orientation experience essay

Blog at Clarkson University

Reflecting on my orientation experience.

Hi All, My name is Megan Parkman, and I am a class of 2020 graduate. As I reflect back on my time at Clarkson, I am so grateful to have the friendships that I made my first year. When Clarkson says “Welcome to the Clarkson Family!” they really mean it. It actually has two meanings to me. One, Clarkson as a whole ⁠— professors, advisors, and staff. However, to me, what’s been most impactful are the friendships I made and being able to continue to grow as a young professional with these same people by my side. 

Your days at Clarkson will be filled in every way. You will likely be involved in clubs and organizations. You will be going out on fun car rides, dinner dates, and lots of academic group study time!

To all incoming students out there, when you go into this year, go in with the mindset that you will likely find many friends, find your professional role models, and also through your time at Clarkson find yourself, and this all starts at Orientation!

The move to campus can feel overwhelming. You will spend days packing, making decisions about what to bring, and how much stuff you want to have. It’s a process. You will pack the car and you will drive away from your home – knowing things are going to be different when you come back! This is a good thing, so just breathe through it!

When you get to campus you will be met by smiling faces, and lots of helping hands, as we have a move-in crew to help all of our first-year students move into their buildings. You might even be one of those helping next year. This is such a nice perk! Your family/support system will likely be smiling but a little emotional as well. My recommendation is to smile at them, hug them and enjoy the move-in process. 

When I moved in, my mom made a point to make my bed. At the time I was like, “This is so weird, why are you doing this?” Now I know it was her process that she needed, and she wanted to do that to support the transition.

As I said, you will meet many new people. This might feel overwhelming at times. With so many new faces, take it in and just go with the flow! One of the first things you will be doing is a floor meeting. My first-floor meeting was held outside on the lawn of IRC across from Ross. It was so much fun to be outside, the weather was great and it made it so enjoyable.

This meeting is going to set up your floor rules, and you will get to know your floormates and RA. My RA from the first year is actually now one of my best friends. I text and call her regularly. She was such a great resource throughout my time at Clarkson, teaching me the structure, giving me tips on studying, professors, and classes. While not all RAs will turn into your long-term best friends, I am so happy to call her a friend! 

I met one of my now besties on move-in day when we instantly connected over her being from the same town as my grandparents! That night a group from our floor actually all got invited to go to Sergi’s (you must get Sergi’s at some point) with her and her parents. It was such a fun first night. We all piled into her Jeep Wrangler and blared the music- this became a regular thing for us in the near future! Then got to have a nice dinner and learn more about our new neighbors, and soon-to-be friends!

My advice as I reflect on those first few days would be to take a deep breath and walk into it with the most open mindset possible! You will find people who are very different from you and you will find surprising connections with so many of your new classmates.

A tip to help you on your first day is to find a group of your new friends, grab your schedules and go find your classes together. Not only does this help each of you get to know each other, but it will also help you know more about where buildings and classrooms are in relation to each other. Expert tip: keep your schedule as your phone background your first few days of classes so it’s easily accessible!

Now that you know a little more about my orientation experience check out the details of yours below!

During orientation, you will start to build friendships that will last a lifetime. This is a time to orient yourself on campus, meet new people around you and in the community. You will attend Convocation, events, and some training. The activities fair is a huge event, and for many, it is so much fun.

Things not to miss on the schedule!

Virtual playfair: a virtual team building session to meet and get to know other incoming first-year students.

This one is new since I had my orientation experience- but it seems like a great way to start making connections with students prior to being on campus!

Floor Meetings – A meeting run by your RA- Resident Director

This is where you get all the floor rules worked out! This is a wonderful time to learn about each other and see who you want to make connections with and what you might have in common with one another.

Outdoor Game Night: S’mores, lawn games – held at Cheel Lawn/Student Center Firepit

Always a good time! Some of you might find it hard at first to spend time in your rooms, so make sure to take advantage of the opportunities provided to socialize.

Movie on the Lawn

t’s always fun to watch a movie on Cheel lawn! The campus is beautiful this time of year and Cheel lawn is no exception.

Ice Breakers & Sessions

While they are always a little awkward, the goal is to help familiarize you with others and build relationships, this is so important these people will be around you for four years or more! If nothing else, find someone who will commiserate with you!

Convocation: A ceremony to welcome incoming students

This one is kind of interesting, for me what was cool is that it’s held in Cheel Arena, and for the first time you and your class will all be in the same place! 

Holcroft Knight: FIREWORKS!

Always cool and unavoidable since they are right over Holcroft – next to first year housing, so you might as well go enjoy all the things together!

CUSA Carnival

This is a great time to see any clubs/organizations that might be present and learn a little bit about them- they usually have fun games!

Activities Fair: Monday, August 30, 2021

This one is a must-not-miss! There are so many organizations on campus, go and find the ones that speak to your interests the most- you will always find one! Your clubs and organizations will be a great place to meet your new lifelong friends as well. Also, this is something that is not just specific to first-year students, every year you can go and find a new club if you want to! 

I know how overwhelming it may seem to make the transition to college and that’s what makes orientation so great, it is designed to help you make connections and stay active your first few days on campus! I hope you have a wonderful orientation and a great first semester at Clarkson University!

Author: Megan Parkman

Communication B.S Class of 2020 Digital Marketing Specialist Marketing & External Relations View all posts by Megan Parkman

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7 Tips For a Successful Orientation

Whether you’ve had the date of your freshman orientation lovingly circled on your calendar for months or you’re regarding orientation with more nervousness than excitement, you’re more likely than not experiencing some mixed feelings  as the week-long program designed to acclimate you to your new home draws nearer. We at CollegeVine have compiled a quick list of tips designed to ensure that your experience at orientation is positive and fulfilling.

Introductions

Be ready to be asked the same questions ad infinitum: Where are you from? What is your major? What are your interests? These questions serve as both routine small talk as well as attempts to identify potential common ground, as everyone is on the lookout for potential friends. That being said, don’t be afraid to stray from these typical questions; people will find being asked something different for a change refreshing and it will make for a stronger first impression.

Ice Breakers

In a similar vain as introductions, your orientation leader is bound to put you through some wonderful (read: painfully awkward) ice-breaker games in an attempt to get everyone acquainted. These can be fun, silly, awkward, or embarrassing depending on the group, so we recommend preparing a few good answers for staples like “Two Truths and a Lie,” as well as responses to common starters like “name something fun you did this summer” or “what’s your favorite book/movie of all time.”

Go to Info Sessions

Over the course of orientation, various departments throughout your college will be holding information sessions about their roles on campus. These departments usually include the Student Advising center, Public Safety, Financial Aid office, Career Services, Health Services and several others—check them out! They may be a bit dry at times, but they actually offer really valuable information that you probably wouldn’t otherwise know. You’ll learn about various resources at your school that might include things like resume and interview prep, free flu shots, or funding opportunities for research and internships. One of our team members here at CollegeVine even met his future roommate at a fire safety presentation.

