cultural values essay examples

38 Cultural Values Examples

Cultural values are the key principles or morals that underpin a cultural group. They may be based on religion, tradition, philosophy, collective memory , and custom. Examples of cultural values include respect for elders, family values , individualism, and egalitarianism.

Cultural values are passed on from one generation to another, which ensures continuity of traditions within a group of people. They may also be passed on through media.

Acquisition of a culture and its values occurs through socialization. In other words, by growing up in a culture, we often come to internalize our culture’s values.

Cultural Values Definition

The primary definition of cultural values and value theory used in sociology is the one by Clyde Kluckhohn:

“A value is a conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or characteristic of a group, of the desirable, which influences the selection from available modes, means, and ends of action.” (Kluckhohn 1951, p. 395)

Societies strive to put values into action through the establishment of norms , taboos , laws, and sanctions.

Sanctions as a system of rewards and punishments that encourage or demand people to live according to their society’s ideas about what is good and just.

Examples of Cultural Values

American values.

• Individualism – The United States of America is famous for valuing individualism and individual rights above those of the collective or the government.
• Freedom – The USA’s mantra is: “Freedom!” It’s a nation that believes that you should be free from coercion so you can pursue your own happiness in life.
• Meritocracy – The dominant American culture , perhaps above all other cultures, a culture that believes people should be rewarded for their hard work and judged based on their skills and abilities, not based on an ascribed status .
• Christianity – To this day, Christian values are a dominant force that influences hundreds of millions of Americans and is a driving force behind their actions.
• Limited Government – The United States was built upon the ideas of the pioneers who were fleeing the government oppression in Britain. From the early days of colonial America, limited government was a central philosophy.

Related: Stereotypical American Characteristics

Australian Values

Dominant Australian culture (where I grew up) holds the following as core values :

• The Weekend – Aussies love the weekend – to the point that it’s become a part of our mythology . In 2019, there was even a scare campaign by the government who said that the opposition party was waging “war on the weekend” for having policies that would supposedly increase the price of cars!
• A Fair Go – A core Australian cultural value is the idea of the fair go – or in other words, an egalitarian ideal that everyone deserves a chance at life and shouldn’t be discriminated against.
• Freedom – Like the United States of America, Australia loves its freedom and upholds it as a sacred feature of the culture.
• Mateship – ‘Mateship’ is a uniquely Australian term used to refer to the importance of sticking by one another through tough times.
• Sporting Spirit – Australia considers sports to be one of its central pastimes and fancies itself as a “sporting nation”.
• Sarcasm – The dominant culture of Australia values sarcastic humor. Compare this to American slapstick comedy and British dark humor.
• Informality – While in the United States, you would refer to the president as “Mr President”, Aussies don’t think anyone is better than anyone else, so they call their Prime Minister by his or her first name – Scotty – or even an affectionate nickname, like “Albo”!
• Authenticity – Australians value authenticity highly, and are often highly critical of people who come across as inauthentic.

Related: Types of Values

British Cultural Values

• Politeness – There are few nations that are as polite as the British. Sure, there are rude sub-cultures, but they’re well-known for being polite, even to the extent that they say ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’ two or three times when greeting and saying goodbye.
• Tolerance – Tolerance is one of the five official British values . It refers to the importance of accepting difference – so long as we all treat each other with respect, we can be different.
• Waiting your Turn – In British culture, it is considered very rude to push through a queue. Waiting in line is highly valued.
• The “Stiff Upper Lip” – Based upon the resilience developed during WWII, Britain has come to see themselves as a nation of stoic people.
• National Healthcare – During the London Olympics opening ceremony, it was telling that they decided to highlight the British National Healthcare System (NHS) as a feature of Britain that was worth celebrating.
• British Banter – British humor (as seen in famed British comedies like Monty Python ) is ironic, tongue-in-cheek and highly satirical.

French Cultural Values

France is another nation that has some core cultural values that it very explicitly highlights:

• Liberty – France overthrew its monarchy and, ever since, has been a key proponent of liberty and democracy worldwide.
• Equality – When comparing French-European values to those of North America, we see a stronger focus on equality, leading to a more interventionist state that aims to redistribute wealth to strive for equality.
• Fraternity – The idea behind this phrase is that the French people are bound together in solidarity , standing together for their free republic.

Liberal Values

If you grew up in a liberal culture or even sub-culture within a society, you’re more likely to hold some of the following things as your core cultural values:

• Egalitarianism – Liberals are more inclined to strive toward egalitarianism, meaning a sense that all people are equal, including marginalized communities.
• Equality of Opportunity – You’ll find that liberal societies also aim for equal opportunity, meaning they want to ensure the poor also have good education, healthcare, and so on.
• Gender Equality – Progress on gender equality is very important to liberals, including things like trying to break the glass ceiling and achieve gender parity in politics.
• Racial Equality – Liberals will often cite racial and ethnic rights, especially the rights of minority groups , as a core cultural value.
• Workers’ Rights – Left-leaning liberals have for centuries stood for workers’ rights, under the banner of “a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work”.
• Freedom of Thought – Classical liberalism , advocated by people like John Locke, emphasizes individual freedom, including the freedom to believe and think what you want to believe.

Conservative Values

If you grew up in a liberal culture or sub-culture, you’re more likely to hold some of the following things as your core cultural values:

• Family – Conservative communities tend to hold family and commitment to family at the core of their sense of self. This is because a conservative worldview sees the family as the fundamental building block of a functioning and moral society.
• Religion – Organized religions have historically upheld conservative values, like tradition and deference to elders. (This is not to discount the fact that some religious sub-groups are quire liberal).
• Tradition – Conservative cultures tend to revere tradition and carrying-on traditions and customs.
• Entrepreneurialism – Throughout the 20 th Century, conservative movements have been the strongest proponents of free markets and capitalism.
• Meritocracy – Conservative values tend to emphasize the importance of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, working hard, and reaping the rewards of your hard work through merit.

Cultural Universals

There’s also an idea that there are some cultural values that cross all – or most – cultures. Examples include:

• Do unto others (the golden rule) – Most cultures and religions have a core rule, called the golden rule, which emphasizes the fact you should not do anything to anyone else that you wouldn’t want done to yourself.
• Respect your elders – Most cultures have implicitly learned rules about respecting elders, and particularly parents.
• The family unit – Nearly all cultures are built upon family units, although there are different types of family units accepted around the world.
• Rites of passage – Most cultures have rites of passage . These can be religious rites, marriage, initiations, etc.
• Rule of law – Nearly all cultures develop a rule of law. While the laws may change, respect for the concept of rule of law appears nearly universal.

Go Deeper: What is Cultural Universalism?

Cultural values are the key principles society is based around. These values include a society’s traditions, language, beliefs, customs, arts, literature, and laws.

Cultural values are important for individuals and groups to be included into society. Without knowing the language or participating in traditions one is easily left aside.

Values implies how people should behave, but they don’t necessarily reflect how people really behave. In real culture , police officers, lawmakers, educators, and social workers constantly strive to prevent or repair accidents, crimes, and injustices provoked by people not following the core cultural values of the society.

Furthermore, societies strive to put values into action through different methods, for example sanctions, in order to create good and well-being for its members. Hence cultural values provide important social and economic benefits. With improved learning, increased tolerance, and opportunities to come together with others, culture improves people’s quality of life and benefits both individuals and communities.

Reference list

Browne , K. (2005). An Introduction to Sociology, Polity Press, Third Edition

Crossick, G. & Kaszynska, P. (2016). Understanding the value of arts & culture – The AHRC Cultural Value Project G., Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Graburn, N.H. (2008). What is Tradition?, Museum Anthropology 24(2‐3):6 – 11

J. L. Spates (1983). The Sociology of Values. Annual Review of Sociology, 9 (1).

Kluckhohn, C. K. (1951). Values and value orientations in the theory of action , Harvard University Press.

Langer, S.K. (1966). The Cultural Importance of the Arts. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring, 1966), pp. 5-12.

Sumner, W. G. (1906).  Folkways. Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals

Pernilla Stammler Jaliff (MSSc)

Pernilla Stammler Jaliff has a master’s degree in Political Science and in Investigative Journalism. She has published several academic articles, and reports on human rights and sustainability for different NGOs. She also works independently as an investigative journalist writing articles on environmental issues such as the lithium and oil industry.

• Pernilla Stammler Jaliff (MSSc) #molongui-disabled-link Social Institutions in Sociology (Definition and Explanation)
• Pernilla Stammler Jaliff (MSSc) #molongui-disabled-link 16 Social Justice Examples
• Pernilla Stammler Jaliff (MSSc) #molongui-disabled-link 75 Social Factors Examples (with Definition)
• Pernilla Stammler Jaliff (MSSc) #molongui-disabled-link 15 Examples of Gender Norms (And Definition)

Chris Drew (PhD)

This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU.

• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link 25 Positive Punishment Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link 25 Dissociation Examples (Psychology)
• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link 15 Zone of Proximal Development Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link Perception Checking: 15 Examples and Definition

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

What are Cultural Values? A Comprehensive Guide for All

 Cultural values are the shared beliefs, norms, and practices that guide the behavior and attitudes of a group of people. They influence how people communicate, interact, and cooperate. They also shape how people view themselves, their identity, and their place in the world. Cultural values are not fixed or static; they can change over time and vary across different contexts and situations. 

Sanju Pradeepa

You know cultural values shape so much of how we see the world, yet we rarely stop to ponder their meaning and influence. Cultural values are the beliefs and ideals that bind groups together and guide behavior. They influence everything from etiquette to ethics, holidays to habits. Understanding cultural values—both your own and those of others—is key to navigating our increasingly global society.

In this article, we’ll unpack the meaning of cultural values, explore how they form and spread, see how they differ around the world, and discuss why they matter in today’s world. By the end, you’ll have a deeper appreciation for the cultural values that make us who we are. So find a comfy seat, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, and let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What are cultural values.

Cultural values are the principles and standards of a society that guide the way people think, feel, and behave. They shape our beliefs, attitudes, and actions.

Some key cultural values include:

• Individualism vs. collectivism: Individualist cultures value independence and personal achievement, while collectivist cultures emphasize group harmony and loyalty.
• Power Distance: This refers to how much inequality people accept in a culture. High power distance means hierarchy and unequal power distribution are accepted, while low power distance means people value equality and decentralization of power.
• Uncertainty Avoidance: Cultures with high uncertainty avoidance prefer rules, structure, and predictability. Those with low uncertainty avoidance are more tolerant of ambiguity and chaos.
• Masculinity vs. Femininity: Masculine cultures value competitiveness, ambition, and achievement, while feminine cultures emphasize quality of life, relationships, and work-life balance.
• Long-term vs. short-term Orientation: Long-term-oriented cultures value thrift, perseverance , and adaptation to changing circumstances. Short-term-oriented cultures emphasize tradition, personal stability, and fulfilling social obligations.
• Indulgence vs. Restraint: Indulgent cultures allow relatively free gratification of natural human drives related to enjoying life, while restrained cultures suppress gratification of needs and regulate it by means of strict social norms.

Cultural values shape how we see the world, interact with each other, and go about our daily lives. Understanding them leads to more effective cross-cultural communication and cooperation. What values does your culture hold dear?

The Origins and Evolution of Cultural Values

Cultural values shape societies in profound ways. They originate from a mix of influences: religion, language, ethnicity, history, and environment. As cultures evolve, values adapt to changing circumstances.

The role of religion

Many cultural values stem from religious beliefs. For example, Christian societies often emphasize kindness, forgiveness, and charity. Buddhist cultures promote harmony, patience, and humility and also value concepts like dharma (duty), karma (cause and effect), and ahimsa (non-violence).

Language and ethnicity

Shared language and ethnicity strengthen cultural connections and shape values within groups. Concepts like hospitality, family loyalty, or honor are commonly emphasized. Minority ethnic groups may highlight values that strengthen their identity.

Historical experiences

A culture’s history significantly impacts its values. Societies that have endured hardships like famine, war, or oppression frequently value qualities like perseverance , courage , or independence. Values can also be influenced by interactions with other groups as cultures blend together over time through trade, migration, or colonization.

Environmental factors

Geography and climate shape cultural values by necessitating certain qualities for survival. For example, cultures in harsh, resource-scarce environments often emphasize self-reliance , hard work, and thriftiness. Coastal societies frequently value concepts related to fishing, sailing, and trade. Agricultural communities tend to value harmony with the land and seasons.

Cultural values provide a shared sense of meaning , purpose, and identity within societies. While values originate from a culture’s unique circumstances, there are also universal values common to humanity—things like love, compassion, justice, and wisdom—that transcend cultural differences and unite us all.

Why Cultural Values Matter

Cultural values are the beliefs and ideals that shape how a group views themselves and the world around them. They govern behavior, shape attitudes, and influence important life decisions. Understanding cultural values—both your own and those of others—is key to effective communication and building meaningful relationships.

Shared Identity

Cultural values connect us to others in our group, creating a sense of shared identity. When we uphold the same values as our peers, it strengthens our bonds and reinforces our place within the community. However, this can also lead to an “us vs. them” mentality towards those with differing values. It’s important to balance cultural pride with openness to other perspectives.

Influence Outlook

The cultural values we absorb from an early age shape how we interpret the world around us . They act as a lens, filtering our perceptions and judgments. We tend to see those who share our values as “right” or “normal,” while perceiving those with opposing values as “strange” or even “wrong.” Recognizing this tendency in ourselves and others can help promote understanding.

Guide Behavior

Cultural values are not just abstract ideals. They directly impact how we live our lives and interact with others. The values we hold dear shape the choices we make, the way we communicate, and our unquestioned habits and routines. When values come into conflict, it can lead to misunderstandings and tensions. Navigating these differences with empathy, respect , and an open mind is key to overcoming cultural barriers.

In an increasingly connected world, understanding cultural values—both shared and diverse—is crucial. Appreciating both the uniting and distinguishing power of values allows us to build common ground while also honoring what makes each culture unique. By understanding why cultural values matter, we can work to promote inclusion, foster meaningful connections across perceived divides, and make progress together.

