<p>
</p>
<p>Maybe it’d be much easier if they tried dressing up as a Goth, Hun, Vandal, Viking, or some other historical barbarian before heading to the interview with the adcoms. :D</p>
<p>The questions don’t seem difficult to me. As lookingforward points out, don’t be so literal. Question 1 includes differences in experiences and viewpoints. Suburban white kids have never, ever had a difference in ANY viewpoint or experience than ANYONE they’ve met, EVER? Seems hard to believe.</p>
<p>And Question 2 is even easier. It even allows you to write about something you OBSERVED, not personally experienced. Is it really possible to reach the age of 17 or 18 and have NEVER, EVER SEEN an instance of cultural difference? Heck, I grew up in one of the whitest states in the country (NH) and 30 years ago it was a lot whiter. Even I could have drawn from several examples of cultural differences or insensitivity-and our family didn’t travel much.</p>
<p>I think that if a student truly had a hard time with this, they really aren’t too observant or have gone much beyond their neighborhood. But even there there are examples that would work-the very LACK of ANY diversity or differences could be fodder for an essay on diversity. </p>
<p>No Barney song needed.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My older son was dressed up as a Ninja Turtle when he took the elite kindergarten entrance exam. Turtle Power helped him become #1 out of 400 applicants. Does that count? ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Given the entirety of the prompt, we interpreted the adjective “cultural” to modify background, viewpoint and experience, so no, my kids probably do not possess any cultural background, viewpoint or experience that is “richly diverse” for purposes of this question. We do not identify with any ethnicity, nationality, heritage, race or religion, other than white American. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The environment that most kids today (at least in our area) grew up in is quite progressive in terms of cultural differences. I would not be surprised if they did not observe others who are “culturally” different being treated any differently than they are.</p>
<p>If a student isn’t actually special, wouldn’t it be a sign of immaturity if he were to believe he was? My kids weren’t unique and knew it. Now S could highlight a slightly less common EC he participated in, but it wasn’t that unusual. There are still countless people nationwide who also do it, and it would have been included on his list of activities anyway. His political views differed from the majority of staff and students in his high school, but were still mainstream elsewhere in the country. And so on.</p>
<p>I concur with Bay’s post above.</p>
<p>How would you contribute to a richly diverse community? Rethink it. You can support and engage. You can seek to bring together different sorts or participate where there are viewpoints, experiences and backgrounds different than yours. That’s contributing.</p>
<p>Second Q is cultural difference OR insensitivity. Surely we can dig deep and recall some difference we observed and make some bright statement.</p>
<p>I don’t recall exactly what my (admitted) D wrote in response, but most of her essays were about either her uncommon but not unusual EC, or her work with the mentally disabled. So I will guess that she described her experience with one of those two topics to show her diversity. But honestly, those two things are not “cultural” at all, and not special nor add much to a “richly diverse” campus composition. She did get in, so it must not have mattered much in the end. The fact that she was an OOS full-pay applicant probably mattered more.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, I remember discussing this with her. But it seemed so “fake” to have to come up with some isolated insignificant incident and make a big deal about it, and then stake one’s admission on it.</p>
<p>Telling or recounting, for a college app.<br>
A lot of these questions are to see how a kid thinks. Not “make a big deal,” but offer a bright, balanced commentary.</p>
<p>Adding: and in the process of telling, also “showing” some positives.</p>
<p>My older daughter is white, blond-haired, blue-eyed, and spent the first decade of her life in NH, and certainly never experienced FOR HERSELF an instance of being treated differently. But she sure OBSERVED it, even in her little white-bread hometown. I don’t get it-even in the most cookie-cutter town of all people who identify only as white-aren’t there religious differences, different political parties, different schools and sports? The prompts are pretty wide open about OBSERVING some kind of difference regarding values-all of the above count. </p>
<p>My best friend as a kid was Christian, but a different denomination. She was told by someone that we were not equal in God’s eyes. THERE. A difference! Two whitebread kids in Peyton Place! </p>
<p>Looking forward is explaining it very well. I’m just offering examples. But Bay and GFG-please go on tour and tell the rest of the country about how your towns eliminated all possible insensitivities towards all people with all differences such that your kids never once experienced it either in person or observed. Surely we could all use the formula to improve our own not-s0-perfect towns.</p>
<p>Oy, the author and at least 10 people on this thread don’t know the proper usage of “sour grapes”, a la Aesop’s fable.