Take a Tour

While you’ve probably already taken a tour of the campus before, group leaders will usually offer an additional trip around campus at some point during orientation. We recommend taking them up on this offer, as these tours tend to be more detailed and often extend beyond campus to include local attractions and favorite restaurants of students that your admissions officer probably didn’t mention.

Go to the Activities Fair

The activities fair is a day where all of the clubs and student groups on campus set up tables for new freshman to sign up—think college fair but way less stressful. This is a great opportunity to meet people with common interests, see all that your school has to offer, try something new, and get involved early. It can’t hurt to sign up for a club’s email list to learn more about them, so if it sounds interesting, throw your name down!

Be Open Minded

This may seem trite, but it seriously is one of the most important actions one must take when going into the novel world of freshman orientation. Leave whatever you think you know about the people you’re about to meet at the door, and go into orientation with the willingness to give each new person an honest shot. With so many new faces, it can be easy to make snap judgements about others, but in doing so you risk writing off someone who could potentially grow into a great friend. Accept the fact that you won’t know where your new classmates have come from, what they’ve experienced, or what they’re all about until you’ve talked them.

Last and certainly not least, be mindful of the other people who are impacted by this change. You’re not the only one going through a monumental transition in your life; you leaving for college marks a major shift in your parents lives too, and they don’t get an orientation on how to cope with that. Be courteous and take a few minutes out of those first days to call home and check in with your folks—they’ll appreciate it more than you know.

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How to Write for Orientation

• Author By nesmithjc
• Publication date March 20, 2022
• Categories: Uncategorized
• No Comments on How to Write for Orientation

Orientation at the College of Charleston

Est. reading time 2min, what is orientation at college of charleston.

As a student here at College of Charleston you have experienced orientation. Orientation is required of every new student who attends the College. The office of the New Student Programs leads almost all students through orientation and their introduction to life as a student at the College of Charleston.

There are a lot of people behind New Student Programs that make orientation happen. We have Stephanie Auwaerter the Director of Orientation and New Student Programs, an Associate Director of Orientation and New Student Programs, and Orientation Interns. All these people work together to help orientate hundreds of incoming students each summer.  New Student Programs also works with students year around to help them anyway they can.

New Student Programs also work with office like Dining Services, Student Life, and Advising to make sure that New Students register for classes and know everything to start at CofC with confidence.

Why does it matter?

Why should you care about Orientation? Orientation is an important part of everyone’s journey at the College of Charleston. You should care because knowing about the offices on campus and about orientation helps to be aware of offices that can be of use to you.

How do you write as a part of Orientation?

Orientation is a discourse community that prides itself on providing information to both new students and those who continue to be students at the College of Charleston.

Be Informative:

Orientation’s main objective is to provide students with the important information needed to succeed at CofC this means that every member of the orientation team needs to be informed about the majority of the offices on campus and also how to find information if you don’t know the answer.  As Stephanie Auwaerter says “If I don’t know it. I will find someone who does.” The picture to the right is one of the “4 Sheeters” that Orientation Interns hand out to students during orientation.  As Orientation Interns we are also given these sheets to carry with us and study. Everyone who works orientation needs to be informed about all of these offices as well as be able to talk about all of these offices.

Be Professional:

During training for the Orientation Interns, Stephanie Auwaerter makes a point to talk about how as an Orientation Intern and a representative of the College of Charleston all eyes are on you. We are expected to be always on our best behavior. And go above and beyond when providing information and assistance to students and their families. Orientation Interns operate based on the rules given in our handbook. These rules lay out how we as employees are supposed to interact with people during Orientation and otherwise. If you wanted to be an Orientation Intern, you would be expected to be professional at all times even when a parent or student is rude or unkind.

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The Freshman Experience: College Orientation

An incoming freshman shares her experience at Northeastern University’s college orientation, plus orientation success tips.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you purchase through our links. Please read our full disclosure here .

This past weekend, I passed my first of many freshman year milestones: orientation. My excitement had been building for weeks leading up to our trip to Boston: I couldn’t wait to register for classes, finally meet my roommate, make new friends, and see the campus!

Now that I’m back, let me tell you one thing about my orientation experience: it was FABULOUS. Of course, that just makes the 43 days left until I move in seem like an eternity! Is it September yet?

{RELATED POST: What to Wear to College Orientation: 6 Perfect Outfit Ideas }

For those of you who haven’t attended your college orientation yet (and even for those of you that just want to take a stroll down memory lane), below I’ll outline the two days I spent on campus. I hope that by giving you a detailed explanation of my experience, you all will appear cool, collected, and confident when you attend orientation for the first time.

Table of Contents

NU Orientation Day 1:

What i wore:.

Tank / Shorts / Belt / Sandals / Bracelet / Bag

Day 1 Schedule:

On our first day of orientation, we arrived at the school between 7:00 and 7:45 am. After checking in, we attended a continental breakfast before sitting down for the “Welcome to Northeastern University” session.  Already split up from our parents, we were thrown into the college atmosphere right away.  We spent the rest of the morning in small groups, learning about school spirit, schedules, and the book we have to read before school starts. Our afternoon involved listening to lectures and going on a few tours.

As we got to know one another, all of us soon-to-be freshmen began to feel more comfortable with our surroundings and each other. I was lucky enough to find myself with a group of new friends for the majority of the day. It was so exciting to see our group growing and multiplying as the day wore on!

That evening, there was a dance in the afterHOURS on-campus nightclub, an ice cream social, capture the flag, and a trivia session. Afterwards, we all sat around outside in colorful Adirondack chairs getting to know one another. When I finally made my way to bed at 2:00am, there were still about forty kids sitting and chatting outside on the wiffleball field.

NU Orientation Day 2:

Top / Shorts / Sandals / Bracelet / Bag

Day 2 Schedule:

Our second day of orientation was a little more slow-paced than the first . We began the morning with breakfast in the dining hall and then attended a session by the University Health and Counseling Services. Following this lengthy lecture, we were able to choose two half-hour sessions to sit through, with options such as Campus Recreation, Choosing a Major, Public Safety, and International Study Programs.

After our lectures, we reported to lunch, where we ate in a classroom with a small group and a student mentor. This was, in my opinion, the most informative hour of our orientation . Our student mentor was a senior who told us about his experiences at Northeastern. He was open to questions and, because there weren’t any faculty members or “adults” in the room, we were able to ask anything. This cleared up many questions we had all been waiting to ask.