Examples of Common Cultural Values

Cultural values refer to the ideals and beliefs that shape how people in a society live and interact. They influence attitudes, priorities, and behaviors within a culture. Here are some of the most common cultural values found around the world:

Individualism vs. collectivism

Some cultures emphasize individualism, prioritizing individual goals and achievements. Others focus on collectivism, valuing group cohesion and harmony. Individualistic cultures like those in the US and Western Europe encourage uniqueness , while collectivist cultures in Asia, Africa, and Latin America stress community and social bonds.

Power Distance

This refers to how much inequality people accept in a culture. High-power distance cultures like China and India accept an unequal distribution of power, while low-power distance cultures such as Australia aim for equality and less hierarchy.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, like Japan and Germany, value rules, order, and clear expectations. They prefer to avoid ambiguity and minimize risk. Cultures low in uncertainty avoidance, such as the US and UK, are more tolerant of uncertainty and open to unstructured ideas or situations.

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Masculine cultures value competitiveness , achievement, and material success. Feminine cultures emphasize quality of life, caring for others, and social relationships. Japan and Austria rank high in masculinity, while Scandinavian countries like Sweden are more feminine.

Long-term vs. short-term orientation

Long-term-oriented cultures such as China and Japan focus on perseverance, thrift, and future rewards. Short-term-oriented cultures like the US and France value immediate gratification, consumption, and quick results.

Cultural values shape how we interpret the world around us and interact with each other. Recognizing these values in yourself and others can help promote cross-cultural understanding and bring greater harmony between people from diverse backgrounds.

How Cultural Values Shape Society

Cultural values are the ideals and beliefs within a society that shape behaviors and social norms. They influence how people think, communicate, and interact with one another in their daily lives. Cultural values also help determine what is considered right or wrong, good or bad, and important or unimportant in a society.

Tradition and Change

Cultural values often represent a balance between tradition and change. Societies value tradition by passing down beliefs and practices between generations. However, as societies evolve, cultural values also adapt to fit the times. Older generations may cling to more traditional values, while younger generations push for progressive changes. Finding the right balance between honoring tradition and embracing change is key to the growth and prosperity of any culture.

Morality and ethics

Cultural values shape a society’s morality and sense of ethics. They determine views on fundamental issues like life and death, family and relationships, and justice and human rights. Societies grapple with moral questions of what constitutes virtuous behavior and how to achieve “the good life.” Cultural values provide a moral compass for navigating these complex questions.

Cooperation and conflict

Cultural values influence how people in a society interact and relate to one another. Values like individualism versus communalism, competition versus cooperation, and harmony versus confrontation shape the nature of social relationships. Societies that emphasize cooperation and communalism tend to have more collectivist cultures , while those that emphasize individualism and competition tend to have more individualistic cultures. A society’s orientation towards cooperation or conflict impacts social cohesion and quality of life.

In summary, cultural values are the DNA of society. They shape how people think and act, determine morality and ethics, influence tradition and change, and affect cooperation and conflict. Cultural values reflect what really matters in a society, so understanding them is key to understanding the society itself.

Cultural Values Across Different Cultures

Cultural values represent the collective beliefs and ideals that shape a society. They are passed down through generations and influence how people think and behave. Cultural values can vary widely between different groups of people.

Individualism versus collectivism

Some cultures promote individualism, emphasizing personal achievement and independence. Others are more collectivist, focusing on group harmony and loyalty.

• Individualist cultures like those in the U.S. and Western Europe value personal freedom and achievement. People see themselves as autonomous individuals.
• Collective cultures in Asia, Africa, and South America value community over the individual. People see themselves as interdependent and define themselves by group membership. Loyalty to family and community is key.

This refers to how cultures view power hierarchies and inequality. High power distance means people accept an unequal distribution of power as normal. Low power distance means people value equality and challenges to authority.

• High power distance: Cultures in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America accept hierarchy and authority. People respect age, status, and titles.
• Low power distance: Western cultures question authority and value egalitarianism. People see themselves as equals, regardless of age, status, or gender.

This refers to how cultures view uncertainty and ambiguity . High uncertainty avoidance means people prefer order, rules, and security. Low uncertainty avoidance means greater tolerance for ambiguity and risk.

• High uncertainty avoidance: Cultures in East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America prefer structure, rules, and traditions. People seek security and conformity.
• Low uncertainty avoidance: U.S. and Western European cultures are comfortable with ambiguity and risk. People value independence, creativity, and openness to change.

In summary, cultural values shape how people think, communicate, and behave in profound ways. Recognizing these differences can help promote cross-cultural understanding and bring people together, despite their diverse beliefs and worldviews.

The Impact of Cultural Values on Business

Cultural values shape how businesses operate and interact with customers in society. Understanding the cultural values of your target market is key to success.

Communication

How people communicate varies across cultures. Some prefer direct, blunt communication, while others rely more on context and reading between the lines. When marketing or providing customer service, adapt your communication style to match your audience. For indirect cultures, focus on building relationships and trust. For direct cultures, get straight to the point.

Time Orientation

Cultures also differ in their view of time. Some see time as rigid and unchanging, while others see it as fluid. In monochronic cultures like Germany or the US, people value punctuality and efficiency . In polychronic cultures like Brazil or Egypt, flexibility and relationships are more important. Accommodate these differences when scheduling meetings or deadlines.

Some cultures emphasize individual goals and achievements (individualism), while others focus on group harmony and loyalty (collectivism). In individualist cultures, highlight personal benefits and freedom of choice in your messaging. In collectivist cultures, the focus is on the benefits to families, communities, and society.

Risk Tolerance

The level of uncertainty and risk deemed acceptable varies across cultures. Some cultures, like the US, tend to be more risk-tolerant, while others, like Japan, are more risk-averse. When introducing new products or services, determine the risk profile of your target market and adjust accordingly. In risk-averse cultures, the focus is on stability, security, and risk mitigation. In risk-tolerant cultures, highlight opportunities for reward and status.

Understanding cultural values provides insight into your target customers and how to best serve them. Adapt your business practices, marketing, and customer service to align with the values of your audience. Respecting cultural differences will lead to greater success in today’s global marketplace.

Promoting cross-cultural understanding

To truly understand different cultures, you need to recognize and respect their values. Cultural values are the ideals and beliefs that shape how a group thinks and acts. Promoting cross-cultural understanding means appreciating how values differ between societies.

Openness and Curiosity

The first step is developing an open and curious mindset . Try to understand cultural values from an insider’s perspective, not an outsider looking in. Ask questions, do research, and seek to learn why certain values are meaningful to that group. For example, many Western cultures value independence, while other societies put more emphasis on interdependence and community. Neither is right nor wrong; they are just different.

Recognize Differences

Don’t assume all cultures share your values. What you consider normal or ethical may be viewed very differently elsewhere. For instance:

• Views on family and gender roles can vary widely between cultures.
• Concepts of personal space and privacy are culturally dependent.
• The importance placed on traits like assertiveness , competitiveness, and ambition differs across societies.

Appreciating these differences will help you avoid insensitive or disrespectful behavior. Make an effort to understand values in the proper cultural context.

Find common ground.

While values may differ between groups, all cultures share some universal values like compassion, kindness , and fairness. Focus on the values you have in common rather than those that divide you. Look for opportunities to build connections and foster mutual understanding. Engage in open and honest dialog to promote cooperation and trust between cultures.

Promoting cross-cultural understanding is a lifelong process that requires patience, empathy, and a willingness to step outside your comfort zone . But by making the effort to learn about different cultural values, you can help create a more inclusive society where diversity is celebrated rather than feared. Understanding each other’s differences is the first step to overcoming them.

How to Uphold and Strengthen Cultural Values

To uphold and strengthen cultural values within a society, community, or organization, there are several effective strategies you can implement:

Promote understanding

Educate others about the origins and meaning behind your cultural values. Explain how they shape attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Increase insight into why certain traditions, rituals, or practices are important. The more people comprehend the significance, the more they will appreciate and support the values.

Honor traditions

Continue established customs, ceremonies, and celebrations that highlight meaningful cultural values. Participate in cultural events and invite others to join in. Make cultural values visible through symbolic representations like flags, statues, paintings, or clothing.

Share stories

Pass down cultural values through narratives, folklore, music, or art. Stories are a powerful way to convey morals, lessons, and wisdom to future generations. Share stories of role models or key historical figures who embodied important cultural values.

Set an example.

Model the behaviors and attitudes you want to see in others. Practice the cultural values in your own words, actions, and decisions. Be a mentor for those who want to strengthen their connection to the culture. Your passion and commitment will inspire others.

Reward and recognize

Provide positive reinforcement by acknowledging those who demonstrate cultural values. Thank them for their efforts and contributions. Highlight their achievements within the community. Recognition motivates people to continue promoting cultural values.

Strengthening cultural values requires ongoing dedication and teamwork. But by making the values a central part of individual and community identity, you ensure they endure and remain a source of meaning for generations to come. Focus on understanding, tradition, storytelling, leading by example, and positive reinforcement. Together, these strategies will keep cultural values alive and thriving.

Attitude and Mindset: Intersection, Importance & Difference

Threats to cultural values in today’s world.

Globalization and access to technology have exposed most of the world’s cultures to outside influences, which can threaten traditional cultural values. Some of the biggest threats to cultural values today include:

Cultural appropriation

When aspects of a minority culture are adopted by members of the dominant culture, it can feel disrespectful or like the meaning and importance are lost. Cultural appropriation of clothing, hairstyles, music, or religious practices can damage or dilute cultural values when done without proper understanding, respect, or permission.

Spread of misinformation

The internet and social media have enabled the rapid spread of both information and misinformation. False or misleading information about cultural beliefs , practices, or histories can undermine and distort cultural values. It’s important we educate ourselves about cultures different from our own to avoid perpetuating stereotypes or spreading misinformation, even unintentionally.

Globalization of media.

Access to media from around the world through streaming services and the internet exposes us to cultures different from our own. While cultural exchange can be positive, the globalization of media does threaten local cultural values by promoting more western or American ideologies. Local media, arts, music, and entertainment industries struggle to compete, and traditions can be lost.

While tourism promotes cultural appreciation and economic benefits, uncontrolled tourism can be damaging. Disrespectful tourists who treat cultural sites and practices as spectacles rather than with reverence can degrade sacred values. Overtourism leads to overcrowding, environmental damage, and a loss of authenticity. Regulations and sustainable tourism practices are needed to protect cultural values from the threats of tourism.

Overall, protecting cultural values in today’s connected world requires education, open-mindedness, cultural sensitivity, and a willingness to listen and understand each other, even when we don’t see eye to eye. Promoting inclusiveness, fighting misinformation, and encouraging cultural diversity will help ensure traditional values survive and thrive. But change is inevitable, and cultural values will continue to evolve and adapt to the modern world, as they always have.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Cultural Values in a Globalized World

Cultural values shape societies and bring people together, but in today’s globalized world, cultural identities are evolving. As cultures blend and ideas spread, cultural values are adapting to reflect more inclusive and progressive ways of thinking.

Looking ahead, cultural values will likely drift in a more humanitarian direction. There will be a greater emphasis on human rights, empathy, and mutual understanding between groups. Discrimination based on attributes like ethnicity, gender, sensual orientation, and religion will continue to decline. People will value diversity and push for equal treatment of all individuals.

Interconnectedness will be highly prized. Things that divide us, like nationalism and tribalism, will be discouraged in favor of a shared human identity. There will be more appreciation for how our fates are bound together in an increasingly global community. Cooperation and collaboration across borders will be seen as vital to solving problems that affect us all.

Environmentalism will likely feature more prominently in cultural values. As the impacts of climate change intensify, cultures will promote more sustainable ways of living that reduce humanity’s ecological footprint. Protecting biodiversity and natural habitats will be seen as keys to ensuring a livable planet for future generations. An ethic of environmental stewardship will spread.

Even as cultures blend, cultural traditions will still be honored. While globalization exposes us to outside influences, people will continue to value the histories, languages, arts, and other hallmarks that make their cultural identities unique. The trick will be balancing cultural preservation with a spirit of openness, inclusion, and shared progress.

The future of cultural values looks bright if we make the well-being of all people and our planet central to how cultures evolve in the decades ahead. By embracing diversity, championing human rights, and protecting our environment, cultural values can help create a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world for all.

You now have a sense of what cultural values are and how deeply they shape society. But cultural values are complex; they evolve over time and differ across groups. The values you hold dear say a lot about your identity and experiences. At their best, cultural values bind communities together and give life deeper meaning. At their worst, they can promote close-mindedness and conflict with others.

Understanding cultural values—both your own and those of others—is so important in today’s global world. So keep exploring, questioning assumptions, and seeking to understand people who are different. That’s the only way we’ll build a future filled with more connection and less division. Cultural values matter, so make the effort to understand them.

• Cultural exchange: Embracing Cultural Exchange in a Globalized World by FasterCapital 
• 38 Cultural Values Examples By  Pernilla Stammler Jaliff (MSSc)
• Understanding How Culture Impacts Local Business Practices
• Behav Sci (Basel) , Individualism, Collectivism, and Allocation Behavior: Evidence from the Ultimatum Game and Dictator Game Jingjing Jiao , –  doi:  10.3390/bs13020169 from An official website of the United States government.
• Cross-Cultural Communication and Cultural Understanding Written by MasterClass
• PhD Assoc. Prof. Natalia Bogoliubova, PhD Assoc. Prof. Julia Nikolaev, – Cultural Ties in a Globalization World: The Threats and Challenge (PDF)

Let’s boost your self-growth with Believe in Mind.

Interested in self-reflection tips, learning hacks, and knowing ways to calm down your mind? We offer you the best content which you have been looking for.

Follow Me on

You May Like Also

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Cultural Identity Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

No matter where you study, composing essays of any type and complexity is a critical component in any studying program. Most likely, you have already been assigned the task to write a cultural identity essay, which is an essay that has to do a lot with your personality and cultural background. In essence, writing a cultural identity essay is fundamental for providing the reader with an understanding of who you are and which outlook you have. This may include the topics of religion, traditions, ethnicity, race, and so on. So, what shall you do to compose a winning cultural identity essay?

Cultural Identity Paper: Definitions, Goals & Topics 

Before starting off with a cultural identity essay, it is fundamental to uncover what is particular about this type of paper. First and foremost, it will be rather logical to begin with giving a general and straightforward definition of a cultural identity essay. In essence, cultural identity essay implies outlining the role of the culture in defining your outlook, shaping your personality, points of view regarding a multitude of matters, and forming your qualities and beliefs. Given a simpler definition, a cultural identity essay requires you to write about how culture has influenced your personality and yourself in general. So in this kind of essay you as a narrator need to give an understanding of who you are, which strengths you have, and what your solid life position is.

