The father of a high school senior who is applying to college has written with a conundrum. Like thousands of other high school seniors, his son is currently filling out the common app, a standardized college application that is in use at 277 colleges and universities across the country. As part of the common app, he must choose among several prompts and craft a short--250-500 words--essay in response. One of the essay prompts is immensely leading. It runs: "A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you." This particular applicant has chosen to respond to this prompt--but to do so by questioning its premises and posing some of the problems that the applicant believes are created by our culture's increasingly unquestioning acceptance of diversity as an unqualified good and an end in itself. The conundrum: Should the applicant actually submit this essay? Or should the applicant respond to another, less loaded prompt--like the one asking the applicant to write about a person who has influenced him, or the one asking him to reflect on a matter of national or personal concern--with a less inflammatory essay? At what point does the importance of writing a memorable, pointed essay cede to the imperative of not writing an essay that rashly destroys one's chances of admission? Should the applicant even be concerned about expressing unorthodox opinions about diversity in his application? If he should, what should his concerns be, and how should he think them through?

Readers are invited to comment below.

While I admire this applicant's ability to already think critically and question the validity of such a question on the admission application, I think it might be best to write a less inflammatory essay and avoid the gamble. I'm an undergraduate at Oklahoma University and can promise there will be many opportunities to shake up the system with critical rhetoric and prose, so why take the risk now? It's the principle, right? Of course, but who is your audience and will they appreciate the point you are making? One of the wonderful rights I have enjoyed in my time as a student is the ability to question everything. I have certainly made a nuisance of myself and I would hate if the applicant were denied that ability at the school to which they wanted admission. Good luck!

I would advise the applicant to choose another question. A college admission application is not a place to "fall on your sword" over the charade that is called diversity on today's campuses. It may be better to ask what will be gained rather than what is at risk. If the objective is to open up the current understanding of diversity to serious dialogue, an application is not going to make that happen. It will be read by a very few people who will pass judgment on the individual who wrote it, then consign it, and potentially its author, to the dustbin.

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight." -- Sun-Tzu

While it's tempting to say you wouldn't want to go to any school that would reject you over something like that, the fact is that schools aren't homogenous group-minds (however much some of them might aspire to that) and you might well be cutting yourself off from attending a school that you would enjoy and get a lot out of just because somebody handling the admissions is a twerp.

the above posters are probably right. however, i do know a student who when taking the gre questioned the nature of the issue given in the writing prompt. he received the highest possible score and was courted by many grad schools.

now--will this happen with the common app? i'm not familiar with it, so i don't know. i would hope that they would recognize the critical thinking ability. maybe they're looking for group-think; i don't know.

i would take the risk - admissions officers may reward you for going out on a limb instead of just following status quo...

It really depends on the character of the admissions officer who sees his application first.

As a former student services administrator, I would have given him almost unlimited credit for daring. But too many others were in fact hired for their ability to toe the victim line. I'm not as brave as this student, so what I would do is talk about some experience where intellectual diversity mattered to him, or why he will bring an intellectually diverse perspective to college. That way, he doesn't compromise his principles (you didn't say so, but I'm assuming that he objects to the notion of diversity which holds that the content of one's character is determined by the color of one's skin) but he still doesn't run the risk of inflaming some former Women's Studies major.

Answer another question. This particular prompt is not about soliciting a good essay; it's there to enable the admissions office to readily ID possible diversity candidates. So, unless your candidate is a member of some under-represented minority, he'd best avoid this prompt completely.

It depends on the institutions that the student is applying to. For a liberal-arts college such as Reed, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, etc., I'd say, go ahead! Wash. U. St. Louis would also be a go. I wouldn't send it to a public university like the University of Delaware, where admissions officers are pressed for time with folders. This is less to do with the public-private nature of things (New College of Florida would be a "yes," and it's public) than whether admissions officers are likely to have the time to read essays slowly enough to get the point or for it merely to be a red-flag item.

I think Daryl hit it right on the nose.

I hate to agree with many of the commenters, but I would say to the young man to choose a different and less controversial prompt. Actually I like the prompt; If I was still teaching composition, I would like to see his essay come to life in class. However, as the commenters have pointed out so much better, an admissions application is not the place to take a gamble. What does it say about the "true" nature of diversity? Makes you wonder. In the meantime, the young man can certainly write that and much more once he has been admitted to the place of his choice. Having said that, he should in the end be the one to decide. I wish him, where he may be, best.