After his talk, we got our schedules. It was like middle school all over again; everyone crowded around each other and compared classes. After lunch, we attended another ice cream social (colleges really dig the ice cream, apparently), and then checked out. During check out we had our pictures taken for our student IDs, and finally got our Husky Cards, which we’ll use in the upcoming semester.

Once orientation was complete, it was time to go. Although I was a sad to leave my new friends, my excitement was building: I’d be back – and starting college for real – in just a few short weeks.

Orientation Success Tips:

Now that I’ve survived freshman orientation, I have a few tips for orientation success to share. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be sure to have a fabulous orientation experience yourself.

• If you are going to school in a different location, research the weather before you go.  Being from Minnesota, I thought I was used to extreme temperatures. I was not, however, prepared for the extreme humidity that east coast summers bring. It was hot. Really, really hot. This brings us to my next tip…
• Bring a fan! Not only was it a balmy 95 degrees outside in Boston, but, as is the case at most colleges in the area, the dorms weren’t air conditioned. If you’re going to a school in the area, bring a small portable fan! If you don’t, you’ll wish you had.
• Pack light. I managed to fit four days of clothes into one backpack (my dad and I stayed in Boston for two days before orientation), which was quite a feat for me, a chronic over-packer. Packing light is the way to go for college orientation – when you are waiting in line to get your room key, orientation materials, and picture taken, you don’t want to be struggling with a heavy load.
• Smile! It was amazing how many conversations I was able to start up just by making eye contact and smiling. At orientation, everyone is out of their comfort zone. Be a friendly face and people will immediately be willing to open up!
• Bring a carryall bag. You don’t want to be known as the girl that spent all of orientation juggling her papers. You’re going to be getting a lot of materials to carry with you, so bring a bag that accommodates folders, pens, pamphlets, etc.
• Dress in comfortable layers. With all the sitting and standing and moving that goes on at orientation, I was glad I opted for shorts – wearing a skirt would have been a nightmare! I also carried a sweater around with me. Although it was hot outside, most lecture halls were heavily air conditioned.

What I Learned at Orientation:

During orientation, I learned some important lessons about college life.

First of all, I learned that at orientation, everyone is desperate to make friends. With a smile on my face and a confident attitude, I was able to meet tons of people and have a great time.

I also learned that it is easy to find a connection with someone, even if you grew up in vastly different neighborhoods with entirely different childhoods.  For instance, I met a guy who had competed with me two years ago at a DECA competition in Louisville, Kentucky! I’m from Minnesota and he was from Massachusetts – both of which are plenty far away from Louisville. It felt so good to find somebody who had been involved in my favorite extra-curricular in high school, and I immediately felt at home.

Finally, this weekend I realized that at orientation, everybody is nervous . Coming to this realization was a relief for me, and it allowed me to calm down and enjoy the experience. Orientation is a new experience for everyone that attends, so relax, open up, and have a wonderful time.

More Freshman Year Tips, Experiences, and Advice

This article is part of our Freshman Experience series. For more, see: 8 Week Countdown , Tips & Tricks for Meeting the Roommate , Dorm Room Shopping Tips , First Semester Goals , College Packing List , Getting Involved on Campus , 4 Ways to Ease Midterm Stress , College Misconceptions & Ask a Freshman , Freshman Year Questions – Answered , Thanksgiving Break Essentials , Tackling Holiday Shopping in College , First Semester Goals Revisited , and Final Thoughts .

My college orientation was amazing, and I’m excited to hear about yours! Incoming freshman, are you excited for orientation? If you already attended orientation, did you enjoy your orientation experience? Veteran college girls, do you have any tips for freshmen about to attend their orientations? Make sure to leave your thoughts in a comment!

32 thoughts on “The Freshman Experience: College Orientation”

Awesome. I’m gonna be starting school at SCSU in Minnesota this August and orientation is like, literally, the day before classes start. This was great information though, thanks!

This article was really helpful and gave me a good idea on what to expect and what to WEAR for my orientation this Saturday! (: I’m glad you had fun at your orientation and I hope I do too. Is there anything you suggest people to bring to their orientation that they may forget to bring or may not even think of bringing?

First of all: I totally loved this article! truly great advice! But I was wondering if you could maybe do a post on whast to wear to your first day of College? Cause I really wanna look fashionable without appearing to be trying to hard for my first day as a freshman… Thanks!

This is so cute! I really wish it had been up when I had my orientation in June though

Oh I love your advice for orientation. I will be attending Hampton University in the fall (an HBCU) and we have a week long orientation the week before we start school. I will be sure to take tips from this article with me to use while there. Also I was also apart of DECA too. I was a state officer during the Louisville ICDC. It’s always good hearing about fellow DECA members doing well.

the outfits are great! perfect for all the moving around you do at orientation. 🙂

Heyy, sweets!! I went to Northeastern orientation, too!!! It WAS fabulous…..i’m personally looking forward to all the great shoppertunities Boston has to offer!!! And I KNOW i came back from Northeastern with an armload of new tees bearing the Huskies mascot :). Hope we meet in the fall….sooo excited 🙂

Sarah- Thanks for this post. I’m a Husky as well, except I am in the CPS program with one more class to go! 🙂 Being as graduate students don’t have orientation, it was great to read what it’s like to attend orientation @ NU. It is similar to my undergraduate orientation. Wish you the best, and welcome! 😀

I’m so glad your orientation went so well! I can totally relate. I’m from rural MO and attending school in NJ. Our weather is pretty similar (although the summers are worse in MO) but that’s just about where the similarities end. I wish you the best at Northeastern. Go Class of 2015!

And Emily, I hope your Tiger Stripes ice cream was from Central Dairy. Best in the world!

Laura & Vanessa: Thank you for your great advice! I love comments like yours. They are so helpful 🙂

Aria: Not all colleges do orientation like mine. There are a lot of colleges in the states that have orientation like yours!

Jamie: Good luck! I’m sure you’ll make some great friends.

Melissa & Ashley: I did operations research! Hard, but such a worthwhile experience. Congratulations on your successes!

Huskies: Thank you so much for the welcoming comments!! I’m so excited to find this NU community 🙂 GO NU!!!

aw! Sarah, I’m so glad you had such a great time. And to all of the freshman out there about to start school in the next month or so, you have no idea how much fun you are about to have! I graduated college a year ago, and even though I liked high school and everything, I still feel like my life didn’t even begin until college. My school was smaller and we didn’t have a huge orientation, but as far as advice for school, I would urge you to try new things, save some money so you can do some traveling while you are young (study abroad and go on spring break), and definitely take at least one “just for fun” class that really interests you even if it is not related to your major! (Many schools offer wine tasting classes for the 21 and up students. So fun!)

Welcome to NEU! I’m starting my sophomore year in September.

Glad to see Mizzou represented in the comments!!