Yet, the goal of a cultural identity essay is not strictly limited to describing who you are and merely outlining your biography. Instead, this type of essay pursues specific objectives, achieving which is a perfect indicator of how high-quality your essay is. Initially, the primary goal implies outlining your cultural focus and why it makes you peculiar. For instance, if you are a french adolescent living in Canada, you may describe what is so special about it: traditions of the community, beliefs, opinions, approaches. Basically, you may talk about the principles of the society as well as its beliefs that made you become the person you are today.

So far, cultural identity is a rather broad topic, so you will likely have a multitude of fascinating ideas for your paper. For instance, some of the most attention-grabbing topics for a personal cultural identity essay are:

• Memorable traditions of your community
• A cultural event that has influenced your personality 
• Influential people in your community
• Locations and places that tell a lot about your culture and identity

Cultural Identity Essay Structure

As you might have already guessed, composing an essay on cultural identity might turn out to be fascinating but somewhat challenging. Even though the spectrum of topics is rather broad, the question of how to create the most appropriate and appealing structure remains open.

Like any other kind of an academic essay, a cultural identity essay must compose of three parts: introduction, body, and concluding remarks. Let’s take a more detailed look at each of the components:

Introduction 

Starting to write an essay is most likely one of the most time-consuming and mind-challenging procedures. Therefore, you can postpone writing your introduction and approach it right after you finish body paragraphs. Nevertheless, you should think of a suitable topic as well as come up with an explicit thesis. At the beginning of the introduction section, give some hints regarding the matter you are going to discuss. You have to mention your thesis statement after you have briefly guided the reader through the topic. You can also think of indicating some vital information about yourself, which is, of course, relevant to the topic you selected.

Your main body should reveal your ideas and arguments. Most likely, it will consist of 3-5 paragraphs that are more or less equal in size. What you have to keep in mind to compose a sound ‘my cultural identity essay’ is the argumentation. In particular, always remember to reveal an argument and back it up with evidence in each body paragraph. And, of course, try to stick to the topic and make sure that you answer the overall question that you stated in your topic. Besides, always keep your thesis statement in mind: make sure that none of its components is left without your attention and argumentation.

Conclusion 

Finally, after you are all finished with body paragraphs and introduction, briefly summarize all the points in your final remarks section. Paraphrase what you have already revealed in the main body, and make sure you logically lead the reader to the overall argument. Indicate your cultural identity once again and draw a bottom line regarding how your culture has influenced your personality.

Best Tips For Writing Cultural Identity Essay

Writing a ‘cultural identity essay about myself’ might be somewhat challenging at first. However, you will no longer struggle if you take a couple of plain tips into consideration. Following the tips below will give you some sound and reasonable cultural identity essay ideas as well as make the writing process much more pleasant:

• Start off by creating an outline. The reason why most students struggle with creating a cultural identity essay lies behind a weak structure. The best way to organize your ideas and let them flow logically is to come up with a helpful outline. Having a reference to build on is incredibly useful, and it allows your essay to look polished.
• Remember to write about yourself. The task of a cultural identity essay implies not focusing on your culture per se, but to talk about how it shaped your personality. So, switch your focus to describing who you are and what your attitudes and positions are. 
• Think of the most fundamental cultural aspects. Needless to say, you first need to come up with a couple of ideas to be based upon in your paper. So, brainstorm all the possible ideas and try to decide which of them deserve the most attention. In essence, try to determine which of the aspects affected your personality the most.
• Edit and proofread before submitting your paper. Of course, the content and the coherence of your essay’s structure play a crucial role. But the grammatical correctness matters a lot too. Even if you are a native speaker, you may still make accidental errors in the text. To avoid the situation when unintentional mistakes spoil the impression from your essay, always double check your cultural identity essay. 

A life lesson in Romeo and Juliet taught by death

Due to human nature, we draw conclusions only when life gives us a lesson since the experience of others is not so effective and powerful. Therefore, when analyzing and sorting out common problems we face, we may trace a parallel with well-known book characters or real historical figures. Moreover, we often compare our situations with […]

Ethical Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

Art Research Paper Topics

Students obtaining degrees in fine art and art & design programs most commonly need to write a paper on art topics. However, this subject is becoming more popular in educational institutions for expanding students’ horizons. Thus, both groups of receivers of education: those who are into arts and those who only get acquainted with art […]

Have a language expert improve your writing

Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes, generate your apa citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• College essay
• How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

Published on November 1, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Table of contents

What is a diversity essay, identify how you will enrich the campus community, share stories about your lived experience, explain how your background or identity has affected your life, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Diversity essays ask students to highlight an important aspect of their identity, background, culture, experience, viewpoints, beliefs, skills, passions, goals, etc.

Diversity essays can come in many forms. Some scholarships are offered specifically for students who come from an underrepresented background or identity in higher education. At highly competitive schools, supplemental diversity essays require students to address how they will enhance the student body with a unique perspective, identity, or background.

In the Common Application and applications for several other colleges, some main essay prompts ask about how your background, identity, or experience has affected you.

Why schools want a diversity essay

Many universities believe a student body representing different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community.

Through the diversity essay, admissions officers want students to articulate the following:

• What makes them different from other applicants
• Stories related to their background, identity, or experience
• How their unique lived experience has affected their outlook, activities, and goals

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Think about what aspects of your identity or background make you unique, and choose one that has significantly impacted your life.

For some students, it may be easy to identify what sets them apart from their peers. But if you’re having trouble identifying what makes you different from other applicants, consider your life from an outsider’s perspective. Don’t presume your lived experiences are normal or boring just because you’re used to them.

Some examples of identities or experiences that you might write about include the following:

• Race/ethnicity
• Gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Nationality
• Socioeconomic status
• Immigration background
• Religion/belief system
• Place of residence
• Family circumstances
• Extracurricular activities related to diversity

Include vulnerable, authentic stories about your lived experiences. Maintain focus on your experience rather than going into too much detail comparing yourself to others or describing their experiences.

Keep the focus on you

Tell a story about how your background, identity, or experience has impacted you. While you can briefly mention another person’s experience to provide context, be sure to keep the essay focused on you. Admissions officers are mostly interested in learning about your lived experience, not anyone else’s.

When I was a baby, my grandmother took me in, even though that meant postponing her retirement and continuing to work full-time at the local hairdresser. Even working every shift she could, she never missed a single school play or soccer game.

She and I had a really special bond, even creating our own special language to leave each other secret notes and messages. She always pushed me to succeed in school, and celebrated every academic achievement like it was worthy of a Nobel Prize. Every month, any leftover tip money she received at work went to a special 509 savings plan for my college education.

When I was in the 10th grade, my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS. We didn’t have health insurance, and what began with quitting soccer eventually led to dropping out of school as her condition worsened. In between her doctor’s appointments, keeping the house tidy, and keeping her comfortable, I took advantage of those few free moments to study for the GED.

In school pictures at Raleigh Elementary School, you could immediately spot me as “that Asian girl.” At lunch, I used to bring leftover fun see noodles, but after my classmates remarked how they smelled disgusting, I begged my mom to make a “regular” lunch of sliced bread, mayonnaise, and deli meat.

Although born and raised in North Carolina, I felt a cultural obligation to learn my “mother tongue” and reconnect with my “homeland.” After two years of all-day Saturday Chinese school, I finally visited Beijing for the first time, expecting I would finally belong. While my face initially assured locals of my Chinese identity, the moment I spoke, my cover was blown. My Chinese was littered with tonal errors, and I was instantly labeled as an “ABC,” American-born Chinese.

I felt culturally homeless.

Speak from your own experience

Highlight your actions, difficulties, and feelings rather than comparing yourself to others. While it may be tempting to write about how you have been more or less fortunate than those around you, keep the focus on you and your unique experiences, as shown below.

I began to despair when the FAFSA website once again filled with red error messages.

I had been at the local library for hours and hadn’t even been able to finish the form, much less the other to-do items for my application.

I am the first person in my family to even consider going to college. My parents work two jobs each, but even then, it’s sometimes very hard to make ends meet. Rather than playing soccer or competing in speech and debate, I help my family by taking care of my younger siblings after school and on the weekends.

“We only speak one language here. Speak proper English!” roared a store owner when I had attempted to buy bread and accidentally used the wrong preposition.

In middle school, I had relentlessly studied English grammar textbooks and received the highest marks.

Leaving Seoul was hard, but living in West Orange, New Jersey was much harder一especially navigating everyday communication with Americans.

After sharing relevant personal stories, make sure to provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your perspective, activities, and goals. You should also explain how your background led you to apply to this university and why you’re a good fit.

Include your outlook, actions, and goals

Conclude your essay with an insight about how your background or identity has affected your outlook, actions, and goals. You should include specific actions and activities that you have done as a result of your insight.

One night, before the midnight premiere of Avengers: Endgame , I stopped by my best friend Maria’s house. Her mother prepared tamales, churros, and Mexican hot chocolate, packing them all neatly in an Igloo lunch box. As we sat in the line snaking around the AMC theater, I thought back to when Maria and I took salsa classes together and when we belted out Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” at karaoke. In that moment, as I munched on a chicken tamale, I realized how much I admired the beauty, complexity, and joy in Maria’s culture but had suppressed and devalued my own.

The following semester, I joined Model UN. Since then, I have learned how to proudly represent other countries and have gained cultural perspectives other than my own. I now understand that all cultures, including my own, are equal. I still struggle with small triggers, like when I go through airport security and feel a suspicious glance toward me, or when I feel self-conscious for bringing kabsa to school lunch. But in the future, I hope to study and work in international relations to continue learning about other cultures and impart a positive impression of Saudi culture to the world.

The smell of the early morning dew and the welcoming whinnies of my family’s horses are some of my most treasured childhood memories. To this day, our farm remains so rural that we do not have broadband access, and we’re too far away from the closest town for the postal service to reach us.

Going to school regularly was always a struggle: between the unceasing demands of the farm and our lack of connectivity, it was hard to keep up with my studies. Despite being a voracious reader, avid amateur chemist, and active participant in the classroom, emergencies and unforeseen events at the farm meant that I had a lot of unexcused absences.

Although it had challenges, my upbringing taught me resilience, the value of hard work, and the importance of family. Staying up all night to watch a foal being born, successfully saving the animals from a minor fire, and finding ways to soothe a nervous mare afraid of thunder have led to an unbreakable family bond.

Our farm is my family’s birthright and our livelihood, and I am eager to learn how to ensure the farm’s financial and technological success for future generations. In college, I am looking forward to joining a chapter of Future Farmers of America and studying agricultural business to carry my family’s legacy forward.

Tailor your answer to the university

After explaining how your identity or background will enrich the university’s existing student body, you can mention the university organizations, groups, or courses in which you’re interested.

Maybe a larger public school setting will allow you to broaden your community, or a small liberal arts college has a specialized program that will give you space to discover your voice and identity. Perhaps this particular university has an active affinity group you’d like to join.

Demonstrating how a university’s specific programs or clubs are relevant to you can show that you’ve done your research and would be a great addition to the university.

At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to study engineering not only to emulate my mother’s achievements and strength, but also to forge my own path as an engineer with disabilities. I appreciate the University of Michigan’s long-standing dedication to supporting students with disabilities in ways ranging from accessible housing to assistive technology. At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to receive a top-notch education and use it to inspire others to strive for their best, regardless of their circumstances.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

In addition to your main college essay , some schools and scholarships may ask for a supplementary essay focused on an aspect of your identity or background. This is sometimes called a diversity essay .

Many universities believe a student body composed of different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community, which is why they assign a diversity essay .

To write an effective diversity essay , include vulnerable, authentic stories about your unique identity, background, or perspective. Provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your outlook, activities, and goals. If relevant, you should also mention how your background has led you to apply for this university and why you’re a good fit.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Courault, K. (2023, May 31). How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/diversity-essay/

Is this article helpful?

Kirsten Courault

Other students also liked, how to write about yourself in a college essay | examples, what do colleges look for in an essay | examples & tips, how to write a scholarship essay | template & example, unlimited academic ai-proofreading.

✔ Document error-free in 5minutes ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts

Benefit from Reliable and Quality Service Today!

Your essay will take just a few minutes of your day! We'll craft it for you in a moment

Cultural Values Essay: Types, Topics and Hints

To start with, the topic “Cultural values” is quite a wide field to work on so you should focus on a smaller, more narrow or specific facet of it. Also, the required type of essay matters (you can get this information from your assignment instructions) as the strategy of writing differs depending on whether you have to complete a comparative, argumentative or expository paper.

Here are the hints for students to complete a successful paper about cultural values.

Definition Essay About Cultural Values

Definition essay is a type of writing which requires the writer to develop and explain his or her personal characterization of a notion. Also, the classifications and the view of various scholars can be included.

Possible explanation of the term of “cultural values”, which you can develop in your paper:

• Cultural values as moral norms to pursue;
• Some communities’ specific expression;
• Sociological concept that means set rules and norms developed in a particular place, time and community;
• Ethical view on cultural values;
• Cultural values as an anthropological concept.

Helpful tip: if you are having hard times defining abstract terms, such as “cultural value”, you should think about the example representing these notions. It will help you to find support for the arguments and get reader’s interest, as well.

Comparative Essay on Cultural Values

Comparative essay is a piece of writing providing the analysis of two notions, subjects, or events accenting on their similar and distinctive features. The important requirement for selecting objects to compare – they must fall under one category, which will provide a reasonable contrast and comparison.

When completing a paper about cultural essay there are two certain ways to construct a meaningful comparison: you can write about the cultural values of different historical periods and of different places (countries, cities and even regions). You will be able to find a lot of material when contrasting American and European cultural values. Here are some ideas for your work:

European Cultural Values

• Traditionalism;
• Social values;
• Aestheticism;

American Cultural Values

• Property and finances;
• Equality and safety;
• Unlimited opportunities;
• “American dream”;
• Equal rights;
• Struggling for results.

Argumentative Essay About Cultural Values

Argumentative writing will require you to state your position regarding a certain issue and find at least 3 arguments to prove it. You must use evidence (facts and examples) in order to defend your claims .