I'd agree with the other posters as well--chose another topic. This does not mean a compromise by any means. If it is that important to the applicant, then craft an editorial _after_ getting in to the college of choice. In the editorial, put the question out again, put in the risky answer, and send it off to a journal that would publish it in a second (perhaps even the Atlantic Monthly).

Getting published with such a viewpoint would be far more valuable and rewarding over the long term than narrowcasting such a viewpoint to the 220 or so admissions officers who could be too pressed for time to engage an intellectual argument.

That said, I do like S.R.'s suggestion of using _intellectual_ or obscure diversity (Appalachian-American, for example) as the subject, rather than ethnic/gender/whatever. The most overlooked minority on campus, you know, are left handed people. We are exiled to the desks on the end of the rows and there is never any attempt to meet our special needs.

I'd be highly suspicious of a diversity filled warm fuzzy essay from a high schooler given how many papermills are out there. I would recommend any "normal" highschool kid to chose another theme. And I would definitely *not* encourage applicants to challenge the premise of a question that is so obviously slanted towards an "agenda" to which they disagree. It's too early for them to learn the hard way that worst teenagers at college are the ones with tenure.

Submit it, if it's good writing.

If he gets rejected from those schools, there are many more, and someone who can think and write and wants to learn can get educated at any school. (And while I don't know which 277 schools these are, I imagine they're not The Really Exclusive Ones Whose Names On A Diploma Get You An In, or they wouldn't use a common application system.)

It's just college, after all, something applicants often forget.

It really is a balancing test. The essay could be extraordinary and be perceived as such. It could also be perceived as narrow-minded (coincidentally enough BY the narrow-minded) as an attack on the virtues of diversity.

In any essay designed to introduce one's self and one's mode of thinking to a new institution you need to balance the need to make yourself stand out from the crowd (of people not being accepted to the school because they are not up to the school's standards) and be in the middle of the crowd (of people being accepted). You try to stay out of one group and be accepted, in general, in the other. By expressing unorthodox views, the student runs the risk of not being perceived as part of the "acceptable" crowd.

To think the issue through? List the pros and cons of going with the choice. Balance them; is the desire to really hit on a topic and call into question "common wisdom" something that will put you into the group of people the college you desire to get into wants to admit? If not, then write something exceptional about the mundane and save your analytical skills for classes you can use them in.

Seeing as this is my problem, I feel obligated to comment so as to explain myself and shed more light on the situation. The application process, as many of you are aware of, is a very stressful period with paperwork in triplicate, “opened ended questions… that allow admission officers to find out about you” (taken directly off an application) and required letters of recommendation. All 17 or 18 years of your life, all your accomplishments need to fit on a 3 page application that will determine your future; you become a jumble of check boxes, scroll down windows and predetermined responses with your only chance to express yourself in the essay. Therefore when confronted with the task of writing the essay I did not feel awkward writing on this topic, because I viewed it as chance to express my deep convictions.

Without the text of the essay, I believe nobody could truly tell whether or not I should use it. I believe it to be a well-written, passionate but tasteful (if I do say so myself) representation of my beliefs. I also feel any campus that truly supports its own doctrine of diversity would respect my opinion. It is sad that we need to discuss this; the fact that learning institutions would not accept my beliefs shows how far they have strayed from their original conceptions as centers of intellectual debate.

My greatest concern was offending people accidentally, however essay has been read by people of ethnic and political backgrounds and nobody has been offended. In response to the risk, I feel that this quote by an unknown source sums up my feeling s the best “Of course you have to go out on a limb sometimes, that’s where the fruit is”. I feel that I am not fighting a battle, just expressing my opinion and I hope that it would make me stand out from the millions of other seniors applying for college. I thank you all for your concern and advise and will keep you updated.

...while I don't know which 277 schools these are, I imagine they're not The Really Exclusive Ones Whose Names On A Diploma Get You An In, or they wouldn't use a common application system.)

Well, actually a sampler of the schools that accept the common app is as follows: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, Antioch, Oberlin, Carleton, and Swarthmore.

It is sad that we need to discuss this; the fact that learning institutions would not accept my beliefs shows how far they have strayed from their original conceptions as centers of intellectual debate.

I agree, Theo, and wish you good luck. We need more students like you in our colleges. I think all of us were just hoping that an application misstep wouldn't prevent you from getting there. But, as you say, someone has to start the debate.

Tom: Yes, but none of those require the Common App, do they? You can just apply to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. directly, right?