This post was great, I definitely wish it would’ve been up when I went to my orientation a few weeks ago… I agree, shorts are definitely the way to go for orientation with all the moving around and activity during the days.

It looks like you are really prepared for college — I can’t wait to read what else you have in mind for future posts!

<3 Emily

I am an incoming freshman and I am about the start studying at college in Czech Republic (Brno). The most scary thing for me is making friends as I’m not what you would call “a friendly person” and I’m worried that no one starts talking to me and I will be left on my own.. I also won’t live at the dorms but near the city in my parents’ house so… I really hope everything’s gonna be fine… But thanks a lot for an article like this, it’s been really helpful!

Good to know that there is another Minnesotan going to Northeastern. I was starting to feel lonely. Hope you have a great first year!

I’m going to be a sophomore at college. But sadly, I dislike orientation, and at my university, they have orientation camps. Needless to say I didn’t go for mine, and given another chance, I still wouldnt go. Haha but that’s just me, if you enjoy stuff like that then you’d have a lot of fun.

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Orientation a Learning Experience Essay Example

• Pages: 4 (957 words)
• Published: November 22, 2016
• Type: Case Study

Student orientation is a period of time at the beginning of the academic year at a college or university during which a variety of events are held to orient and welcome new students. During this period students participate in wide range of activities, including physical training, batch meets, sports challenges, social activities, classroom activities the list goes on. Orientation strengthens the student connection to college and also with other students in the college. Orientation enables successful transition to the vibrant and diverse learning experience for the students.

What are the advantages of a good orientation? * It enable students to acclimatize with college well. * It help students to get shared knowledge. * Give valuable experience about team work. * Give valuable information about the roles and responsibilities for students in group of learners. * Give

students the basic knowledge for their first year academics. * Provide students with services and support to be academically and socially successful. * Teaches students the time and stress management techniques. * Expose students to diverse ideas, experience and people.

Orientation includes activities like * College tours: This activity familiarizes students with the college. * Classroom training session: This gives student the basic idea about the academics followed by the college. * Physical training: This make students healthy and fit for the whole day. * Time management and stress management classes

* Music, dance and other extracurricular activates * Making of assignments,ppt and submission of it in given time * Business activities: This allows students to participate in business games, business trips and also to be part of several case studies. * Out boun

activities: This would be the final activity of most of the orientations and it would include activities like trekking,camping,chill out parties.

A short description about the student orientation of Symbiosis Institute Of Management Studies, Pune. The orientation of SIMS pune is one of the unforgettable experience for all the students. College conducts the orientation for 17 to 20 days. The orientation involves activities like classroom lectures, guest lectures, batch meets, business activities,powerpoint presentations, assignment submissions, outbound activities and car activities.

SIMS orientation a good learning experience The orientation conducted by SIMS is a well planned and organized activity which gives the participant student valuable information about how to be successful in their professional and personal life. Orientation has given students a good experience of what to expect from the corporate life and made them intact for the rest of the academic life also. The orientation was conducted by the student council of the SIMS and they did their job very well by giving their juniors valuable tips from their own experience.

My experience of SIMS orientation The orientation started on June 3rd.The first speech by director was so inspirational and he has given students valuable information’s about the life at SIMS. The next day the real entry to orientation started with a batch meet. Batch meet was so organized that every information to be followed for orientation was informed to students and this has helped me to strategies my orientation well. The batch meet was followed by a campus tour where all the campus facilities were informed to the students.

After college tour the classroom section held ,where students got an

opportunity to meet most of the faculties members. The faculty members were so helpful and has given student about their plans for the first semester. The one of the most interesting one was the self introduction. The introduction has helped me with knowing more about my batch mates like their educational background, family background, cultural background. Morning session ended with the classes while the most interesting part was the afternoon session which was dedicated to guest lectures by prominent corporate people. The guest lecturers were really beneficial for the students as they got lot of opportunities to interact with the guest’s and out of all the question session’s were really beneficial. The day ended with the submission of trimate and individual assignments.

The only problem was the time but people who took it positively has benefited from assignment submission’s. It taught students how to use their time productively. The students were giving their best to complete the assignments on time and it was a type of a stress management also, as students could strategize their work under those time constraints. We slept for only 4 hours and next morning we got up for morning physical training session and it was very useful because it makes students fit for whole day.

Level of difficulty increased each passing day and even there were moments I thought of quitting but the determination to success kept me in this orientation. Orientation became a part of our daily life as students automatically woke daily morning and all will be present for the pt session and batch meet on time. The difference was unbelievable actually I saw the power

of youth in SIMS Pune.Every one was enthusiastic and were very hard working so it made all team work easier and it became a platform for learning. Then came the final day of the orientation never expected the orientation to finish on 20th of June which was followed by a party. The party also gave students to know them well and also to share their experience about the orientation.

Conclusion The planning and organization is very important for student orientation and SIMS Pune has d conducted it well and it was even beyond every students expectation’s. Orientation at SIMS Pune is a good example for all other B schools of India and in my opinion everyone have to follow the path taken by the SIMS pune.All credit goes to Director and student council of SIMS Pune for giving all the students the right platform for their life at SIMS Pune.

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How to Write a College Diversity Essay – Examples & Tips

What is a diversity essay for college?

If you are preparing for your college application, you have probably heard that you sometimes need to submit a “diversity essay,” and you might be wondering how this is different from the usual admission essay. A diversity essay is a college admissions essay that focuses on the applicant’s background, identity, culture, beliefs, or relationship with a specific community, on what makes an applicant unique, and on how they might bring a fresh perspective or new insights to a school’s student body. Colleges let applicants write such essays to ensure diversity in their campus communities, to improve everyone’s learning experience, or to determine who might be eligible for scholarships that are offered to students from generally underrepresented backgrounds. 

Some colleges list the essay as one of their main requirements to apply, while others give you the option to add it to your application if you wish to do so. At other schools, it is simply your “personal statement”—but the prompts you are given can make it an essay on the topic of diversity in your life and how that has shaped who you are.

To write a diversity essay, you need to think about what makes you uniquely you: What significant experiences have you made, because of your background, that might separate you from other applicants? Sometimes that is obvious, but sometimes it is easy to assume our experiences are normal just because we are part of a community that shares the same circumstances, beliefs, or experiences. But if you look at your life from the perspective of someone who is not part of that community, such as an admissions officer, they can suddenly be not-so-common and help you stand out from the crowd.

Diversity Essay Examples and Topics

Diversity essays come in all shapes and formats, but what they need to do is highlight an important aspect of your identity, background, culture, viewpoints, beliefs, goals, etc. You could, for example, write about one of the following topics:

• Your home country/hometown
• Your cultural/immigration background
• Your race/ethnicity
• Your unique family circumstances
• Your religion/belief system
• Your socioeconomic background
• Your disability
• Your sex/gender
• Your sexual orientation
• Your gender identity
• Your values/opinions
• Your experiences
• Your extracurricular activities related to diversity

In the following, we ask some general questions to make you start reflecting on what diversity might mean for you and your life, and we present you with excerpts from several successful diversity-related application essays that will give you an idea about the range of topics you can write about.