Ideas for an argumentative paper:

• Manifesting cultural values in products;
• Dependence of cultural values on social standards;
• How cultural values are represented in closer observation;
• Cultural values and legal systems: does a set of cultural norms influence the law?
• German cultural values through advertising of automobiles;
• Freedom and individuality as basic cultural values of America;
• Impact of religion on cultural values in Latin American countries;
• Are cultural values stereotyped?
• Trends that were influenced by American cultural values;
• Eastern cultural influence in Europe nowadays;
• Cultural values and people behavioral strategies;
• How product design is controlled by cultural patterns.

The Importance of Cultural Values

The main idea of cultural values is about what is right and what is wrong for a certain part of people on our globe, that have been passing down for generations to their sons and daughters. These people belong to one or similar cultures and surely should have similar values in life, like goals they see as important and that deserve their attention. Foe them, cultural values are the principles and core ideals on which the whole community exists.

Do they differ? Yes, of course. Sometimes the discretion is even so big that the whole communities do not understand each other’s way of life and traditions. However, as we are growing in a modern and tolerant world, we should have learnt to take into consideration people from other cultural background as well as they should.

Cultural differences do not always depend on religious specialties; however, they can often be a reason to having some cultural conflicts between people of different beliefs. No doubts, they have been created long time before people realized they have sneaked into their life and have been grounded in everyday routine to rule their making decision process.

Think of what is important in the country or even a region where you have been grown up; depict some interesting customs and traditions of your family and try to explain how did they evoke and interfere into your life, how do they influence your everyday routine and your family’s way of life and get to know much more about your own cultural heritage.

The Pro and Contra on the Globalization Process

One thing is to learn yourself and young children to be tolerant to other cultures and their values and another one is to observe a massive wave of culture unification that we can feel nowadays. Some people claim it will put under the danger a cultural identity of many communities, others congratulate this process as it may raze to the ground the issues of nationalism and racism.

So, what is better, living in peace in a monocultural society where Asian and South American cultures are completely the same or having a diversity of cultural values but constantly fighting discrimination problems? Let us take a look at this point.

Globalization Merits

• International team effectivity. Studies have shown that companies with international co-workers tend to unify themselves, in other words to be alike. This is an advantage of globalization – they find it in a quicker way to communicate without being misunderstood and due to their similarities, they can work together without any prejudices;
• No conflicts and strikes caused by cultural differences. No more offends and insults that some community has more privileges than others in one separate country as all live under one completion of cultural values;
• No more racism, discrimination or cultural stereotypes. We become more tolerant and open to others and do not consider them of a lower class than us based on their cultural background.

Globalization Deficiencies

• The above mentioned international teams will definitely experience a lack of new inspirations when having to deal with a new task. No doubts, we all are individuals and have lots of new ideas but with a different cultural background we can have different points of view on the issue and thus become more creative when it comes to getting out of some frames;
• People often face social injustice as well as prejudices based on cultural and national differences which causes job unemployment;
• The eternal and colorful history of the previous generation, of our ancestors will fade and disappear due to a new trend of being equal in all aspects of life.

So, these are a few tips and hints on a successful writing of your essay on cultural issues, put your thumbs up if they were helpful and stay with us to read more information on our blog!

Leave a comment:

Your email address will not be published.

Place your order now

Cultural Values Essays

Personal view of organizations, what is my culture, indigenous perspectives and preservation, popular essay topics.

• American Dream
• Artificial Intelligence
• Black Lives Matter
• Bullying Essay
• Career Goals Essay
• Causes of the Civil War
• Child Abusing
• Civil Rights Movement
• Community Service
• Cultural Identity
• Cyber Bullying
• Death Penalty
• Depression Essay
• Domestic Violence
• Freedom of Speech
• Global Warming
• Gun Control
• Human Trafficking
• I Believe Essay
• Immigration
• Importance of Education
• Israel and Palestine Conflict
• Leadership Essay
• Legalizing Marijuanas
• Mental Health
• National Honor Society
• Police Brutality
• Pollution Essay
• Racism Essay
• Romeo and Juliet
• Same Sex Marriages
• Social Media
• The Great Gatsby
• The Yellow Wallpaper
• Time Management
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Violent Video Games
• What Makes You Unique
• Why I Want to Be a Nurse
• Send us an e-mail

Essays About Values: 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Similar to how our values guide us, let this guide with essays about values and writing prompts help you write your essay.

Values are the core principles that guide the actions we take and the choices we make. They are the cornerstones of our identity. On a community or organizational level, values are the moral code that every member must embrace to live harmoniously and work together towards shared goals. 

We acquire our values from different sources such as parents, mentors, friends, cultures, and experiences. All of these build on one another — some rejected as we see fit — for us to form our perception of our values and what will lead us to a happy and fulfilled life.

5 Essay Examples

1. what today’s classrooms can learn from ancient cultures by linda flanagan, 2. stand out to your hiring panel with a personal value statement by maggie wooll, 3. make your values mean something by patrick m. lencioni, 4. how greed outstripped need by beth azar, 5. a shift in american family values is fueling estrangement by joshua coleman, 1. my core values, 2. how my upbringing shaped my values, 3. values of today’s youth, 4. values of a good friend, 5. an experience that shaped your values, 6. remembering our values when innovating, 7. important values of school culture, 8. books that influenced your values, 9. religious faith and moral values, 10. schwartz’s theory of basic values.

“Connectedness is another core value among Maya families, and teachers seek to cultivate it… While many American teachers also value relationships with their students, that effort is undermined by the competitive environment seen in many Western classrooms.”

Ancient communities keep their traditions and values of a hands-off approach to raising their kids. They also preserve their hunter-gatherer mindsets and others that help their kids gain patience, initiative, a sense of connectedness, and other qualities that make a helpful child.

“How do you align with the company’s mission and add to its culture? Because it contains such vital information, your personal value statement should stand out on your resume or in your application package.”

Want to rise above other candidates in the jobs market? Then always highlight your value statement. A personal value statement should be short but still, capture the aspirations and values of the company. The essay provides an example of a captivating value statement and tips for crafting one.

“Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. But coming up with strong values—and sticking to them—requires real guts.”

Along with the mission and vision, clear values should dictate a company’s strategic goals. However, several CEOs still needed help to grasp organizational values fully. The essay offers a direction in setting these values and impresses on readers the necessity to preserve them at all costs. 

“‘He compared the values held by people in countries with more competitive forms of capitalism with the values of folks in countries that have a more cooperative style of capitalism… These countries rely more on strategic cooperation… rather than relying mostly on free-market competition as the United States does.”

The form of capitalism we have created today has shaped our high value for material happiness. In this process, psychologists said we have allowed our moral and ethical values to drift away from us for greed to take over. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“From the adult child’s perspective, there might be much to gain from an estrangement: the liberation from those perceived as hurtful or oppressive, the claiming of authority in a relationship, and the sense of control over which people to keep in one’s life. For the mother or father, there is little benefit when their child cuts off contact.”

It is most challenging when the bonds between parent and child weaken in later years. Psychologists have been navigating this problem among modern families, which is not an easy conflict to resolve. It requires both parties to give their best in humbling themselves and understanding their loved ones, no matter how divergent their values are. 

10 Writing  Prompts On Essays About Values

For this topic prompt, contemplate your non-negotiable core values and why you strive to observe them at all costs. For example, you might value honesty and integrity above all else. Expound on why cultivating fundamental values leads to a happy and meaningful life. Finally, ponder other values you would like to gain for your future self. Write down how you have been practicing to adopt these aspired values. 

Many of our values may have been instilled in us during childhood. This essay discusses the essential values you gained from your parents or teachers while growing up. Expound on their importance in helping you flourish in your adult years. Then, offer recommendations on what households, schools, or communities can do to ensure that more young people adopt these values.

Is today’s youth lacking essential values, or is there simply a shift in what values generations uphold? Strive to answer this and write down the healthy values that are emerging and dying. Then think of ways society can preserve healthy values while doing away with bad ones. Of course, this change will always start at home, so also encourage parents, as role models, to be mindful of their words, actions and behavior.  

The greatest gift in life is friendship. In this essay, enumerate the top values a friend should have. You may use your best friend as an example. Then, cite the best traits your best friend has that have influenced you to be a better version of yourself. Finally, expound on how these values can effectively sustain a healthy friendship in the long term. 

We all have that one defining experience that has forever changed how we see life and the values we hold dear. Describe yours through storytelling with the help of our storytelling guide . This experience may involve a decision, a conversation you had with someone, or a speech you heard at an event.  

With today’s innovation, scientists can make positive changes happen. But can we truly exercise our values when we fiddle with new technologies whose full extent of positive and adverse effects we do not yet understand such as AI? Contemplate this question and look into existing regulations on how we curb the creation or use of technologies that go against our values. Finally, assess these rules’ effectiveness and other options society has. 

Highlight a school’s role in honing a person’s values. Then, look into the different aspects of your school’s culture. Identify which best practices distinct in your school are helping students develop their values. You could consider whether your teachers exhibit themselves as admirable role models or specific parts of the curriculum that help you build good character. 

In this essay, recommend your readers to pick up your favorite books, particularly those that served as pathways to enlightening insights and values. To start, provide a summary of the book’s story. It would be better if you could do so without revealing too much to avoid spoiling your readers’ experience. Then, elaborate on how you have applied the values you learned from the book.

For many, religious faith is the underlying reason for their values. For this prompt, explore further the inextricable links between religion and values. If you identify with a certain religion, share your thoughts on the values your sector subscribes to. You can also tread the more controversial path on the conflicts of religious values with socially accepted beliefs or practices, such as abortion. 

Dive deeper into the ten universal values that social psychologist Shalom Schwartz came up with: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Look into their connections and conflicts against each other. Then, pick your favorite value and explain how you relate to it the most. Also, find if value conflicts within you, as theorized by Schwartz.

Make sure to check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide on using an AI grammar checker .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

View all posts

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples

If you’ve started to research college application requirements for the schools on your list, you might have come across the “cultural diversity essay.” In this guide, we’ll explore the cultural diversity essay in depth. We will compare the cultural diversity essay to the community essay and discuss how to approach these kinds of supplements. We’ll also provide examples of diversity essays and community essay examples. But first, let’s discuss exactly what a cultural diversity essay is. 

The purpose of the cultural diversity essay in college applications is to show the admissions committee what makes you unique. The cultural diversity essay also lets you describe what type of “ diversity ” you would bring to campus.

We’ll also highlight a diversity essay sample for three college applications. These include the Georgetown application essay , Rice application essay , and Williams application essay . We’ll provide examples of diversity essays for each college. Then, for each of these college essays that worked, we will analyze their strengths to help you craft your own essays. 

Finally, we’ll give you some tips on how to write a cultural diversity essay that will make your applications shine. 

But first, let’s explore the types of college essays you might encounter on your college applications. 

Types of College Essays

College application requirements will differ among schools. However, you’ll submit one piece of writing to nearly every school on your list—the personal statement . A strong personal statement can help you stand out in the admissions process. 

So, how do you know what to write about? That depends on the type of college essay included in your college application requirements. 

There are a few main types of college essays that you might encounter in the college admissions process. Theese include the “Why School ” essay, the “Why Major ” essay, and the extracurricular activity essay. This also includes the type of essay we will focus on in this guide—the cultural diversity essay. 

“Why School” essay

The “Why School ” essay is exactly what it sounds like. For this type of college essay, you’ll need to underscore why you want to go to this particular school. 

However, don’t make the mistake of just listing off what you like about the school. Additionally, don’t just reiterate information you can find on their admissions website. Instead, you’ll want to make connections between what the school offers and how you are a great fit for that college community. 

“Why Major” essay

The idea behind the “Why Major ” essay is similar to that of the “Why School ” essay above. However, instead of writing about the school at large, this essay should highlight why you plan to study your chosen major.

There are plenty of directions you could take with this type of essay. For instance, you might describe how you chose this major, what career you plan to pursue upon graduation, or other details.

Extracurricular Activity essay

The extracurricular activity essay asks you to elaborate on one of the activities that you participated in outside of the classroom. 

For this type of college essay, you’ll need to select an extracurricular activity that you pursued while you were in high school. Bonus points if you can tie your extracurricular activity into your future major, career goals, or other extracurricular activities for college. Overall, your extracurricular activity essay should go beyond your activities list. In doing so, it should highlight why your chosen activity matters to you.

Cultural Diversity essay

The cultural diversity essay is your chance to expound upon diversity in all its forms. Before you write your cultural diversity essay, you should ask yourself some key questions. These questions can include: How will you bring diversity to your future college campus? What unique perspective do you bring to the table? 

Another sub-category of the cultural diversity essay is the gender diversity essay. As its name suggests, this essay would center around the author’s gender. This essay would highlight how gender shapes the way the writer understands the world around them. 

Later, we’ll look at examples of diversity essays and other college essays that worked. But before we do, let’s figure out how to identify a cultural diversity essay in the first place. 

How to identify a ‘cultural diversity’ essay

So, you’re wondering how you’ll be able to identify a cultural diversity essay as you review your college application requirements. 

Aside from the major giveaway of having the word “diversity” in the prompt, a cultural diversity essay will ask you to describe what makes you different from other applicants. In other words, what aspects of your unique culture(s) have influenced your perspective and shaped you into who you are today?

Diversity can refer to race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, or anything in between. You can write about a myriad of things in a cultural diversity essay. For instance, you might discuss your personal background, identity, values, experiences, or how you’ve overcome challenges in your life. 

However, don’t feel limited in what you can address in a cultural diversity essay. The words “culture” and “diversity” mean different things to different people. Above all, you’ll want your diversity essays for college to be personal and sincere. 

How is a ‘community’ essay different? 

A community essay can also be considered a cultural diversity essay. In fact, you can think of the community essay as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. However, there is a key difference between a community essay and a cultural diversity essay, which we will illustrate below. 

You might have already seen some community essay examples while you were researching college application requirements. But how exactly is a community essay different from a cultural diversity essay?

One way to tell the difference between community essay examples and cultural diversity essay examples is by the prompt. A community essay will highlight, well, community . This means it will focus on how your identity will shape your interactions on campus—not just how it informs your own experiences.

Two common forms to look out for

Community essay examples can take two forms. First, you’ll find community essay examples about your past experiences. These let you show the admissions team how you have positively influenced your own community. 