I still think it's worth it to be intellectually honest and not push for the safe and mediocre. It is, again, still just college, and given that the Common App isn't the only way in, I can't see any reason to pull punches.

I have worked over the years with many, many seniors writing college application essays, and I teach at an Ivy League university (though I do not read application essays there). And my answer is a cautious thumbs-up on the proposed essay, with the caveat that an essay like this will succeed or fail almost entirely by the quality of the writing. I think that admissions officers, particularly at the more elite schools (despite the general consensus in favor of diversity), are looking for smart and unusual and interesting students, and that a thoughtful and thought-provoking essay advocating a set of arguments the admissions officers don't agree with would be likely to catch their attention in a good way. The reason that so many of these essays end up being so personal/autobiographical is that most eighteen-year-olds write much better in that vein than in a more argument/intellectual one; but an applicant who has developed an essay-writing voice that genuinely gets across his/her distinct intellectual character while making a case about a relatively abstract or non-autobiographical topic will always look appealing. But just to add the traditional advice, make sure to use concrete examples and vivid and precise language!

... but an applicant who has developed an essay-writing voice that genuinely gets across his/her distinct intellectual *character* while making a case about a relatively abstract or non-autobiographical topic will always look appealing. (emphasis mine)

and

... make sure to use concrete examples and vivid and **precise** language! (emphasis mine again)

Ya know... Jenny might have a broader point than she may think. I just spent the afternoon grading a science grad-level essay exam, and I could separate the beat-around-the-bushers/evaders and the to-the-pointers/get-it-doners by looking at the essays and not the names (not to mention pick out the scientists vs the engineers)! I don't know if the students realize that this is one way we scope out students for projects.

In the vein of questioning premises and assumptions, I would like to question the way that Prof. O'Connor has framed the issue. The impression the original posting conveys is that the student can choose between writing an "inflammatory", "pointed" essay, OR writing about a "less loaded" topic. Those are two different categories, though. One is about tone, the other is about subject matter. Someone could write a non-inflammatory essay that is still critical (in the negative sense) on ANY topic, no matter how loaded. And anybody on the Web has seen myriad examples of inflammatory treatment of even the most banal topics. So I think the original set of questions is itself questionable.

A good admissions officer (of which there are a few at the school where I teach) will be able to tell the difference between writing that is more like a mere rant (or a thumb-in-the-eye, self-styled "iconoclastic" provocation), and writing that seriously and thoughtfully engages with a question even when it challenges the -apparent- presuppositions of that question. And at least at my school, thoughtful engagement trumps adhering to whatever it is that you seem to think is the "party line" (some sort of left-liberalism, it seems).

I'm also a bit distressed that Satori seems to -assume- that his beliefs won't be accepted, which then becomes a reason for the rest of us to frame the "issue" as one of the Brave Little Speaker of Truth to Power going up against Big Diversity. But we all know that there are ways of expressing your beliefs that pretty much guarantee that you won't get a fair hearing even from people who agree with you. Satori seems to assume both that the readers won't agree AND that they will be punitive as a result. What evidence is there for either assumption, let alone the conjunction of the two?

So, as previous posters have said, I think that one should do what one would need to do -regardless- of which topic one chose: write clearly, thoughtfully, and incisively. It's easy to do all three of those things while still speaking from one's experiences, still being "pointed", and without being inflammatory.

In any case, best wishes for getting through the process of deciding where (and why!!) to apply to college.

First, I reported the following quote from a meeting in October 2003, following U-M's implementation of its first "post-Grutter" essay system. Theodore Spencer, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at U-M, responding to a question: ( see http://chetlyzarko.com/essays/risky-essays.html )

"We will look for them [essay writers] to take a bit of risk, but we don't want them to take too much risk to where they can offend the reader or someone else. We will look for all those kinds of things that the U still feels are important ... The only thing we've done ... we've rearranged them so that ... they are no longer given points ..."

TS's recitation of Sun-Tzu, "He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight," is apt, but I think that sedgeways into which students would have the best fighting ability.

I think the best answer is that it depends on the strength of the applicant's GPA and test scores.

If you had a 4.0 and SAT of 1600, I'd think the challenge would be highly appropriate, and your applying to an elite but not "super-elite" (Harvard, Yale). Let's say that U-Michigan rejects you -- you then, I think, have the next lawsuit, this time based on a First Amendment claim rather than 14th Amendment claim.

