Learn by Example: Cultural Identity
Culture—whether it be ethnic, family, religious, or geographic—is not something you can easily list on a résumé. Yet for many students, it is an integral piece of the puzzle that makes them who they are.
Exploring your cultural background in your admissions essay shows the reader a side of you that they certainly would miss from the rest of your application. It also gives you the opportunity to reflect on your broader cultural experience and how it has shaped your worldview.
Many of the writers in this section describe a conflict between cultures past and present—from growing up in the U.S. with immigrant parents to challenging ethnic cultural norms. Where these essays really shine, though, is their description of how they have reconciled or attempted to reconcile this conflict, with themselves or with others. Through this process, the writers demonstrate that they understand the complexity of culture in their own lives and in the world around them.
In these essays, you will read stories in which students describe the meaning of the word “love” in different cultural contexts, playing jazz piano on the Sabbath, and learning a native African language. Using evocative imagery of the sights, smells, and feeling of their upbringing, these essays complete the profile of the applicant in a way that is uniquely theirs.
