What Would I Tell a Student This Year About Their DEI Essay?
Comparing this year’s supplemental essay prompts to last year’s could say a lot about a school’s current cultural climate.
“Is it enough? You think?” The student’s trepidation radiated off the screen as we reviewed their final draft via Zoom.
To ease their anxiety, I joked, “You found a community in your school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion club, became club president senior year, spoke at conferences to educate others on how DEI cultivates a sense of belonging, and how to start clubs at their schools. Then, after deciding that a sense of belonging shouldn’t be limited to club members, you created a community mural project where anyone in your school and town could express their different identities by adding artwork. You know what I did in high school? I worked at a movie theater. So, yeah, I think you are more than enough.”
Working with students on their college essays over Zoom is the most convenient option. Still, it’s inherently awkward to only ever see a student from the neck up while supporting them through the vulnerable process of putting their innermost selves on the page for strangers to read. Luckily, I’m an inherently awkward person, so I lean into that and my sense of humor to put us both at ease.
Helping students overcome the fear that their life stories aren’t “good enough” is a big part of my practice. My favorite compliments are when students share how I eased their anxiety and gave them the confidence to trust in their story. As a writer myself, I bond with my students over how handing in a first draft for feedback feels like saying,
“Here’s my heart. Now tell me what’s wrong with it.”
It’s funny because it’s true.
Unfortunately, nothing is funny about the havoc this administration’s directives on diversity, equity, and inclusion are wreaking on higher education. Whether schools are eliminating DEI, shifting away from DEI-related language to fly under the radar, or taking a stand by embracing DEI, there is a pervasive climate of fear in higher ed. This fear adds a new layer of anxiety to an already ambiguous and stressful college admissions process.
One of my favorite college essay writing exercises is having students “Become an Admissions Officer” and read example student essays from the perspective of the character they created. Then, they choose one student to admit, not because of how “good” or “bad” the essays were, but based on what they decided their admissions officer character is looking for to round out their academic community.
The exercise is an active way for students to close read student essays. It also illustrates the point that, while you can’t control what admissions officers are looking for, you can open a window into your authentic self to let them look.
Except now, so many of my students’ authentic selves—who they are, who they love, where they come from—are under constant attack. Recently, I’ve been asked how my practice was changing in response to the fear surrounding DEI in higher education, a fear that has fueled the impulse to avoid writing about ethnicity or race altogether. My immediate answer was that my practice has always been to help students craft personal statements that illuminate character traits colleges look for, such as drive, intellectual curiosity, initiative, or to demonstrate to admissions officers the diversity of their experiences and interests.
However, what if character traits like courage or empathy emerged from a student’s experience with their racial identity? Then, how can students omit that crucial part of themselves from their story? The no longer simple answer is that opening a window for admissions officers to see who they are means encouraging students to show all of who they are without judgment.
My personal fear is doing anything that could harm a student, both during the college essay writing process and regarding how the essay they write will impact their future. Like so many parents and students right now, I’m doing my best to educate myself on how to navigate the increasing turbulence in higher ed.
Previously, turning the tables to create an “Admissions Officer” character has been a fun way for students to imagine the real people reading their essays. This year, the exercise also serves as a valuable way for students to research and consider what admissions officers at the schools they are applying to might be looking for in terms of DEI, and whether those schools will be a good fit for them.
When asked if I was adjusting my practice due to the controversy surrounding DEI, I immediately thought of the student I worked with last October (which now feels light years away), whose entire essay centered around all that DEI gave them in high school and how they want to foster that sense of belonging in their college community. What would I tell that student if I were working with them this year? One important factor was that the essay in question was not their Common App personal statement, but rather a response to a supplemental essay prompt centered on diversity and how the student would contribute to a diverse campus community. Many schools added these types of supplemental essay questions after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions.
While the Common App essay prompts have remained pretty much the same for years, each college’s supplemental essay prompts can vary significantly. I imagine that this year, the supplemental essay prompts will serve as a window into a school’s DEI stance by either eliminating prompts centered on diversity, shifting the language to avoid scrutiny, or standing strong by not altering the core of the question. Comparing this year’s supplemental essay prompts to last year’s could say a lot about a school’s current cultural climate.
The good part about being College Essay KJ is that I’m not responsible for entire educational institutions, but deal with students one by one, which allows me to consider their stories individually. The student I worked with last October didn’t stick with me just because they wrote about DEI. The heart of their story centered on feeling like a “fish thrown out of the water” when they moved to a town where no one looked like them. They felt like they had to hide parts of themselves to fit in at their new school. Their work with DEI was driven by a desire to foster a community where no one would feel compelled to hide parts of themselves to belong.
What if I read their draft this year? Would I advise the student not to write about their extensive experience with DEI out of a fear that it would hurt their chances if certain admissions officers read their essay? The bigger question to ask is if this student wants to attend a college where being accepted requires hiding parts of their identity? They already learned this lesson the hard way in high school. Why are we asking them to do it again?