You could also not use the "common application," and submit a "safer" essay to one school and riskier to another. If you're qualifications are on the "bubble" the "risk" may also be worth it (to draw attention) or not worth it (to avoid the circular file). Obviously, if the risk fails, there is no lawsuit (provability would be low). There is no clear answer in this situation.

speaking of essays on the edge, my daughter was toying with this one. I told her that it probably is on the edge in terms of topic, as well as not a strong as it could be.

Rifle Team Practice

Ten … nine … eight … seven seconds until the final bell rings … six ... five … four … hanks to zero hour classes I am one of the few, the proud, the possessors of a free period before most extra curricular clubs meet … three … two … one. By the time the bell rings I have been sitting outside the rifle range for thirty minutes, studying biology to get a good start on tomorrow morning’s class. Checking my watch, I sigh and note that it will be another fifteen minutes before First Sergeant Hill arrives to unlock the range, pass out the rifles, set up the targets and let my mind focus on shooting.

Fifteen minutes of English and my waiting is at an end. I glance up at the approaching rhythmic click of Army shoes on school linoleum. I watch as the Sergeant strolls down the hallway. His brisk and measured stride somehow contrives to appear lazy, a walk that only old soldiers seem to master, in charge, moving quickly, but not in a hurry. Soon, the key turns in the lock, the door opens and I dart in. By the time my team mates have arrived, I have already laid out the mats and scopes. I am not competing against them, I am competing with them, and against myself.

After a few lighthearted greetings and gentle jokes about the skills of one another, we label and clip our targets to wires at the end of the range. Then, everything set; we file into the vault to collect our rifles. As the team captain, I lead the way, as the best shooter, I am the one they follow, three years as the only girl, and as the only girl on varsity, has taught me how to be in charge in this place, at this time.

As I approach the rack, my AP classes fade from my mind and my fingers begin to itch with anticipation. My hands gently grasp the wood as I lift my rifle from its place and slide the bolt open. My breath and heartbeat slow to a steady rhythm, and I find a clarity that rarely comes in Biology. Softly I pivot and stroll back to my lane with the rifle cradled against my shoulder and its muzzle pointed towards the ceiling. Tension, worry, and frustrations all fade away as I set the rifle on the rubber cushion of the mat, carefully so as to keep the sight in alignment.

I love school, I can’t stop myself from learning, but somehow, shooting brings it all into focus. To compete not on the basis of the strongest muscles, the fastest hands, the biggest ego, or the highest GPA, but to struggle with and against my own body, in a test of pure focus and clean skill, makes everything else have meaning. I learn, not to compete against others, not to be better or to dominate, but to strive against my own limits and for my own joy.

The shots ring out, prone, kneeling, standing, as the targets record progress, triumph and success. My will guides me, my skill serves me, and my focus leads the team and the practice. The timer clicks off, setting a deadline that draws close without remorse or feeling. The hour and a half passes, and then, counts down. Ten … nine … eight … my last shot is taken … seven … six … five … a few staccato bursts … four … three … two … a late team member fires his last shot … one … and over.

My mind opens up, I confirm my scores and confirm myself, ready to return to homework and study and school and life and the competition with others and against myself to be the best I can be. Walking with a stride that seems relaxed, but in charge, the way a young soldier can be who knows, in her heart, that she is going where she needs to be, without hurry.

I'm with Sigivald, but I feel even more strongly.

This is not just about the practicalities of getting into college. This is about intellectual balls. If you can't have balls at 18, when can you?

Submit the essay questioning the assumptions of diversity. Swing for the fences, too. Write the best essay you can (though be respectful and thoughtful about it; not shrill or overconfident). You'll get into college somewhere. And you'll be have been a man about the process, too.

There's plenty of time to take cautious, safe positions in life. Tell the kid not to short-putt his way through life. Once you give away your balls, it's not easy to get them back.

My two cents.

First, the whole point of the common application is to avoid writing a different essay for each college; the student wants to use his time effectively. I would pick another question. Tackling this one gambles on the open-mindedness of unknown admissions officers.

My nephew, who has Asperger's Syndrome (mildly autistic), had to answer a question about what sort of diversity he'd contribute to the campus environment. He never mentioned his disability in the essay or anywhere else on his application, though I think his struggle to succeed in mainstream and honors classes was near-heroic. He said he'd contribute to diversity by sharing his ideas about Thomas Jefferson's theories of deism with classmates. He got in to a good but non-elite university, though I suspect he was admitted on grades (high) and test scores (very high) not on his essays.