r/WritingHub • u/DryHost6020 • 2d ago

Questions & Discussions Writing advice

I'm working on a diversity statement for my law school application. My draft feels boring. It sounds like every diversity statement I've ever read: I'm different, someone discriminates, I eventually become proud of my background. How do I write in such a way that I come off as an applicant with something unique to offer and am worth admitting compared to others telling their story the same way?

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u/FabulousLazarus 2d ago edited 2d ago

I imagine the most unique diversity statement is, ironically, one that actually bucks the importance of diversity.

Easy to write honestly. Turn it into a socioeconomic statement about how wealth is actually a far more important factor than race for practically everything we do, especially college and education broadly. If you can subvert the expectation that discrimination hindered you, and instead say that lack of wealth was actually the problem, despite your skin color, or the opposite (you were effectively discriminated in favor of, by wealth you were born into, with little regard for your race), I think that would likely be an eye opener of an essay. The main point obviously being that diversity of wealth is the true diversity we should seek, and race often distracts us by placing the problem somewhere it isn't. Because it's simply not true that ALL black people, or whatever minority, are truly disenfranchised, but all poor people certainly are, because that's the metric we're assigning to race in the first place to identify that race as a whole as more disadvantaged.

This is a particularly relevant stance to take when pursuing a career in law.

IMO that's a far more informed student, but hey I'm not the type to discriminate based on race. Again ironically, college admissions are indeed the ones to discriminate, so this is a gamble. This backwards dynamic is especially hilarious when applying to law school.