Writing the Diverse Perspectives Essay
Common App Supplemental Essays
Form: 50–400-word narrative essay
Audience: The admissions committee
Topic: A moment in your life when you engaged with someone with a different point of view
Purpose: To show the committee that you can hear, understand, and respond with empathy to people you disagree with
The Diverse Perspectives essay is a narrative essay that explores how you engage with different viewpoints. Here’s an example:
Sample Diverse Perspectives Prompt: Harvard University
Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person? What did you learn from this experience? (150 words)
In a world filled with echo chambers, this essay is a chance to show an admissions committee that you can engage respectfully and productively with people who have different views—the kind of dialogue that is at the heart of a liberal arts education.
To write an effective Diverse Perspectives essay, at the minimum you need to:
Describe the situation
Explain the other person’s viewpoint and how it differed from yours
Show how you responded
The best essays, however, will also contain a fourth element: a reflection, perhaps on how this situation relates to a broader idea or principle, or on how you learned and grew from this experience.
Some prompts, like the Harvard prompt above, specifically ask for a reflection (“What did you learn from this experience?”). But even if the prompt doesn’t mention it, a reflection will make your essay stronger.
Tips for a Great Diverse Perspectives Essay
1. Brainstorm some encounters. What were some times when you encountered someone who held different views from yours? Come up with at least three or four possible ideas. Hot topics such as race, gender, and sexual orientation can certainly work, but you don’t have to write about politics if you don’t want to.
2. Examine your response. Ask yourself: In which situations did I respond with empathy? That could look like:
Changing your beliefs or perspective in response to the other person’s views
Disagreeing with the other person but leaving the conversation with a better understanding of their viewpoint
Learning something new and unexpected
And more . . .
3. Focus on your thinking and learning, not on the other person. A common mistake in these essays – despite the specific instructions in the prompt! – is making the story about how the other person was wrong. Instead, start by briefly telling the story of this “time when you strongly disagreed with someone,” and then use the last 20-30% of your essay to explore what you learned from it.
For more on the Diverse Perspectives essay, including a sample essay and tips on revision, check out Chapter 6 of Write Yourself In (p. 188).