[sour</a> grapes](<a href=“http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/sour.html]sour”>sour grapes | Common Errors in English Usage and More | Washington State University)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It does indeed make me sad when bright teens are told their entire lives that they are THE VERY BEST and that they should not settle for anything less than THE VERY BEST schools, thus setting up unrealistic expectations. My son and I always saw the elite admissions process as a game – to be won, if possible, of course, but if not, no harm to one’s ego.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl takes me to task as frequently as anyone, yet I cannot disagree with her central message: 8 or 10 universities out the thousands available should never be granted the power to define you as a success or a failure. There are many paths to success, as long as you remember that success is ultimately something achieved, not granted to you by a committee of strangers.</p>
<p>^^^
Wow LI. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it expressed any better than that.</p>
<p>Did CC open a Twilight Zone? The last pages are some of the most bizarre ever on this forum.</p>
<p>Here is a response to the article:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-secrets-of-princeton.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-secrets-of-princeton.html</a></p>
<p>No surprise, for me anyway.</p>
<p>^ Wrong article. There’s a different thread about that one.</p>
<p>I think for the most part, this thread has been a good one and can still be saved! It’s a another day. Let’s start anew with peace and renewed tolerance in our hearts.</p>
<p>It did occur to me that people make fun of the parents who think their S or D is a “special snowflake.” However, the diversity questions on applications practically ask the applicant to prove s/he is one. It’s as if the college wants to see if the student is unusual enough to be allowed in. For Pete’s sake, don’t they need some ordinary, non-diverse kids to serve as the foil for the truly special ones to better show off their specialness? </p>
<p>No doubt my kids noticed some ways in which others were joked about or treated differently. But it was generally an equal opportunity joking and pretty harmless. They teased him, as an Hispanic, about landscaping, teased the Chinese kid about getting an A-, teased the Indian kids about smelling like curry, etc.</p>
<p>Imo, it’s not to see if he’s unusual, but how he thinks, what, and how he conveys it. The difference between “I’m Hispanic” and describing what it is about that, the perspective you’ll share, etc. Not heavy, stiff, or calculated. Just something revealing, comfortable, likeable, and right for that college.</p>
<p>But first you have to accept that it’s not just about tagging a kid as adding to diversity stats. More about who the kid really is. </p>
<p>Non diversity kids are also part of the equation. They know others, interact and, we hope, find ways to appreciate each other. You can observe (cultural) differences among friends or others. You can show tolerance, curiosity and affection, all of which, in their own ways, matter to competitive colleges. Again, not heavy. Not pronouncements.</p>
<p>lookingforward: Yes. You said it better than I did. The kids who make a big pronouncement over their specialness are probably the ones who come across as “trying too hard.” They are not understated at all. This is definitely the case with the kid I spoke of earlier who got shut out of all his top choices. He hadn’t been able to evaluate his accomplishments against those of others, and from his myopic vantage point was just SURE everyone should want him. This message is reinforced from an early age among kids like this–by their parents, teachers, and so on. So it’s really no surprise they take it so hard when they suffer rejection for the first time in their lives.</p>
<p>I see now this is how it works.
I can contribute then.
Some traits are visible, some are not. You can not see the whole experience if you have not being the child, that family.
Children would tease each others and parents would make pre judgement as it go, but not every diversity cases are not called “crack baby” that I read in some member’s post, or from Eddie Huang’s memoir, being ordered " (******) get to the end of the line"</p>