Other community essay examples, however, will focus on the future. These community essay examples will ask you to detail how you will contribute to your future college community. We refer to these as college community essay examples.

In college community essay examples, you’ll see applicants detail how they might interact with their fellow students. These essays may also discuss how students plan to positively contribute to the campus community. 

As we mentioned above, the community essay, along with community essay examples and college community essay examples, fit into the larger category of the cultural diversity essay. Although we do not have specific community essay examples or college community essay examples in this guide, we will continue to highlight the subtle differences between the two. 

Before we continue the discussion of community essay examples and college community essay examples, let’s start with some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts. For each of the cultural diversity essay prompts, we’ll name the institutions that include these diversity essays for college as part of their college application requirements. 

What are some examples of ‘cultural diversity’ essays? 

Now, you have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the cultural diversity essay and the community essay. So, next, let’s look at some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts.

The prompts below are from the Georgetown application, Rice application, and Williams application, respectively. As we discuss the similarities and differences between prompts, remember the framework we provided above for what constitutes a cultural diversity essay and a community essay. 

Later in this guide, we’ll provide real examples of diversity essays, including Georgetown essay examples, Rice University essay examples, and Williams supplemental essays examples. These are all considered college essays that worked—meaning that the author was accepted into that particular institution. 

Georgetown Supplementals Essays

Later, we’ll look at Georgetown supplemental essay examples. Diversity essays for Georgetown are a product of this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. 

You might have noticed two keywords in this prompt right away: “diverse” and “community.” These buzzwords indicate that this prompt is a cultural diversity essay. You could even argue that responses to this prompt would result in college community essay examples. After all, the prompt refers to the Georgetown community. 

For this prompt, you’ll want to produce a diversity essay sample that highlights who you are. In order to do that successfully, you’ll need to self-reflect before putting pen to paper. What aspects of your background, personality, or values best describe who you are? How might your presence at Georgetown influence or contribute to their diverse community? 

Additionally, this cultural diversity essay can be personal or creative. So, you have more flexibility with the Georgetown supplemental essays than with other similar diversity essay prompts. Depending on the direction you go, your response to this prompt could be considered a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or a college community essay. 

Rice University Essays

The current Rice acceptance rate is just 9% , making it a highly selective school. Because the Rice acceptance rate is so low, your personal statement and supplemental essays can make a huge difference. 

The Rice University essay examples we’ll provide below are based on this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? 

Breaking down the prompt.

Like the prompt above, this cultural diversity essay asks about your “life experiences,” “cultural traditions,” and personal “perspectives.” These phrases indicate a cultural diversity essay. Keep in mind this may not be the exact prompt you’ll have to answer in your own Rice application. However, future Rice prompts will likely follow a similar framework as this diversity essay sample.

Although this prompt is not as flexible as the Georgetown prompt, it does let you discuss aspects of Rice’s academic life and Residential College System that appeal to you. You can also highlight how your experiences have influenced your personal perspective. 

The prompt also asks about how you would contribute to life at Rice. So, your response could also fall in line with college community essay examples. Remember, college community essay examples are another sub-category of community essay examples. Successful college community essay examples will illustrate the ways in which students would contribute to their future campus community. 

Williams Supplemental Essays

Like the Rice acceptance rate, the Williams acceptance rate is also 9% . Because the Williams acceptance rate is so low, you’ll want to pay close attention to the Williams supplemental essays examples as you begin the writing process. 

The Williams supplemental essays examples below are based on this prompt: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry – a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives, and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an Entry? What perspective would you add to the conversation with your peer(s)?

Reflecting on the prompt.

Immediately, words like “diverse,” “backgrounds,” “perspectives,” “interests,” and “differentiate” should stand out to you. These keywords highlight the fact that this is a cultural diversity essay. Similar to the Rice essay, this may not be the exact prompt you’ll face on your Williams application. However, we can still learn from it.

Like the Georgetown essay, this prompt requires you to put in some self-reflection before you start writing. What aspects of your background differentiate you from other people? How would these differences impact your interactions with peers? 

This prompt also touches on the “student community” and how you would “add to the conversation with your peer(s).” By extension, any strong responses to this prompt could also be considered as college community essay examples. 

Community Essays

All of the prompts above mention campus community. So, you could argue that they are also examples of community essays. 

Like we mentioned above, you can think of community essays as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. If the prompt alludes to the campus community, or if your response is centered on how you would interact within that community, your essay likely falls into the world of college community essay examples. 

Regardless of what you would classify the essay as, all successful essays will be thoughtful, personal, and rich with details. We’ll show you examples of this in our “college essays that worked” section below. 

Which schools require a cultural diversity or community essay? 

Besides Georgetown, Rice, and Williams, many other college applications require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. In fact, from the Ivy League to HBCUs and state schools, the cultural diversity essay is a staple across college applications. 

Although we will not provide a diversity essay sample for each of the colleges below, it is helpful to read the prompts. This will build your familiarity with other college applications that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. Some schools that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay include New York University , Duke University , Harvard University , Johns Hopkins University , and University of Michigan . 

New York University

NYU listed a cultural diversity essay as part of its 2022-2023 college application requirements. Here is the prompt:

NYU was founded on the belief that a student’s identity should not dictate the ability for them to access higher education. That sense of opportunity for all students, of all backgrounds, remains a part of who we are today and a critical part of what makes us a world class university. Our community embraces diversity, in all its forms, as a cornerstone of the NYU experience. We would like to better understand how your experiences would help us to shape and grow our diverse community.

Duke university.

Duke is well-known for its community essay: 

What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you? If there’s something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well.

A top-ranked Ivy League institution, Harvard University also has a cultural diversity essay as part of its college application requirements: 

Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development, or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.

Johns hopkins university.

The Johns Hopkins supplement is another example of a cultural diversity essay: 

Founded in the spirit of exploration and discovery, Johns Hopkins University encourages students to share their perspectives, develop their interests, and pursue new experiences. Use this space to share something you’d like the admissions committee to know about you (your interests, your background, your identity, or your community), and how it has shaped what you want to get out of your college experience at Hopkins. 

University of michigan.

The University of Michigan requires a community essay for its application: 

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. 

Community essay examples.

The Duke and Michigan prompts are perfect illustrations of community essay examples. However, they have some critical differences. So, if you apply to both of these schools, you’ll have to change the way you approach either of these community essays. 

The Duke prompt asks you to highlight why you are a good match for the Duke community. You’ll also see this prompt in other community essay examples. To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to reference offerings specific to Duke (or whichever college requires this essay). In order to know what to reference, you’ll need to do your research before you start writing. 

Consider the following questions as you write your diversity essay sample if the prompt is similar to Duke University’s

• What values does this college community have? 
• How do these tie in with what you value? 
• Is there something that this college offers that matches your interests, personality, or background?  

On the other hand, the Michigan essay prompt asks you to describe a community that you belong to as well as your place within that community. This is another variation of the prompt for community essay examples. 

To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to identify a community that you belong to. Then, you’ll need to think critically about how you interact with that community. 

Below are some questions to consider as you write your diversity essay sample for colleges like Michigan: 

• Out of all the communities you belong to, which can you highlight in your response? 
• How have you impacted this community? 
• How has this community impacted you?

Now, in the next few sections, we’ll dive into the Georgetown supplemental essay examples, the Rice university essay examples, and the Williams supplemental essays examples. After each diversity essay sample, we’ll include a breakdown of why these are considered college essays that worked. 

Georgetown Essay Examples

As a reminder, the Georgetown essay examples respond to this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

Here is the excerpt of the diversity essay sample from our Georgetown essay examples: 

Georgetown University Essay Example

The best thing I ever did was skip eight days of school in a row. Despite the protests of teachers over missed class time, I told them that the world is my classroom. The lessons I remember most are those that took place during my annual family vacation to coastal Maine. That rural world is the most authentic and incredible classroom where learning simply happens and becomes exponential. 

Years ago, as I hunted through the rocks and seaweed for seaglass and mussels, I befriended a Maine local hauling her battered kayak on the shore. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had found a kindred spirit in Jeanne. Jeanne is a year-round resident who is more than the hard working, rugged Mainer that meets the eye; reserved and humble in nature, she is a wealth of knowledge and is self-taught through necessity. With thoughtful attention to detail, I engineered a primitive ramp made of driftwood and a pulley system to haul her kayak up the cliff. We diligently figured out complex problems and developed solutions through trial and error.

After running out of conventional materials, I recycled and reimagined items that had washed ashore. We expected to succeed, but were not afraid to fail. Working with Jeanne has been the best classroom in the world; without textbooks or technology, she has made a difference in my life. Whether building a basic irrigation system for her organic garden or installing solar panels to harness the sun’s energy, every project has shown me the value of taking action and making an impact. Each year brings a different project with new excitement and unique challenges. My resourcefulness, problem solving ability, and innovative thinking have advanced under her tutelage. 

While exploring the rocky coast of Maine, I embrace every experience as an unparalleled educational opportunity that transcends any classroom environment. I discovered that firsthand experience and real-world application of science are my best teachers. In school, applications of complex calculations and abstract theories are sometimes obscured by grades and structure. In Maine, I expand my love of science and renourish my curious spirit. I am a highly independent, frugal, resilient Mainer living as a southern girl in NC. 

Why this essay worked

This is one of the Georgetown supplemental essay examples that works, and here’s why. The author starts the essay with an interesting hook, which makes the reader want to learn more about this person and their perspective. 

Throughout the essay, the author illustrates their intellectual curiosity. From befriending Jeanne and creating a pulley system to engineering other projects on the rocky coast of Maine, the author demonstrates how they welcome challenges and work to solve problems. 

Further, the author mentions values that matter to them—taking action and making an impact. Both facets are also part of Georgetown’s core values . By making these connections in their essay, the author shows the admissions committee exactly how they would be a great fit for the Georgetown community. 

Finally, the author uses their experience in Maine to showcase their love of science, which is likely the field they will study at Georgetown. Like this writer, you should try to include most important parts of your identity into your essay. This includes things like life experiences, passions, majors, extracurricular activities for college, and more. 

Rice University Essay Examples

The Rice University essay examples are from this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? (500-word limit)

Rice university essay example.

Like every applicant, I also have a story to share. A story that makes me who I am and consists of chapters about my life experiences and adventures. Having been born in a different country, my journey to America was one of the most difficult things I had ever experienced. Everything felt different. The atmosphere, the places, the food, and especially the people. Everywhere I looked, I saw something new. Although it was a bit overwhelming, one thing had not changed.

The caring nature of the people was still prevalent in everyday interactions. I was overwhelmed by how supportive and understanding people were of one another. Whether it is race, religion, or culture, everyone was accepted and appreciated. I knew that I could be whoever I wanted to be and that the only limitation was my imagination. Through hard work and persistence I put my all in everything that I did. I get this work ethic from my father since he is living proof that anything can be accomplished with continued determination. Listening to the childhood stories he told me, my dad would reminisce about how he was born in an impoverished area in a third world country during a turbulent and unpredictable time.

Even with a passion for learning, he had to work a laborious job in an attempt to help his parents make ends meet. He talked about how he would study under the street lights when the power went out at home. His parents wanted something better for him, as did he. Not living in America changed nothing about their work ethic. His parents continued to work hard daily, in an attempt to provide for their son. My dad worked and studied countless hours, paying his way through school with jobs and scholarships. His efforts paid off when he finally moved to America and opened his own business. None of it would have been possible without tremendous effort and dedication needed for a better life, values that are instilled within me as well, and this is the perspective that I wish to bring to Rice. 

This diversity essay sample references the author’s unique life experiences and personal perspective, which makes it one example of college essays that worked. The author begins the essay by alluding to their unique story—they were born in a different country and then came to America. Instead of facing this change as a challenge, the author shows how this new experience helped them to feel comfortable with all kinds of people. They also highlight how their diversity was accepted and appreciated. 

Additionally, the author incorporates information about their father’s story, which helps to frame their own values and where those values came from. The values that they chose to highlight also fall in line with the values of the Rice community. 

Williams Supplemental Essay Examples

Let’s read the prompt that inspired so many strong Williams supplemental essays examples again: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry—a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an entry? What perspective(s) would you add to the conversation with your peers?

Williams college essay example.

Through the flow in my head

See you clad in red

But not just the clothes

It’s your whole being

Covering in this sickening blanket

Of heat and pain

Are you in agony, I wonder?

Is this the hell they told me about?

Have we been condemned?

Reduced to nothing but pain

At least we have each other

In our envelopes of crimson

I try in vain

“Take my hands” I shriek

“Let’s protect each other, 

You and me, through this hell”

My body contorts

And deforms into nothingness

You remain the same

Clad in red

With faraway eyes

You, like a statue

Your eyes fixed somewhere else

You never see me

Just the red briefcase in your heart

We aren’t together

It’s always been me alone

While you stand there, aloof, with the briefcase in your heart.

I wrote this poem the day my prayer request for the Uighur Muslims got denied at school. At the time, I was stunned. I was taught to have empathy for those around me. Yet, that empathy disappears when told to extend it to someone different. I can’t comprehend this contradiction and I refuse to. 

At Williams, I hope to become a Community Engagement Fellow at the Davis Center. I hope to use Williams’ support for social justice and advocacy to educate my fellow classmates on social issues around the world. Williams students are not just scholars but also leaders and changemakers. Together, we can strive to better the world through advocacy.

Human’s capability for love is endless. We just need to open our hearts to everyone. 

It’s time to let the briefcase go and look at those around us with our real human eyes.

We see you now. Please forgive us.

As we mentioned above, the Williams acceptance rate is incredibly low. This makes the supplemental essay that much more important. 

This diversity essay sample works because it is personal and memorable. The author chooses to start the essay off with a poem. Which, if done right, will immediately grab the reader’s attention. 

Further, the author contextualizes the poem by explaining the circumstances surrounding it—they wrote it in response to a prayer request that was denied at school. In doing so, they also highlight their own values of empathy and embracing diversity. 

Finally, the author ends their cultural diversity essay by describing what excites them about Williams. They also discuss how they see themselves interacting within the Williams community. This is a key piece of the essay, as it helps the reader understand how the author would be a good fit for Williams. 

The examples provided within this essay also touch on issues that are important to the author, which provides a glimpse into the type of student the author would be on campus. Additionally, this response shows what potential extracurricular activities for college the author might be interested in pursuing while at Williams. 

