Berkeley Diversity Essay

William Holcomb

15 December 2006 23:48PST

I read this on December 15 at 11:42 with half a crappy essay written on paper.

The online application is due: December 15, 2006, at 11:59:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time. Applications submitted after this time will not be accepted. You will not be informed if your application is submitted late — it simply will not be processed.

Oh my god, this has got to be the worst essay I've ever written though I suppose it is about normal for those I've written in seven minutes. I said "white boy" in my graduate school application essay. The best laid plans of mice and men…


"In an essay, discuss how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Please include any educational, familial, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how you might contribute to social or cultural diversity within your chosen field; and/or how you might serve educationally underrepresented segments of society with your degree."

I am a six-foot-tall white boy raised Protestant by upper middle class parents in the hills of Tennessee. I might as well have "Generic" branded on my behind so far as social or economic diversity from a demographic standpoint. What do I have to bring to Berkeley so far as diversity?

Honestly, the cultural homogeneity of my youth grated on me a bit. I spent much of my college years learning about other ways of life and understanding the psychological development process. This is evidenced by the face I have as many conference presentations in psychology and philosophy as I do in more technical realms.

I do believe in many ways in the idyllic picture of the internet as a community where the creation and distribution of new ideas is easy and fast. I think that it has great promise for expanding people's social contexts and widening their worldview. I am interested in studying the ways that those contacts are made and how to establish and verify trust relationships in that medium. That this area of research will shape our society and hopefully empower the disenfranchised is undeniable.


Christ.