infinite stream of grad apps

[bubblingbeebles]

augh grad apps

Comments

[bubblingbeebles]

i think i would have immense trouble making myself take it seriously. though, I think I could say something productive about TAing for new-to-the-US students. (right, I had forgotten that I have this as a solid story I could tell, that might put me a step above whatever average BS I imagine most other students would say.)

All it says, besides "pdf and 10MB or smaller", is:

Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Please include information on how you have overcome barriers to access higher education, evidence of how you have come to understand the barriers faced by others, evidence of your academic service to advance equitable access to higher education for women, racial minorities, and individuals from other groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education, evidence of your research focusing on underserved populations or related issues of inequality, or evidence of your leadership among such groups.

The Personal History Statement is required for all applicants. Please note that the Personal History Statement should not duplicate the Statement of Purpose.

[gregh1983]

Gack, what an awful prompt! If it were me, I feel like none of my middle-of-the-road suburban-Cleveland experiences are really representative of the grand struggle for equality they seem to have in mind for the first bit here. For the other part, it really seems like they're just asking for a bunch of false-sounding essays like "Guys of course I care about diversity all the time!!"

At the risk of sounding right-wing and insensitive, I'm not really on board with this pointed topic in an applications essay. Less formally, it might as well have said "Everyone should notice and care about minorities non-stop, and you do too, right? Hint hint."

[bubblingbeebles]

i mean, maybe it is just some way of discouraging people who can't answer it from applying at all?

[bubblingbeebles]

yep, he told me exactly as much.

[joyful_vydra]

I really see it as a diversity-washing, if you will, effort--someone said "we should really have more in the app about encouraging diversity!!1" and everyone nodded along because no one wants to disagree with *diversity*, especially at *Berkeley*, and then some poor sod tried to write up a not-completely-stupid app section on it...and of course they don't actually want to exclude white dudes from the suburbs, so they stuck in a bit about not actually being a minority but sure caring lots, and called it a day. *hugs* it is a hoop, and it sucks, but I have good albeit small-sample evidence they don't mind if you are just nattering on about nothing.

[bubblingbeebles]

thanks :) i'll get through it; i even have stuff i can write about. i'm just wishing it weren't a kick in the gut to do the application on top of the decision i'm already weighed down with. (to compare, i feel like cmu's app is actively supportive and encouraging, for not having such questions.)

[_tove]

It's also possible to read it as "talk about your background (what makes you want to be a grad student?) and if you have any Minority Stuff to talk about, put it in this one," if you modify "Please include information" to "Please include any relevant information." That is probably the tack I would take.

[joyful_vydra]

Yeah...oh Berkeley. I wouldn't be surprised at all if that goes unread by most departments.

[bubblingbeebles]

augh.

i dunno, i keep comparing the cmu application against all the other ones - the former having no BS questions at all (i am already done with it!) - and wonder if there's really any point to the BS parts of the other ones that makes the admissions committee's job any easier.