What Makes a Compelling Statement of Perspective and Diversity?

Law school statements of perspective and diversity: “how,” not “what”

A great statement of perspective focuses on exactly that: your perspectives. What you are and what happened to you is less important than how that identity or experience shaped how you see the world.

A great statement of perspective connects an interesting aspect of your background to a meaningful insight about your worldview, your learning style, or your commitment to a legal career. 

You can imagine it as a game of mix-and-match. Pair an experience from Column A with an insight from Column B, and you have the beginnings of a great statement of perspective. 

Experiences:

Being from a marginalized community…

Growing up without a lot of money…

Being LGBTQ+...

Becoming a political refugee…

Immigrating to this country…

Being older than the average student (“non-traditional”)...

Having a physical or learning disability…

Growing up in a foster home and/or being adopted…

Becoming the first person in your family to go to college…

Being a single parent…

Growing up in an extremely insular community (e.g., ultra-orthodox Jewish, Amish, Wiccan, etc.)...

Being raised in unusual circumstances (e.g., you were a traveling acrobat, homeschooled, in a military family)...

Having an unusual responsibility (e.g., you are the primary caretaker of a disabled sibling)...

Working your way through college…

Growing up on a farm or ranch…

Growing up in an extremely small town…

Being affected by substance abuse…

Witnessing an injustice…

Standing up against an inequality…

Organizing a new group…

Being a survivor…

Insights:

…gave you a particular appreciation for the rule of law

…shapes how you interact with different viewpoints

…made you committed to public service

…changed how you view inequality

…gave you a deeper appreciation for a particular kind of law

…will enable you to work well with a certain kind of client

…will keep you from becoming disillusioned in a difficult line of work

…shapes how you learn

…informed your leadership style

…changed how you manage your schedule

…forced you to develop a better work ethic

…changed what you want your career to look like

…would allow you to relate to a particular group

…emboldens your activism

…inspires you to get involved on campus

…allows you to recover from setbacks

…forced you to reevaluate a long-held belief

Make it about you

A great statement of perspective focuses on you. Many application essays have been written about parents’ immigration struggles. The best ones focus on the writer’s side of the story: were these stories triumphantly passed to you around the table at large family gatherings, or issued as private warnings about how to plan your future? How did your understanding of these stories change as you grew older? What decisions, however small in comparison, did they inform? 

Topics to avoid

There are also some classic topics to avoid. This is not to say that one of these statements will never work, but that you’ll have to be careful about how you approach these essays.

• You’re a really good listener
• Your friend is gay
• Your great-grandparent is one-quarter Native American
• You worked in college…as a lifeguard or camp counselor
• You suffered trauma from your parents’ divorce (though this might be a good reason to write an addendum if it interrupted your studies)

Take special care with topics that focus on voluntary experiences like immersion programs and trips abroad. While these topics can yield meaningful and sensitive statements of perspective, you want to be careful not to oversell your experiences.