you talked your fraternity into that charity run, or the time you convinced your friends to try windsurfing with you. Your curiosity and your enthusiasm for new things would be a great asset to the b-school clubs. I think if you can find some sort of over-arching angle that could be construed as being a little different or "diverse," then you can take some anecdotes and tailor them to fit that framework.

eazyb81 · Answer

One more question: should I hit on a number of different diverse attributes that I would bring to the school, or focus on one as my overall theme? Here is the question again:


"B. How will your academic and professional background, personal characteristics and life experiences contribute to the diversity of the Tepper community?"

lepium · Answer

Use subtitles, for eg (the content is for illustration purposes and not be taken as serious advice): 

Academic background: well, I'm a double major in Sociology and Ikebana (the only one in the region!). Plus I was president of the school's domino club.
Professional background: I'm unique coz I suck and yet get paid a lot.
Personal characteristics: I've got a birth mark shaped like a Jaguar E-type. I can bear almost any type of hot chili with no problem.
Life experiencies: I once travelled the entire Route 66 in rollerblades. I met lotsa interesting people on the way, etc.

Hope it helps. L.

Struggling With Diversity Essay

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