How does diversity make you who you are as a person or student?

We usually want to fit in, especially when we are young, and you might not even realize that you and your life experiences could add to the diversity of a student campus. You might think that you are just like everyone around you. Or you might think that your background is nothing to brag about and are not really comfortable showcasing it. But looking at you and your life from the point of view of someone who is not part of your community, your background, culture, or family situation might actually be unique and interesting. 

What makes admission committees see the unique and interesting in your life is an authentic story, maybe even a bit vulnerable, about your lived experiences and the lessons you learned from them that other people who lived other lifes did not have the chance to learn. Don’t try to explain how you are different from others or how you have been more privileged or less fortunate than others—let your story do that. Keep the focus on yourself, your actions, thoughts, and feelings, and allow the reader a glimpse into your culture, upbringing, or community that gives them some intriguing insights. 

Have a look at the excerpt below from a diversity essay that got an applicant into Cornell University . This is just the introduction, but there is probably no admissions officer who would not want to keep reading after such a fascinating entry. 

He’s in my arms, the newest addition to the family. I’m too overwhelmed. “That’s why I wanted you to go to Bishop Loughlin,” she says, preparing baby bottles. “But ma, I chose Tech because I wanted to be challenged.” “Well, you’re going to have to deal with it,” she replies, adding, “Your aunt watched you when she was in high school.” “But ma, there are three of them. It’s hard!” Returning home from a summer program that cemented intellectual and social independence to find a new baby was not exactly thrilling. Add him to the toddler and seven-year-old sister I have and there’s no wonder why I sing songs from Blue’s Clues and The Backyardigans instead of sane seventeen-year-old activities. It’s never been simple; as a female and the oldest, I’m to significantly rear the children and clean up the shabby apartment before an ounce of pseudo freedom reaches my hands. If I can manage to get my toddler brother onto the city bus and take him home from daycare without snot on my shoulder, and if I can manage to take off his coat and sneakers without demonic screaming for no apparent reason, then it’s a good day. Only, waking up at three in the morning to work, the only free time I have, is not my cup of Starbucks.  Excerpt from “All Worth It”, Anonymous, published in 50 Successful IVY LEAGUE Application Essays Fourth Edition, Gen & Kelly Tanabe, SuperCollege, 2017 .

How has your identity or background affected your life?

On top of sharing a relevant personal story, you also need to make sure that your essay illustrates how your lived experience has influenced your perspective, your life choices, or your goals. If you can explain how your background or experience led you to apply to the school you want to submit the essay to, and why you would be a great fit for that school, even better. 

You don’t need to fit all of that into one short essay, though. Just make sure to end your essay with some conclusions about the things your life has taught you that will give the admissions committee a better idea of who you now are—like the author of the following (winning) admissions essay submitted to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) .

[…] I always thought that I had it the worst out of all my family members because I was never allowed to get anything lower than what my brother or a cousin had gotten in a class. My parents figured if they could do it, so could I, and if not on my own then with a little of their help. It was not until recently that I realized the truth in this. In my short life I have seen my father go from speaking no English to excelling in it. I have heard countless stories about migrant farmers such as Cesar Chavez and my grandfather who had nearly nothing, yet persisted and succeeded. […] When I had trouble speaking Spanish and felt like abandoning my native tongue, I remembered my mother and how when she came to the United States she was forced to wash her mouth out with soap and endure beatings with a ruler by the nuns at her school for speaking it. When I couldn’t figure out tangents, sines, and cosines I thought about my father and how it took him nearly a year to learn long division because he was forced to teach it to himself after dropping out and starting to work in the 4th grade. […] All these people, just from my family, have been strong role models for me. I feel that being labeled “underprivileged” does not mean that I am limited in what I can do. There is no reason for me to fail or give up, and like my parents and grandparents have done, I’ve been able to pull through a great deal. My environment has made me determined, hard working, and high aiming. I would not like it any other way. From “Lessons From the Immigration Spectrum”, Anonymous, MIT, published in 50 Successful IVY LEAGUE Application Essays Fourth Edition, Gen & Kelly Tanabe, SuperCollege, 2017 .

How will your diversity contribute to the college campus and community?

The admissions committee would like to know how your identity or background will enrich the university’s existing student body. If you haven’t done so, researching the university’s organizations and groups and what specific courses the university offers might be a good idea. If you are applying to a large public school, you could mention that you are looking forward to broadening not just your horizon but also your community. Or maybe your college of choice has a specialized program or student organization that you feel you will fit right into and that you could contribute to with your unique background.

Tailoring your answer to the university you are applying to shows that you are serious and have done your research, and a university is obviously looking for such students. If you can’t find a way to make your essay “match” the university, then don’t despair—showing the admissions committee that you are someone who already made some important experiences, has reflected on them, and is eager to learn more and contribute to their community is often all that is needed. But you also don’t need to search for the most sophisticated outro or conclusion, as the following excerpt shows, from an admission essay written by an applicant named Angelica, who was accepted into the University of Chicago . Sometimes a simple conviction is convincing enough. 

[…] The knowledge that I have gained from these three schools is something I will take with me far beyond college. My roommate, across-the-hall mates, and classmates have influenced my life as much as I hope to have impacted theirs. It is evident to me that they have helped me develop into the very much visible person I am today. I have learned to step outside of my comfort zone, and I have learned that diversity is so much more than the tint of our skin. My small mustard-colored school taught me that opportunity and success only requires desire. I would be an asset to your college because as I continue on my journey to success, I will take advantage of every opportunity that is available to me and make sure to contribute as much as I can, too. Now I am visible. Now I am visible. Now I am visible, and I want to be seen. From “No Longer Invisible” by Angelica, University of Chicago, published in 50 Successful IVY LEAGUE Application Essays Fourth Edition, Gen & Kelly Tanabe, SuperCollege, 2017 .

Tell stories about your lived experience

You might wonder how exactly to go about writing stories about your “lived experience.” The first step, after getting drawing inspiration from other people’s stories, is to sit down and reflect on your own life and what might be interesting about it, from the point of view of someone outside of your direct environment or community.

Two straightforward approaches for a diversity-related essay are to either focus on your community or on your identity . The first one is more related to what you were born into (and what it taught you), and the second one focuses on how you see yourself, as an individual but also as part of society.

Take some time to sit down and reflect on which of these two approaches you relate to more and which one you think you have more to say about. And then we’d recommend you do what always helps when we sit in front of a blank page that needs to be filled: Make a list or draw a chart or create a map of keywords that can become the cornerstones of your story.