How to Write a Cultural Diversity Essay

You want your diversity essay to stand out from any other diversity essay sample. But how do you write a successful cultural diversity essay? 

First, consider what pieces of your identity you want to highlight in your essay. Of course, race and ethnicity are important facets of diversity. However, there are plenty of other factors to consider. 

As you brainstorm, think outside the box to figure out what aspects of your identity help make up who you are. Because identity and diversity fall on a spectrum, there is no right or wrong answer here. 

Fit your ideas to the specific school

Once you’ve decided on what you want to represent in your cultural diversity essay, think about how that fits into the college of your choice. Use your cultural diversity essay to make connections to the school. If your college has specific values or programs that align with your identity, then include them in your cultural diversity essay! 

Above all, you should write about something that is important to you. Your cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will succeed if you are passionate about your topic and willing to get personal. 

Additional Tips for Community & Cultural Diversity Essays

1. start early.

In order to create the strongest diversity essay possible, you’ll want to start early. Filling out college applications is already a time-consuming process. So, you can cut back on additional stress and anxiety by writing your cultural diversity essay as early as possible. 

2. Brainstorm

Writing a cultural diversity essay or community essay is a personal process. To set yourself up for success, take time to brainstorm and reflect on your topic. Overall, you want your cultural diversity essay to be a good indication of who you are and what makes you a unique applicant. 

3. Proofread

We can’t stress this final tip enough. Be sure to proofread your cultural diversity essay before you hit the submit button. Additionally, you can read your essay aloud to hear how it flows. You can also can ask someone you trust, like your college advisor or a teacher, to help proofread your essay as well.

Other CollegeAdvisor Essay Resources to Explore

Looking for additional resources on supplemental essays for the colleges we mentioned above? Do you need help with incorporating extracurricular activities for college into your essays or crafting a strong diversity essay sample? We’ve got you covered. 

Our how to get into Georgetown guide covers additional tips on how to approach the supplemental diversity essay. If you’re wondering how to write about community in your essay, check out our campus community article for an insider’s perspective on Williams College.

Want to learn strategies for writing compelling cultural diversity essays? Check out this Q&A webinar, featuring a former Georgetown admissions officer. And, if you’re still unsure of what to highlight in your community essay, try getting inspiration from a virtual college tour . 

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples – Final Thoughts

Your supplemental essays are an important piece of the college application puzzle. With colleges becoming more competitive than ever, you’ll want to do everything you can to create a strong candidate profile. This includes writing well-crafted responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay. 

We hope our cultural diversity essay guide helped you learn more about this common type of supplemental essay. As you are writing your own cultural diversity essay or community essay, use the essay examples from Georgetown, Rice, and Williams above as your guide. 

Getting into top schools takes a lot more than a strong resume. Writing specific, thoughtful, and personal responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will put you one step closer to maximizing your chances of admission. Good luck!

CollegeAdvisor.com is here to help you with every aspect of the college admissions process. From taking a gap year to completing enrollment , we’re here to help. Register today to receive one-on-one support from an admissions expert as you begin your college application journey.

This essay guide was written by senior advisor, Claire Babbs . Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

Personalized and effective college advising for high school students.

• Advisor Application
• Popular Colleges
• Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice
• Student Login
• California Privacy Notice
• Terms and Conditions
• Your Privacy Choices

By using the College Advisor site and/or working with College Advisor, you agree to our updated Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy , including an arbitration clause that covers any disputes relating to our policies and your use of our products and services.

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

6 Diversity College Essay Examples

What’s covered:, how to write the diversity essay after the end of affirmative action, essay #1: jewish identity, essay #2: being bangladeshi-american, essay #3: marvel vs dc, essay #4: leadership as a first-gen american, essay #5: protecting the earth, essay #6: music and accents, where to get your diversity essays edited, what is the diversity essay.

While working on your college applications, you may come across essays that focus on diversity , culture, or values. The purpose of these essays is to highlight any diverse views or opinions that you may bring to campus. Colleges want a diverse student body that’s made up of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and interests. These essay prompts are a way for them to see what students can bring to their school.

In this post, we will share six essays written by real students that cover the topic of culture and diversity. We’ll also include what each essay did well and where there is room for improvement. Hopefully, this will be a useful resource to inspire your own diversity essay.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. That said, you should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and they will not have a favorable view of students who have plagiarized.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of race in college admissions was unconstitutional. In other words, they struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions . This will affect college-bound students of color in a number of ways, including lowering their chances of acceptance and reducing the amount of direct outreach they’ll receive from colleges. Another change to consider is the ways in which students should tackle their diversity essays.

Although colleges can no longer directly factor race into admissions, students aren’t prohibited from discussing their racial backgrounds in supplemental application essays. If your racial background is important to you, seriously consider writing about it in your diversity essays. If you don’t, admissions officers are extremely limited in their ability to consider your race when making an admission decision.

As in the essays listed below, discussing your race is an excellent tool for showing admissions officers the person behind the grades and test scores. Beyond that, it provides admissions officers with an opportunity to put themselves in your shoes—showing them how your background has presented challenges to overcome, helped build important life skills, and taught you valuable lessons.

Diversity Essay Examples

I was thirsty. In my wallet was a lone $10 bill, ultimately useless at my school’s vending machine. Tasked with scrounging together the $1 cost of a water bottle, I fished out and arranged the spare change that normally hid in the bottom of my backpack in neat piles of nickels and dimes on my desk. I swept them into a spare Ziploc and began to leave when a classmate snatched the bag and held it above my head.

“Want your money back, Jew?” she chanted, waving the coins around. I had forgotten the Star-of-David around my neck, but quickly realized she must have seen it and connected it to the stacks of coins. I am no stranger to experiencing and confronting antisemitism, but I had never been targeted in my school before. I grabbed my bag and sternly told her to leave. Although she sauntered away, the impact remained.

This incident serves as an example of the adversity I have and will continue to face from those who only see me as a stereotype. Ironically, however, these experiences of discrimination have only increased my pride as a member of the Jewish Community. Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family. I find meaning and direction in my community’s values, such as pride, education, and giving—and I am eager to transfer these values to my new community: the Duke community.

What the Essay Did Well

Writing about discrimination can be difficult, but if you are comfortable doing it, it can make for a powerful story. Although this essay is short and focused on one small interaction, it represents a much larger struggle for this student, and for that reason it makes the essay very impactful.

The author takes her time at the beginning of the essay to build the scene for the audience, which allows us to feel like we are there with her, making the hateful comments even more jarring later on. If she had just told us her classmate teased her with harmful stereotypes, we wouldn’t feel the same sense of anger as we do knowing that she was just trying to get a drink and ended up being harassed.

This essay does another important thing—it includes self-reflection on the experience and on the student’s identity. Without elaborating on the emotional impact of a situation, an essay about discrimination would make admission officers feel bad for the student, but they wouldn’t be compelled to admit the student. By describing how experiences like these drive her and make her more determined to embody positive values, this student reveals her character to the readers.

What Could Be Improved

While including emotional reflection in the latter half of the essay is important, the actual sentences could be tightened up a bit to leave a stronger impression. The student does a nice job of showing us her experience with antisemitism, but she just tells us about the impact it has on her. If she instead showed us what the impact looked like, the essay would be even better.

For example, rather than telling us “Continuing to wear the Star-of-David connects me to my history and my family,” she could have shown that connection: “My Star-of-David necklace thumps against my heart with every step I take, reminding me of my great-grandparents who had to hide their stars, my grandma’s spindly fingers lighting the menorah each Hanukkah, and my uncle’s homemade challah bread.” This new sentence reveals so much more than the existing sentence about the student and the deep connection she feels with her family and religion.

Life before was good: verdant forests, sumptuous curries, and a devoted family.

Then, my family abandoned our comfortable life in Bangladesh for a chance at the American dream in Los Angeles. Within our first year, my father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He lost his battle three weeks before my sixth birthday. Facing a new country without the steady presence of my father, we were vulnerable—prisoners of hardship in the land of the free.

We resettled in the Bronx, in my uncle’s renovated basement. It was meant to be our refuge, but I felt more displaced than ever. Gone were the high-rise condos of West L.A.; instead, government projects towered over the neighborhood. Pedestrians no longer smiled and greeted me; the atmosphere was hostile, even toxic. Schoolkids were quick to pick on those they saw as weak or foreign, hurling harsh words I’d never heard before.

Meanwhile, my family began integrating into the local Bangladeshi community. I struggled to understand those who shared my heritage. Bangladeshi mothers stayed home while fathers drove cabs and sold fruit by the roadside—painful societal positions. Riding on crosstown buses or walking home from school, I began to internalize these disparities.

During my fleeting encounters with affluent Upper East Siders, I saw kids my age with nannies, parents who wore suits to work, and luxurious apartments with spectacular views. Most took cabs to their destinations: cabs that Bangladeshis drove. I watched the mundane moments of their lives with longing, aching to plant myself in their shoes. Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day.

As I grappled with my relationship with the Bangladeshi community, I turned my attention to helping my Bronx community by pursuing an internship with Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda. I handled desk work and took calls, spending the bulk of my time actively listening to the hardships constituents faced—everything from a veteran stripped of his benefits to a grandmother unable to support her bedridden grandchild.

I’d never exposed myself to stories like these, and now I was the first to hear them. As an intern, I could only assist in what felt like the small ways—pointing out local job offerings, printing information on free ESL classes, reaching out to non-profits. But to a community facing an onslaught of intense struggles, I realized that something as small as these actions could have vast impacts.

Seeing the immediate consequences of my actions inspired me. Throughout that summer, I internalized my community’s daily challenges in a new light. I began to see the prevalent underemployment and cramped living quarters less as sources of shame. Instead, I saw them as realities that had to be acknowledged, but that could ultimately be remedied.

I also realized the benefits of the Bangladeshi culture I had been so ashamed of. My Bangla language skills were an asset to the office, and my understanding of Bangladeshi etiquette allowed for smooth communication between office staff and the office’s constituents. As I helped my neighbors navigate city services, I saw my heritage with pride—a perspective I never expected to have.

I can now appreciate the value of my unique culture and background, and the value of living with less. This perspective offers room for progress, community integration, and a future worth fighting for. My time with Assemblyman Sepulveda’s office taught me that I can be an agent of change who can enable this progression. Far from being ashamed of my community, I want to someday return to local politics in the Bronx to continue helping others access the American Dream. I hope to help my community appreciate the opportunity to make progress together. By embracing reality, I learned to live it. Along the way, I discovered one thing: life is good, but we can make it better.

This student’s passion for social justice and civic duty shines through in this essay because of how honest it is. Sharing their personal experience with immigrating, moving around, being an outsider, and finding a community allows us to see the hardships this student has faced and builds empathy towards their situation.

However, what really makes it strong is that the student goes beyond describing the difficulties they faced and explains the mental impact it had on them as a child: “Shame prickled down my spine. I distanced myself from my heritage, rejecting the traditional panjabis worn on Eid and refusing the torkari we ate for dinner every day.” The rejection of their culture presented at the beginning of the essay creates a nice juxtaposition with the student’s view in the latter half of the essay, and helps demonstrate how they have matured.

They then use their experience interning as a way to delve into a change in their thought process about their culture. This experience also serves as a way to show how their passion for social justice began. Using this experience as a mechanism to explore their thoughts and feelings is an excellent example of how items that are included elsewhere on your application should be incorporated into your essay.

This essay prioritizes emotions and personal views over specific anecdotes. Although there are details and certain moments incorporated throughout to emphasize the author’s points, the main focus remains on the student and how they grapple with their culture and identity.

One area for improvement is the conclusion. Although the forward-looking approach is a nice way to end an essay focused on social justice, it would be nice to include more details and imagery in the conclusion. How does the student want to help their community? What government position do they see themselves holding one day?

A more impactful ending might describe the student walking into their office at the New York City Housing Authority in 15 years. This future student might be looking at the plans to build a new development in the Bronx just blocks away from where they grew up that would provide quality housing to people in their Bangladeshi community. They would smile while thinking about how far they have come from that young kid who used to be ashamed of their culture.

Superhero cinema is an oligopoly consisting of two prominent, towering brands: Marvel and DC. I’m a religious supporter of Marvel, but last year, I discovered that my friend, Tom, was a DC fan. After a vociferous 20-minute quarrel about which was better, we decided to allocate one day to have a professional debate, using carefully assembled and coherent arguments.

One week later, we both brought pages of notes and evidence cards (I also had my Iron-Man bobblehead for moral support). Our impartial moderator—a Disney fan—sat in the middle with a stopwatch, open-policy style. I began the debate by discussing how Marvel accentuated the humanity of the storyline—such as in Tony Stark’s transformation from an egotistical billionaire to a compassionate father—which drew in a broader audience, because more people resonated with certain aspects of the characters. Tom rebutted this by capitalizing on how Deadpool was a duplicate of Deathstroke, how Vision copied Red Tornado, and how DC sold more comics than Marvel.

40 minutes later, we reached an impasse. We were out of cards, and we both made excellent points, so our moderator was unable to declare a winner. Difficult conversations aren’t necessarily always the ones that make political headlines. Instead, a difficult discussion involves any topic with which people share an emotional connection.

Over the years, I became so emotionally invested in Marvel that my mind erected an impenetrable shield, blocking out all other possibilities. Even today, we haven’t decided which franchise was better, but I realized that I was undermining DC for no reason other than my own ignorance.

The inevitability of diversity suggests that it is our responsibility to understand the other person and what they believe in. We may not always experience a change in opinion, but we can grant ourselves the opportunity to expand our global perspective. I strive to continue this adventure to increase my awareness as a superhero aficionado, activist, and student, by engaging in conversations that require me to think beyond what I believe and to view the world from others’ perspectives.

And yes, Tom is still my friend.

Diversity doesn’t always have to be about culture or heritage; diversity exists all around us, even in our comic book preferences. The cleverness of this essay lies in the way the student flipped the traditional diversity prompt on its head and instead discussed his diverse perspective on a topic he is passionate about. If you don’t have a cultural connection you are compelled to write about, this is a nifty approach to a diversity prompt—if it’s handled appropriately.

