How to approach the diversity statement

What is a diversity statement?

Diversity statements are becoming common as part of graduate school applications and even for some professional positions. A diversity statement is typically a one-page statement and is similar in structure to a personal statement but focuses on the candidate’s skills, experiences, and/or willingness to engage in diversity and equity initiatives.

What should I write about?

If you have experienced obstacles relevant to diversity and equity, tell about your experiences. If you are from a privileged background, you can acknowledge your privilege. Use your experiences of discrimination or privilege to demonstrate your awareness of current conversations, especially academic conversations, related to diversity and equity.

A potential way to conceive of the diversity statement is to address the following three areas: 1) your values related to diversity and equity; 2) your experiences working with diverse populations; 3) what you plan to do in the future to support issues of diversity and equity.

What are common diversity and equity issues?

Race, gender, ability, social class, and sexual orientation are all common issues related to diversity and equity. Discussions of issues like these are effective in a diversity statement because they demonstrate your awareness and connect to the concerns of most academic institutions and businesses.

Avoid comparisons that equate diversity or equity experiences

Avoid equating issues of gender with issues of race. Both of these concerns are related to diversity and equity, but equating them or making them parallel diminishes the unique concerns related to each and shows that you are not aware of the complexity of issues of diversity and equity.

Demonstrate a commitment to diversity and equity

Even if you do not feel you have experienced a lot of issues personally, or you have acknowledge your privilege but still have more room to write, you can describe what you would do to support diversity and equity initiatives. This is also an opportunity to customize your statement to the school and context to which you are applying. For example, if you are applying to a school in the South, what you would do to support equity may look different than if you are applying to a school in the Northwest.

Do your research

• Research the demographics of the school to which you are applying.
• Look for diversity statements on the school or company website.
• Read news articles, research articles, etc. to familiarize yourself with the conversations relevant to the school or business.

Resources

Golash-Boza, T. (2016, Jun. 10). The effective diversity statement. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2016/06/10/how-write-effective-diversity-statement-essay

University of Nebraska-Lincoln. (2019). Writing a diversity statement. Retrieved from https://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/connections/writing-diversity-statement