For example, if you choose the “community” approach, then start with a list of all the communities that you are a part of. These communities can be defined by different factors:

• A shared place: people live or work together
• Shared actions: People create something together or solve problems together
• Shared interests: People come together based on interests, hobbies, or goals
• Shared circumstances: people are brought together by chance or by events

Once you have that list, pick one of your communities and start asking yourself more specific questions. For example: 

• What did you do as a member of that community? 
• What kinds of problems did you solve , for your community or together?
• Did you feel like you had an impact ? What was it?
• What did you learn or realize ? 
• How are you going to apply what you learned outside of that community?

If, instead, you choose the “identity” approach, then think about different ways in which you think about yourself and make a list of those. For example:

My identity is as a… 

• boy scout leader
• hobby writer
• babysitter for my younger siblings
• speaker of different languages
• collector of insightful proverbs
• Japanese-American
• other roles in your family, community, or social sub-group

Feel free to list as many identities as you can. Then, think about what different sides of you these identities reveal and which ones you have not yet shown or addressed in your other application documents and essays. Think about whether one of these is more important to you than others if there is one that you’d rather like to hide (and why) and if there is any struggle, for example with reconciling all of these sides of yourself or with one of them not being accepted by your culture or environment.

Overall, the most important characteristic admissions committees are looking for in your diversity essay is authenticity . They want to know who you are, behind your SATs and grades, and how you got where you are now, and they want to see what makes you memorable (remember, they have to read thousands of essays to decide who to enroll). 

The admissions committee members likely also have a “sixth sense” about whose essay is authentic and whose is not. But if you go through a creative process like the one outlined here, you will automatically reflect on your background and experiences in a way that will bring out your authenticity and honesty and prevent you from just making up a “cool story.”

Diversity Essay Sample Prompts From Colleges

If you are still not sure how to write a diversity essay, let’s have a look at some of the actual diversity essay prompts that colleges include in their applications. 

Diversity Essay Sample #1: University of California

The University of California asks applicants to choose between eight prompts (they call them “ personal insight questions “) and submit four short essays of up to 350 words each that tell the admission committee what you would want them to know about you . These prompts ask about your creative side (#2), your greatest talent (#3), and other aspects of your personality, but two of them (#5 and #7) are what could be called “diversity essay prompts” that ask you to talk about the most significant challenge you have faced and what you have done to make your community a better place .

The University of California website also offers advice on how to use these prompts and how to write a compelling essay, so make sure you use all the guidance they give you if that is the school you are trying to get into!

UC Essay prompt #5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

UC Essay prompt #7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?  

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team, or place—like your high school, hometown, or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community? Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? 

Diversity Essay Sample #2: Duke University

Duke University asks for a one-page essay in response to either one of the Common Application prompts or one of the Coalition Application prompts, as well as a short essay that answers a question specific to Duke. 

In addition, you can (but do not have to) submit up to two short answers to four prompts that specifically ask about your unique experiences, your beliefs and values, and your background and identity. The maximum word count for each of these short essays on diversity topics is 250 words.

Essay prompt #1. We seek a diverse student body that embodies the wide range of human experience. In that context, we are interested in what you’d like to share about your lived experiences and how they’ve influenced how you think of yourself. Essay prompt #2. We believe there is benefit in sharing and sometimes questioning our beliefs or values; who do you agree with on the big important things, or who do you have your most interesting disagreements with? What are you agreeing or disagreeing about? Essay prompt #3. What has been your best academic experience in the last two years, and what made it so good? Essay prompt #4. Duke’s commitment to diversity and inclusion includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. If you’d like to share with us more about your identity in this context, feel free to do so here.

Duke University is looking for students with a variety of different experiences, backgrounds, interests, and opinions to make its campus community diverse and a place where ambition and curiosity, talent and persistence can grow, and the admissions committee will “consider what you have accomplished within the context of your opportunities and challenges so far”—make sure you tell them!

Diversity Essay Sample #3: University of Washington

The University of Washington asks students for a long essay (650 words) on a general experience that shaped your character, a short essay (300 words) that describes the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of your future university and allows you to submit additional information on potential hardships or limitations you have experienced in attaining your education so far. The University of Washington freshman writing website also offers some tips on how to (and how not to) write and format your essays.

Essay prompt [required] Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

Short response prompt [required] Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. “Community” might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the UW.

Additional information about yourself or your circumstances [optional] You are not required to write anything in this section, but you may include additional information if something has particular significance to you. For example, you may use this space if:

– You have experienced personal hardships in attaining your education

– Your activities have been limited because of work or family obligations

– You have experienced limitations/opportunities unique to the schools you attended

The University of Washington’s mission is to enroll undergraduates with outstanding intellectual abilities who bring different perspectives, backgrounds, and talents to the campus to create a “stimulating educational environment”. The diversity essay is your chance to let them know how you will contribute to that.

Diversity Essay Sample #4: University of Michigan

At the University of Michigan, a diversity college essay that describes one of the communities (defined by geography, religion, ethnicity, income, or other factors) you belong to is one of two required essays that need to be submitted by all applicants, on top of the Common Application essay. 

Diversity essay prompt. Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.

The University of Michigan prides itself in “looking at each student as a whole package” and recruiting the most dynamic students, with different backgrounds, interests, and passions, into their college, not just the ones with the highest test scores. They also give consideration to applicants from currently underrepresented groups to create diversity on campus and enrich the learning environment for all students—if that sounds like you, then here is your opportunity to tell your story!

Frequently Asked Questions about Diversity Essays

What topics should i avoid in my college diversity essay.

Since the point of a diversity essay is to show the admissions committee who you are (behind your grades and resume and general educational background), there are not many topics you need to avoid. In fact, you can address the issues, from your own perspective, that you are usually told not to mention in order not to offend anyone or create controversy. 

The only exception is any kind of criminal activity, especially child abuse and neglect. The University of Washington, for example, has a statement on its essay prompt website that “ any written materials that give admissions staff reasonable cause to believe abuse or neglect of someone under the age of 18 may have occurred must be reported to Child Protective Services or the police. ”

What is most important to focus on in my diversity essay?

In brief, to stand out while not giving the admissions committee any reason to believe that you are exaggerating or even making things up. Your story needs to be authentic, and admissions officers—who read thousands of applications—will probably see right through you if you are trying to make yourself sound cooler, more mature, or more interesting than you are. 

In addition, make sure you let someone, preferably a professional editor, read over your essays and make sure they are well-written and error-free. Even though you are telling your personal story, it needs to be presented in standard, formal, correct English.

How long should a diversity essay be?

Every school has different requirements for their version of a diversity essay, and you will find all the necessary details on their admissions or essay prompts website. Make sure you check the word limit and other guidelines before you start typing away!