While this student has a non-traditional topic, he still presents it in a way that pays respect to the key aspects of a diversity essay: depicting his perspective and recognizing the importance of diverse views. Just as someone who is writing about a culture that is possibly unfamiliar to the reader, the student describes what makes Marvel and DC unique and important to him and his friend, respectively. He also expands on how a lack of diversity in superhero consumption led to his feeling of ignorance, and how it now makes him appreciate the need for diversity in all aspects of his life.

This student is unapologetically himself in this essay, which is ultimately why this unorthodox topic is able to work. He committed to his passion for Marvel by sharing analytical takes on characters and demonstrating how the franchise was so important to his identity that it momentarily threatened a friendship. The inclusion of humor through his personal voice—e.g., referring to the argument as a professional debate and telling us that the friendship lived on—contributes to the essay feeling deeply personal.

Choosing an unconventional topic for a diversity essay requires extra care and attention to ensure that you are still addressing the core of the prompt. That being said, if you accomplish it successfully, it makes for an incredibly memorable essay that could easily set you apart!

While this is a great essay as is, the idea of diversity could have been addressed a little bit earlier in the piece to make it absolutely clear the student is writing about his diverse perspective. He positions Marvel and DC as two behemoths in the superhero movie industry, but in the event that his reader is unfamiliar with these two brands, there is little context about the cultural impact each has on its fans.

To this student, Marvel is more than just a movie franchise; it’s a crucial part of his identity, just as someone’s race or religion might be. In order for the reader to fully understand the weight of his perspective, there should be further elaboration—towards the beginning—on how important Marvel is to this student.

Leadership was thrust upon me at a young age. When I was six years old, my abusive father abandoned my family, leaving me to step up as the “man” of the house. From having to watch over my little sister to cooking dinner three nights a week, I never lived an ideal suburban life. I didn’t enjoy the luxuries of joining after-school activities, getting driven to school or friends’ houses, or taking weekend trips to the movies or bowling alley. Instead, I spent my childhood navigating legal hurdles, shouldering family responsibilities, and begrudgingly attending court-mandated therapy sessions.

At the same time, I tried to get decent grades and maintain my Colombian roots and Spanish fluency enough to at least partially communicate with my grandparents, both of whom speak little English. Although my childhood had its bright and joyful moments, much of it was weighty and would have been exhausting for any child to bear. In short, I grew up fast. However, the responsibilities I took on at home prepared me to be a leader and to work diligently, setting me up to use these skills later in life.

I didn’t have much time to explore my interests until high school, where I developed my knack for government and for serving others. Being cast in a lead role in my school’s fall production as a freshman was the first thing to give me the confidence I needed to pursue other activities: namely, student government. Shortly after being cast, I was elected Freshman Vice-President, a role that put me in charge of promoting events, delegating daily office tasks, collaborating with the administration on new school initiatives, and planning trips and fundraisers.

While my new position demanded a significant amount of responsibility, my childhood of helping my mom manage our household prepared me to be successful in the role. When I saw the happy faces of my classmates after a big event, I felt proud to know that I had made even a small difference to them. Seeing projects through to a successful outcome was thrilling. I enjoyed my time and responsibilities so much that I served all four years of high school, going on to become Executive Vice-President.

As I found success in high school, my mother and grandparents began speaking more about the life they faced prior to emigrating from Colombia. To better connect with them, I took a series of Spanish language classes to regain my fluency. After a practice run through my presentation on Bendíceme, Ultima ( Bless me, Ultima ) by Rudolofo Anaya, with my grandmother, she squeezed my hand and told me the story of how my family was forced from their home in order to live free of religious persecution. Though my grandparents have often expressed how much better their lives and their children’s lives have been in America, I have often struggled with my identity. I felt that much of it was erased with my loss of our native language.

In elementary school, I learned English best because in class I was surrounded by it. Spanish was more difficult to grasp without a formal education, and my family urged me to become fluent in English so I could be of better help to them in places as disparate as government agencies and grocery stores. When I was old enough to recognize the large part of my identity still rooted in being Colombian, it was challenging to connect these two sides of who I was.

Over time I have been able to reconcile the two in the context of my aspirations. I found purpose and fulfillment through student council, and I knew that I could help other families like my own if I worked in local government. By working through city offices that address housing, education, and support for survivors of childhood abuse, I could give others the same liberties and opportunities my family has enjoyed in this country. Doing so would also help me honor my roots as a first-generation American.

I have been a leader my entire life. Both at Harvard and after graduation, I want to continue that trend. I hope to volunteer with organizations that share my goals. I want to advise policy-making politicians on ways to make children and new immigrants safer and more secure. When my family was at their worst, my community gave back. I hope to give that gift to future generations. A career in local, city-based public service is not a rashly made decision; it is a reflection of where I’ve already been in life, and where I want to be in the future.

Although this essay begins on a somber note, it goes on to show this student’s determination and the joy he found. Importantly, it also ends with a positive, forward-looking perspective. This is a great example of how including your hardship can bolster an essay as long as it is not the essay’s main focus.

Explaining the challenges this student faced from a young age—becoming the man of the house, dealing with legal matters, maintaining good grades, etc.—builds sympathy for his situation. However, the first paragraph is even more impactful because he explains the emotional toll these actions had on him. We understand how he lost the innocence of his childhood and how he struggled to remain connected to his Colombian heritage with all his other responsibilities. Including these details truly allows the reader to see this student’s struggle, making us all the more joyful when he comes out stronger in the end.

Pivoting to discuss positive experiences with student government and Spanish classes for the rest of the essay demonstrates that this student has a positive approach to life and is willing to push through challenges. The tone of the essay shifts from heavy to uplifting. He explains the joy he got out of helping his classmates and connecting with his grandparents, once again providing emotional reflection to make the reader care more.

Overall, this essay does a nice job of demonstrating how this student approaches challenges and negative experiences. Admitting that the responsibilities of his childhood had a silver lining shows his maturity and how he will be able to succeed in government one day. The essay strikes a healthy balance between challenge and hope, leaving us with a positive view of a student with such emotional maturity.

Although the content of this essay is very strong, it struggles with redundancy and disorganized information. He mentions his passion for government at the beginning of the student government paragraph, then again addresses government in the paragraph focused on his Colombian heritage, and concludes by talking about how he wants to get into government once more. Similarly, in the first paragraph, he discusses the struggle of maintaining his Colombian identity and then fully delves into that topic in the third paragraph.

The repetition of ideas and lack of a streamlined organization of this student’s thoughts diminishes some of the emotional impact of the story. The reader is left trying to piece together a swirling mass of information on their own, rather than having a focused, sequential order to follow.

This could be fixed if the student rearranged details to make each paragraph focused on a singular idea. For example, the first paragraph could be about his childhood. The second could be about how student government sparked his interest in government and what he hopes to do one day. The third could be about how he reconnected with his Colombian roots through his Spanish classes, after years of struggling with his identity. And the final paragraph could tie everything together by explaining how everything led to him wanting to pursue a future serving others, particularly immigrants like his family.

Alternatively, the essay could follow a sequential order that would start with his childhood, then explain his struggle with his identity, then show how student government and Spanish classes helped him find himself, and finally, conclude with what he hopes to accomplish by pursuing government.

I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Although we flew in from distant corners of the U.S., we shared a common purpose: immersing ourselves in our passion for protecting the natural world.

Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns. My classmates debated the feasibility of Trump’s wall, not the deteriorating state of our planet. Contrastingly, these seven strangers delighted in bird-watching, brightened at the mention of medicinal tree sap, and understood why I once ran across a four-lane highway to retrieve discarded beer cans.

Their histories barely resembled mine, yet our values aligned intimately. We did not hesitate to joke about bullet ants, gush about the versatility of tree bark, or discuss the destructive consequences of materialism. Together, we let our inner tree-huggers run free.

In the short life of our little community, we did what we thought was impossible. By feeding on each other’s infectious tenacity, we cultivated an atmosphere that deepened our commitment to our values and empowered us to speak out on behalf of the environment. After a week of stimulating conversations and introspective revelations about engaging people from our hometowns in environmental advocacy, we developed a shared determination to devote our lives to this cause.

As we shared a goodbye hug, my new friend whispered, “The world needs saving. Someone’s gotta do it.” For the first time, I believed that that someone could be me.

This student is expressing their diversity through their involvement in a particular community—another nice approach if you don’t want to write about culture or ethnicity. We all have unique things that we geek out over. This student expresses the joy that they derived from finding a community where they could express their love for the environment. Passion is fundamental to university life and generally finds its way into any successful application.

The essay finds strength in the fact that readers feel for the student. We get a little bit of backstory about where they come from and how they felt silenced— “Back home in my predominantly conservative suburb, my neighbors had brushed off environmental concerns” —so it’s easy to feel joy for them when they get set free and finally find their community.

This student displays clear values: community, ecoconsciousness, dedication, and compassion. An admissions officer who reads a diversity essay is looking for students with strong values who will enrich the university community with their unique perspective—that sounds just like this student!

One area of weakness in this essay is the introduction. The opening line— “I never understood the power of community until I left home to join seven strangers in the Ecuadorian rainforest” —is a bit clichéd. Introductions should be captivating and build excitement and suspense for what is to come. Simply telling the reader about how your experience made you understand the power of community reveals the main takeaway of your essay without the reader needing to go any further.

Instead of starting this essay with a summary of what the essay is about, the student should have made their hook part of the story. Whether that looks like them being exasperated with comments their classmates made about politics, or them looking around apprehensively at the seven strangers in their program as they all boarded their flight, the student should start off in the action.

India holds a permanent place in my heart and ears. Whenever I returned on a trip or vacation, I would show my grandmother how to play Monopoly and she would let me tie her sari. I would teach my grandfather English idioms—which he would repeat to random people and fishmongers on the streets—and he would teach me Telugu phrases.

It was a curious exchange of worlds that I am reminded of every time I listen to Indian music. It was these tunes that helped me reconnect with my heritage and ground my meandering identity. Indian music, unlike the stereotype I’d long been imbued with, was not just a one-and-done Bollywood dance number! Each region and language was like an island with its own unique sonic identity. I’m grateful for my discovery of Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil tunes, for these discoveries have opened me up to the incredible smorgasbord of diversity, depth, and complexity within the subcontinent I was born in.

Here’s an entirely-different sonic identity for you: Texan slang. “Couldya pass the Mango seltzer, please, hon?” asked my Houstonian neighbor, Rae Ann—her syllables melding together like the sticky cake batter we were making.

Rae Ann and her twang were real curiosities to me. Once, she invited my family to a traditional Texan barbecue with the rest of our neighbors. As Hindus, we didn’t eat beef, so we showed up with chicken kebabs, instead. Rather than looking at us bizarrely, she gladly accepted the dish, lining it up beside grilled loins and hamburger patties.

Her gesture was a small but very well-accepted one and I quickly became convinced she was the human manifestation of “Southern hospitality”—something reflected in each of her viscous, honey-dripping phrases. “Watch out for the skeeters!” was an excellent example. It was always funny at first, but conveyed a simple message: We’ve got each other’s backs and together, we can overcome the blood-sucking mosquitoes of the Houstonian summer! I began to see how her words built bridges, not boundaries.

I believe that sounds—whether it’s music or accents—can make a difference in the ways we perceive and accept individuals from other backgrounds. But sound is about listening too. In Rice’s residential college, I would be the type of person to strike up a conversation with an international student and ask for one of their Airpods (you’d be surprised how many different genres and languages of music I’ve picked up in this way!).

As both an international student and Houstonian at heart, I hope to bridge the gap between Rice’s domestic and international populations. Whether it’s organizing cultural events or simply taking the time to get to know a student whose first language isn’t English, I look forward to listening to the stories that only a fellow wanderer can tell.

This essay does an excellent job of addressing two aspects of this student’s identity. Looking at diversity through sound is a very creative way to descriptively depict their Indian and Texan cultures. Essays are always more successful when they stimulate the senses, so framing the entire response around sound automatically opens the door for vivid imagery.

The quotes from this student’s quirky neighbor bring a sense of realism to the essay. We can feel ourselves at the barbecue and hear her thick Texan accent coming through. The way people communicate is a huge part of their culture and identity, so the way that this student perfectly captures the essence of their Texan identity with accented phrases is skillfully done.

This essay does such a great job of making the sounds of Texas jump off the page, so it is a bit disappointing that it wasn’t able to accomplish the same for India. The student describes the different Indian languages and music styles, but doesn’t bring them to life with quotes or onomatopoeia in the manner that they did for the sounds of Texas.

They could have described the buzz of the sitar or the lyrical pattern of the Telugu phrases their grandfather taught them. Telling us about the diversity of sounds in Indian music is fine, but if the reader can’t appreciate what those sounds resemble, it makes it harder to understand the Indian half of the author’s identity. Especially since this student emulated the sounds and essence of Texas so well, it’s important that India is given the same treatment so we can fully appreciate both sides of this essay.

More Supplemental Essay Tips

How to Write a Stellar “Why This College?” Essay + Examples

How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity College Essay

Do you want feedback on your diversity essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

American Culture: Values and Factors Essay

There is no use denying the fact that every nation has its own culture. That is why, there is a great number of different cultural peculiarities in the world, as there is also a lot of states which promote development of their own lifestyle and appreciate their values. The process of development of every country is unique because of onliness of the sets of factors which influenced it. The culture has always been modified by these sets. That is why, every nation appreciates different norms of behavior in society, values and lifestyles. Taking this information into account, it is interesting to analyze the peculiarities of own culture to understand what values are appreciated and what factors are attached greater significance.

Being often taken as the mixture of different cultures, American culture though is a unique phenomenon which has its own peculiarities (Weaver 3). They are determined by complicated development of this state. Religiosity could be explained by the fact that the first colonizers were Calvinists, which suffered in Europe. Tight family bonds appeared due to the importance of family support. Moreover, respect for human rights is a result of a long struggle of the USA for its independence. This mixture of values and peculiarities influenced appearance of a social ethics which main aim was not to allow humiliation of a persons dignity and not to bother other people with your own behavior.

Taking it into account, it is possible to say that peculiarities of the behavior during the interview are also the result of appreciation of certain values. First of all, it is connected with the impossibility of humiliation of humans dignity. A person should not respect his interlocutor only, but a server to, being polite and respectful to him (Lord para.1). The next peculiarity of the interview is connected with the great self respect and traditions of ethics. Having arrived in America, the first colonizers already had knowledge of the table manners and tried to save them.

That is why, it is obvious now that a person should use a napkin, a spoon and a fork (Howcast). However, some of these manners are connected with a persons desire to get a job as it is also an integral part of American culture. It is quite usual that a person wants to earn money since his childhood, trying to obtain independence and stability. Due to this fact, there is a special etiquette for business lunches which main aim is to impress an employer and make him hire a person. This etiquette means less formal, however, still polite and business conversation (Doyle para. 1), that is way all main table manners should be followed.

It is possible to say, that these peculiarities of an interview, which evolves a meal, seem quite logic and usual for me. It is obvious, that a person should impress his employer and do his best to be hired. It is possible to afford some relaxation at home and not to follow all rules, however, such behavior is inadmissible while interviewing.

Having analyzed peculiarities of behavior, table manners and interviewing, it is possible to make certain conclusions. First of all, it should be said, that all these norms reflect peculiarities of American culture and values which people appreciate. That is why, it is possible to say that they have a great influence on the behavior of people.

Works Cited

Doyle, Alison. “Tips for Job Interviews at Restaurants” About.Com. n.d. Web.

Howcast. “ How to Have Top-Notch Table Manners “. Online video clip. YouTube . 2009. Web.

Lord, Kelley. “ Servers Not Servants: 31 Things Your Waiter Wishes You Knew “. Elite Daily . 2014. Web.

Weaver, Gary. American Cultural Values . n.d.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, March 26). American Culture: Values and Factors. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-values-and-factors/

"American Culture: Values and Factors." IvyPanda , 26 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-values-and-factors/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'American Culture: Values and Factors'. 26 March.

IvyPanda . 2024. "American Culture: Values and Factors." March 26, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-values-and-factors/.

1. IvyPanda . "American Culture: Values and Factors." March 26, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-values-and-factors/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "American Culture: Values and Factors." March 26, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/american-culture-values-and-factors/.

• What Are the Benefits of Good Manners?
• French Etiquette and Manners
• Diplomacy: International Business Etiquette
• Business Etiquette Definition
• How can I impress my boss
• International Business Etiquette in China
• Greetings in Etiquette in Society by Emily Post
• Islamic Concepts of Humiliation
• Cyberbullying: Punishments for Humiliation
• Business Etiquette in Germany
• The Role of Chinese Hats in Chinese Culture
• Time-Space Perception in the Asian Culture
• Why Cultural Riches Should Be Returned to Their Nations?
• Etiquette in Traveling at Home and Abroad
• American Cultural Stereotypes and Studies

The American Cultural Values

Introduction, the value of individualism, the value of privacy, the value of equality, importance of the values, references:.

America is one diverse society and the question of if cultural values exist is complex. American society is made up of various ethnic groups and cultures. American culture is enhanced by the values and beliefs, which have shaped the attitudes and behaviors of the majority of Americans.

There are several values and norms that are followed in America, and there are few selected core values in the American value system namely individuality, privacy and equality.

Individualism is the act of seeking ones moral value. This is achieved by partaking ones goals, aspirations, liberty and self reliance. An individualist is egocentric and opposes interference of the community in his undertakings. It focuses on the individual possessiveness hence the lifestyles geared toward self creation.

Americans are so committed to honor individualism and its one of the basis of the American values. Children in America are encouraged to perceive themselves as responsible individuals for there own destiny but not as a member of a society. An individualist being part of a society serves his own interests without considering the interests of the society at large (Brinkerhoff , et al., 2006).

The government has a lot of influence in ensuring that each individual’s rights are protected by the United States constitution. Americans desire personal social and economic success hence this has made them self reliant and has resulted in the competitiveness of American society.

Privacy is described as the ability of a group or an individual to alienate themselves or their information. Americans believe that they need time to themselves to reflect on their issues and recover their energy. They respect each others privacy and making friends is a bit difficult since mostly they don’t go beyond a friendly greeting. In the American constitution there are by laws on privacy that protect the citizens from intrusion of their privacy.

Equality for a long time in the United States has had controversies. In the early 1860’s there was racial discrimination and the blacks were not treated equally. This changed in 1868 when the African Americans were given equal protection in the 14 th amendment. Their guaranteed freedom came about in the 15 th and 24 th amendments when they were allowed to vote and the system of poll tax abolished. Since then America has been improving in ensuring equality for its citizens (Marshall, G, 1998).

Today Americans highly regard equality and as a God fearing nation they view it from a religious point of view. They trust that were all created equally and have equal chances to succeed in life. The United States is believed to be a land of equal opportunity for everyone regardless of their nationality, ethnic or racial origin (Brinkerhoff , et al., 2006).

However there are still forms of inequality especially at the workplace. This is evident when diversity in employment is not considered. Today in America women receive much less salaries than men in the same job positions. Some ethnic groups are also discriminated in workplaces especially Africa Americans, Hispanic Americans, Alaska natives and Red Indians.

Some organizations also discriminate the physically challenged. There have also been economic discriminations especially in regard to people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who are not employed in some organizations.

The three American values discussed complement one another positively.The respect for one another’s privacy makes Americans to be people of focus and major their time on development issues rather than poking noses into other people’s lives (Marshall, G,1998). Individualism that starts even in childhood teaches Americans to be self- sufficient and focus on innovative matters. Equality creates trust, harmony, peace and unity and bridges the social gaps that are created by discrimination.

The American culture is rich in its values and that has greatly advanced the American attitudes.This positive strength has enabled us to dream, be innovative and this has resulted in remarkable advances in health, science and technological advances.

Brinkerhoff, D, B, White, L.K, Ortega, S, T, Weitz , R. (2006) Essentials of sociology . seventh edition. New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Marshall, G. (1998). Affective individualism . A Dictionary of Sociology . Web.

Cite this paper

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2021, November 25). The American Cultural Values. https://studycorgi.com/the-american-cultural-values/

"The American Cultural Values." StudyCorgi , 25 Nov. 2021, studycorgi.com/the-american-cultural-values/.

StudyCorgi . (2021) 'The American Cultural Values'. 25 November.

1. StudyCorgi . "The American Cultural Values." November 25, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/the-american-cultural-values/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "The American Cultural Values." November 25, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/the-american-cultural-values/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "The American Cultural Values." November 25, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/the-american-cultural-values/.

This paper, “The American Cultural Values”, was written and voluntary submitted to our free essay database by a straight-A student. Please ensure you properly reference the paper if you're using it to write your assignment.

Before publication, the StudyCorgi editorial team proofread and checked the paper to make sure it meets the highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, fact accuracy, copyright issues, and inclusive language. Last updated: November 25, 2021 .

If you are the author of this paper and no longer wish to have it published on StudyCorgi, request the removal . Please use the “ Donate your paper ” form to submit an essay.

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Cultural Diversity — Aspects Of Cultural Diversity

Aspects of Cultural Diversity

• Categories: Cultural Diversity Social Cohesion

About this sample

Words: 673 |

Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 673 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

What is cultural diversity, the role of cultural diversity in identity formation, promoting social cohesion and understanding, challenges and solutions, cultural diversity as a catalyst for creativity and innovation, in conclusion.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr Jacklynne

Verified writer

• Expert in: Social Issues Sociology

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

5 pages / 2486 words

3 pages / 1334 words

6 pages / 2507 words

3 pages / 1314 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Cultural Diversity

In an increasingly interconnected world, the concept of the "cultural plunge" has gained significant relevance and importance. A cultural plunge, often known as cultural immersion or cultural exposure, is an intentional and [...]

Cultural diversity within the workplace is a growing phenomenon, especially in multinational corporations that operate in global markets. This essay undertakes a comparative analysis of multinational corporations to draw [...]

Lastly, I must acknowledge and appreciate the love and kindness that I experienced since I arrived in this country. When I joined the university, I never expected that I will be received by my classmates with such [...]

Learning about other cultures is a profound and transformative journey that goes beyond acquiring knowledge; it is a gateway to personal growth and global citizenship. This essay delves into the significance of learning about [...]

Diversity may seem as only a ‘modern buzzword’ full of nonsense and hierarchy to some, it certainly is not an original concept; theoretically, it predates civilization’s creation. In practice, the evolution of diversity – and, [...]

Cultural relativism is a concept that has sparked significant debate and controversy within American culture. The idea that cultural practices and beliefs should be understood within the context of the culture in which they [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essays Examples >
• Essay Topics

Essays on Cultural Values

55 samples on this topic

To many college goers, composing Cultural Values papers comes easy; others require the help of various types. The WowEssays.com database includes professionally crafted sample essays on Cultural Values and relevant issues. Most definitely, among all those Cultural Values essay examples, you will find a piece that resonates with what you imagine as a worthy paper. You can be sure that literally every Cultural Values item showcased here can be used as a sharp example to follow in terms of general structure and composing different parts of a paper – introduction, main body, or conclusion.

If, however, you have a hard time coming up with a good Cultural Values essay or don't have even a minute of extra time to browse our sample catalog, our free essay writer company can still be of great aid to you. The thing is, our experts can tailor a model Cultural Values paper to your personal needs and particular requirements within the pre-set timeframe. Buy college essays today!

Managing Organizational Effectiveness  Case Studies Examples

The Company: Al-Zulfi Group in Qatar

Religious Studies: A Top-Quality Research Paper For Your Inspiration

Theories of Religion

Free External And Internal Environments Research Paper Sample

Introduction

Exemplar Case Study On Space Management For Sustainable Development To Write After

Ethics in groups: research paper you might want to emulate, cultural competence in nursing research paper template for faster writing.

Purnell’s Model for Cultural Competence

Ethnographic Analysis To Test The Stereotype Held About Parisians Essay

Are Parisians really rude or arrogant or is this another stereotype?

Sample Case Study On Global Management Of Information Systems

Question One

Challenges As highlighted in the Real World Case Study, there are various challenges that organizations face while operating in the global environment. These challenges may be classified into cultural, political, and geo-economic.

Sample Question & Answer On Cross Cultural Management

Free running title: issues in international business essay example.

ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: A CASE STUDY ON THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Free Cultural Intelligence Literature Review Example

How does cultural intelligence differ in India and the United States?

Rhetoric Analysis: Example Essay By An Expert Writer To Follow

Good cultural experience essay example, expertly crafted essay on gospel presentation, differences in hispanic and american cultures: exemplar literature review to follow, example of organizational behavior essay, population density in canada: exemplar report to follow, diversity case study essay, example of research paper on sports: saving children’s lives, learn to craft essays on philosophical essay with this example, cleopatra & wu zetian, leadership and legacy essay.

Following the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines

Good Essay About Cultural Profile Analysis Of Japan: Overview & Business Goal Achievement Issues

Culture: exemplar essay to follow, good essay on medication among spanish speaking communities, reexamining the concept of being american essays examples.

In the Aftermath of the September 11 Attacks

Expertly Crafted Report On How Did I Become An Entrepreneur?

Good research paper on the comparison of the western ghost story and the eastern ghost story, conceptualization & vision essay template for faster writing.

Personal Leadership Philosophy

Emergency Shelter Design In The Middle East. Thesis Proposal

GROUP DISPLACEMENT ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST

Globalization And Politics-West Africa Essay To Use For Practical Writing Help

West African region comprises of several states that are found in the western part of the African continent. These states occupy the vast Sahara Desert and is normally referred to as Sahel. West African has gone economic and political revolution since the twentieth century. After the colonial period, several cities in West Africa were converted into independent states.

The region comprises of the states in the Maghreb region, and they occupy a total of 6,140,000 square kilometers

Essay On Comparative Correctional Systems

Example of essay on the importance of learning and modelling high ethical standards for managers.

Discussion Questions

Understanding Hmong Cultural Group In The United States Essay Examples

Expertly crafted argumentative essay on reading response, what is rock n roll essay, free professional moral compass essay: top-quality sample to follow.

Professional Moral Compass

Research Paper On Children Of Men

Leadership theories and areas of application essays example, good argumentative essay about human resource strategy for globalization of business processes.

Human resource Strategy for Globalization of Business Processes

Write By Example Of This Reflective Case Analysis Essay

Generalized Theories and Concepts to be used in the Case Study

Navajo Bead Work Research Paper Samples

Learn to craft research papers on studentification with this example, example of essay on culture: a comparison of israel and palestine, free culture literature review: top-quality sample to follow.

The Cultural Effects on Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Free The Culture Care Universality And Diversity Theory Research Paper: Top-Quality Sample To Follow

Learn to craft research papers on the comparison of the western ghost story and the eastern ghost story with this example, the value of science essay sample, good example of what is rock n roll essay, theories on sociology {type) to use as a writing model.

Intersectionality Theory

Write By Example Of This Managing In Ambiguity And Change Essay

Growth of the internet affecting various cultures, leading to a western, homogenized world culture essay samples.

Growth of the internet affecting various cultures, leading to a western, homogenized world culture

Expertly Written Essay On To Follow

The Cross-Cultural Behavior in Tourism

Executive Summary This essay explores the cross-cultural behavior in the context of tourism, including the issue of social contact and its measures, cultural shock, cultural values and the cultural model of the conceptual relationships. The subject of our research was the book Cross-Cultural Behavior in Tourism by Yvette Reisinger and Lindsay W. Turner. The essay seeks to identify how different factors influence social contact and actors in the tourism context. This information will be used to deepen the knowledge about the interrelations in tourism and to identify factors which can make enchase the process of intercultural communication.

Part one: the social contact in tourist encounters.

Example Of Critical Thinking On Global Perspective Of Culture: A Malaysian Case Study

275 words = 1 page double-spaced

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

Home / Essay Samples / Philosophy / Ethics / My Personal And Ethical Values

My Personal And Ethical Values

• Category: Philosophy , Psychology , Life
• Topic: Ethics , Morality , Values

Pages: 3 (1545 words)

Views: 2754

• Downloads: -->

--> ⚠️ Remember: This essay was written and uploaded by an--> click here.

Found a great essay sample but want a unique one?

are ready to help you with your essay

You won’t be charged yet!

Fear Essays

Empathy Essays

Inspiration Essays

Courage Essays

Hope Essays

Related Essays

We are glad that you like it, but you cannot copy from our website. Just insert your email and this sample will be sent to you.

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service  and  Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Your essay sample has been sent.

In fact, there is a way to get an original essay! Turn to our writers and order a plagiarism-free paper.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->