Prepare your college diversity essay for admission

Now that you know what a diversity essay is and how you find the specific requirements for the essays you need to submit to your school of choice, make sure you plan in advance and give yourself enough time to put all your effort into it! Our article How to Write the Common App Essay can give you an idea about timelines and creative preparation methods. And as always, we can help you with our professional editing services , including Application Essay Editing Services and Admission Editing Services , to ensure that your entire application is error-free and showcases your potential to the admissions committee of your school of choice.

For more academic resources on writing the statement of purpose for grad school or on the college admission process in general, head over to our Admissions Resources website where we have many more articles and videos to help you improve your essay writing skills.

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May 8, 2024

The Diversity Essay: How to Write an Excellent Diversity Essay

What is a diversity essay in a school application? And why does it matter when applying to leading programs and universities? Most importantly, how should you go about writing such an essay?

Diversity is of supreme value in higher education, and schools want to know how every student will contribute to the diversity on their campus. A diversity essay gives applicants with disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds, an unusual education, a distinctive experience, or a unique family history an opportunity to write about how these elements of their background have prepared them to play a useful role in increasing and encouraging diversity among their target program’s student body and broader community.

The purpose of all application essays is to help the adcom better understand who an applicant is and what they care about. Your essays are your chance to share your voice and humanize your application. This is especially true for the diversity essay, which aims to reveal your unique perspectives and experiences, as well as the ways in which you might contribute to a college community.

In this post, we’ll discuss what exactly a diversity essay is, look at examples of actual prompts and a sample essay, and offer tips for writing a standout essay. 

In this post, you’ll find the following: 

What a diversity essay covers

How to show you can add to a school’s diversity, why diversity matters to schools.

• Seven examples that reveal diversity

Sample diversity essay prompts

How to write about your diversity.

• A diversity essay example

Upon hearing the word “diversity” in relation to an application essay, many people assume that they will have to write about gender, sexuality, class, or race. To many, this can feel overly personal or irrelevant, and some students might worry that their identity isn’t unique or interesting enough. In reality, the diversity essay is much broader than many people realize.

Identity means different things to different people. The important thing is that you demonstrate your uniqueness and what matters to you. In addition to writing about one of the traditional identity features we just mentioned (gender, sexuality, class, race), you could consider writing about a more unusual feature of yourself or your life – or even the intersection of two or more identities.

Consider these questions as you think about what to include in your diversity essay:

• Do you have a unique or unusual talent or skill?
• Do you have beliefs or values that are markedly different from those of the people around you? 
• Do you have a hobby or interest that sets you apart from your peers? 
• Have you done or experienced something that few people have? Note that if you choose to write about a single event as a diverse identity feature, that event needs to have had a pretty substantial impact on you and your life. For example, perhaps you’re part of the 0.2% of the world’s population that has run a marathon, or you’ve had the chance to watch wolves hunt in the wild.
• Do you have a role in life that gives you a special outlook on the world? For example, maybe one of your siblings has a rare disability, or you grew up in a town with fewer than 500 inhabitants.

If you are an immigrant to the United States, the child of immigrants, or someone whose ethnicity is underrepresented in the States, your response to “How will you add to the diversity of our class/community?” and similar questions might help your application efforts. Why? Because you have the opportunity to show the adcom how your background will contribute a distinctive perspective to the program you are applying to.

Of course, if you’re not underrepresented in your field or part of a disadvantaged group, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have anything to write about in a diversity essay.

For example, you might have an unusual or special experience to share, such as serving in the military, being a member of a dance troupe, or caring for a disabled relative. These and other distinctive experiences can convey how you will contribute to the diversity of the school’s campus.

Maybe you are the first member of your family to apply to college or the first person in your household to learn English. Perhaps you have worked your way through college or helped raise your siblings. You might also have been an ally to those who are underrepresented, disadvantaged, or marginalized in your community, at your school, or in a work setting. 

As you can see, diversity is not limited to one’s religion, ethnicity, culture, language, or sexual orientation. It refers to whatever element of your identity distinguishes you from others and shows that you, too, value diversity.

The diversity essay provides colleges the chance to build a student body that includes different ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, backgrounds, interests, and so on. Applicants are asked to illuminate what sets them apart so that the adcoms can see what kind of diverse views and opinions they can bring to the campus.

Admissions officers believe that diversity in the classroom improves the educational experience of all the students involved. They also believe that having a diverse workforce better serves society as a whole.

The more diverse perspectives found in the classroom, throughout the dorms, in the dining halls, and mixed into study groups, the richer people’s discussions will be.

Plus, learning and growing in this kind of multicultural environment will prepare students for working in our increasingly multicultural and global world.

In medicine, for example, a heterogeneous workforce benefits people from previously underrepresented cultures. Businesses realize that they will market more effectively if they can speak to different audiences, which is possible when members of their workforce come from various backgrounds and cultures. Schools simply want to prepare graduates for the 21st century job market.

Seven examples that reveal diversity

Adcoms want to know about the diverse elements of your character and how these have helped you develop particular  personality traits , as well as about any unusual experiences that have shaped you.

Here are seven examples an applicant could write about:

1. They grew up in an environment with a strong emphasis on respecting their elders, attending family events, and/or learning their parents’ native language and culture.

2. They are close to their grandparents and extended family members who have taught them how teamwork can help everyone thrive.

3. They have had to face difficulties that stem from their parents’ values being in conflict with theirs or those of their peers.

4. Teachers have not always understood the elements of their culture or lifestyle and how those elements influence their performance.

5. They have suffered discrimination and succeeded despite it because of their grit, values, and character.

6. They learned skills from a lifestyle that is outside the norm (e.g., living in foreign countries as the child of a diplomat or contractor; performing professionally in theater, dance, music, or sports; having a deaf sibling).

7. They’ve encountered racism or other prejudice (either toward themselves or others) and responded by actively promoting diverse, tolerant values.

And remember, diversity is not about who your parents are.  It’s about who you are  – at the core.

Your background, influences, religious observances, native language, ideas, work environment, community experiences – all these factors come together to create a unique individual, one who will contribute to a varied class of distinct individuals taking their place in a diverse world.

The best-known diversity essay prompt is from the  Common App . It states:

“Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

Some schools have individual diversity essay prompts. For example, this one is from  Duke University :

“We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community.” 

And the  Rice University application includes the following prompt:

“Rice is strengthened by its diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders and change agents across the spectrum of human endeavor. What perspectives shaped by your background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity inspire you to join our community of change agents at Rice?”

In all instances, colleges want you to demonstrate how and what you’ll contribute to their communities.

Your answer to a school’s diversity essay question should focus on how your experiences have built your empathy for others, your embrace of differences, your resilience, your character, and your perspective.

The school might ask how you think of diversity or how you will bring or add to the diversity of the school, your chosen profession, or your community. Make sure you answer the specific question posed by highlighting distinctive elements of your profile that will add to the class mosaic every adcom is trying to create. You don’t want to blend in; you want to stand out in a positive way while also complementing the school’s canvas.

Here’s a simple, three-part framework that will help you think of diversity more broadly:

Who are you? What has contributed to your identity? How do you distinguish yourself? Your identity can include any of the following: gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion, nontraditional work experience, nontraditional educational background, multicultural background, and family’s educational level.

What have you done? What have you accomplished? This could include any of the following: achievements inside and/or outside your field of study, leadership opportunities, community service, internship or professional experience, research opportunities, hobbies, and travel. Any or all of these could be unique. Also, what life-derailing, throw-you-for-a-loop challenges have you faced and overcome?

How do you think? How do you approach things? What drives you? What influences you? Are you the person who can break up a tense meeting with some well-timed humor? Are you the one who intuitively sees how to bring people together? 

Read more about this three-part framework in Episode 193 of Accepted’s Admissions Straight Talk podcast or listen wherever you get your favorite podcast s.

Think about each question within this framework and how you could apply your diversity elements to your target school’s classroom or community. Any of these elements can serve as the framework for your essay.

Don’t worry if you can’t think of something totally “out there.” You don’t need to be a tightrope walker living in the Andes or a Buddhist monk from Japan to be able to contribute to a school’s diversity!

And please remember, the examples we have offered here are not exhaustive. There are many other ways to show diversity!

All you need to do to be able to write successfully about how you will contribute to the diversity of your target school’s community is examine your identity, deeds, and ideas, with an eye toward your personal distinctiveness and individuality. There is only one  you .

Take a look at the sample diversity essay in the next section of this post, and pay attention to how the writer underscores their appreciation for, and experience with, diversity. 

A diversity essay sample

When I was starting 11th grade, my dad, an agricultural scientist, was assigned to a 3-month research project in a farm village in Niigata (northwest Honshu in Japan). Rather than stay behind with my mom and siblings, I begged to go with him. As a straight-A student, I convinced my parents and the principal that I could handle my schoolwork remotely (pre-COVID) for that stretch. It was time to leap beyond my comfortable suburban Wisconsin life—and my Western orientation, reinforced by travel to Europe the year before. 

We roomed in a sprawling farmhouse with a family participating in my dad’s study. I thought I’d experience an “English-free zone,” but the high school students all studied and wanted to practice English, so I did meet peers even though I didn’t attend their school. Of the many eye-opening, influential, cultural experiences, the one that resonates most powerfully to me is experiencing their community. It was a living, organic whole. Elementary school kids spent time helping with the rice harvest. People who foraged for seasonal wild edibles gave them to acquaintances throughout the town. In fact, there was a constant sharing of food among residents—garden veggies carried in straw baskets, fish or meat in coolers. The pharmacist would drive prescriptions to people who couldn’t easily get out—new mothers, the elderly—not as a business service but as a good neighbor. If rain suddenly threatened, neighbors would bring in each other’s drying laundry. When an empty-nest 50-year-old woman had to be hospitalized suddenly for a near-fatal snakebite, neighbors maintained her veggie patch until she returned. The community embodied constant awareness of others’ needs and circumstances. The community flowed!

Yet, people there lamented that this lifestyle was vanishing; more young people left than stayed or came. And it wasn’t idyllic: I heard about ubiquitous gossip, long-standing personal enmities, busybody-ness. But these very human foibles didn’t dam the flow. This dynamic community organism couldn’t have been more different from my suburban life back home, with its insular nuclear families. We nod hello to neighbors in passing. 

This wonderful experience contained a personal challenge. Blond and blue-eyed, I became “the other” for the first time. Except for my dad, I saw no Westerner there. Curious eyes followed me. Stepping into a market or walking down the street, I drew gazes. People swiftly looked away if they accidentally caught my eye. It was not at all hostile, I knew, but I felt like an object. I began making extra sure to appear “presentable” before going outside. The sense of being watched sometimes generated mild stress or resentment. Returning to my lovely tatami room, I would decompress, grateful to be alone. I realized this challenge was a minute fraction of what others experience in my own country. The toll that feeling—and being— “other” takes on non-white and visibly different people in the US can be extremely painful. Experiencing it firsthand, albeit briefly, benignly, and in relative comfort, I got it.

Unlike the organic Niigata community, work teams, and the workplace itself, have externally driven purposes. Within this different environment, I will strive to exemplify the ongoing mutual awareness that fueled the community life in Niigata. Does it benefit the bottom line, improve the results? I don’t know. But it helps me be the mature, engaged person I want to be, and to appreciate the individuals who are my colleagues and who comprise my professional community. I am now far more conscious of people feeling their “otherness”—even when it’s not in response to negative treatment, it can arise simply from awareness of being in some way different.

What did you think of this essay? Does this middle class Midwesterner have the unique experience of being different from the surrounding majority, something she had not experienced in the United States? Did she encounter diversity from the perspective of “the other”? 

Here a few things to note about why this diversity essay works so well:

1. The writer comes from “a comfortable, suburban, Wisconsin life,” suggesting that her background might not be ethnically, racially, or in any other way diverse.

2. The diversity “points” scored all come from her fascinating experience of having lived in a Japanese farm village, where she immersed herself in a totally different culture.

3. The lessons learned about the meaning of community are what broaden and deepen the writer’s perspective about life, about a purpose-driven life, and about the concept of “otherness.” 

By writing about a time when you experienced diversity in one of its many forms, you can write a memorable and meaningful diversity essay.

Working on your diversity essay?

Want to ensure that your application demonstrates the diversity that your dream school is seeking?  Work with one of our admissions experts . This checklist includes more than 30 different ways to think about diversity to jump-start your creative engine.

Dr. Sundas Ali has more than 15 years of experience teaching and advising students, providing career and admissions advice, reviewing applications, and conducting interviews for the University of Oxford’s undergraduate and graduate programs. In addition, Sundas has worked with students from a wide range of countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, India, Pakistan, China, Japan, and the Middle East. Want Sundas to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch! 

Related Resources:

• Different Dimensions of Diversity , podcast Episode 193
• What Should You Do If You Belong to an Overrepresented MBA Applicant Group?
• Fitting In & Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions , a free guide

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Self Reflection — Reflecting on My Internship Experience: Lessons Learned

Reflecting on My Internship Experience: Lessons Learned

• Categories: Internship Self Reflection

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Words: 628 |

Published: Feb 7, 2024

Words: 628 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, overview of the internship, goals and expectations, learning and professional growth, challenges and lessons learned, interactions and networking, application of classroom knowledge, ethical considerations.

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What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.