Personal History Statement for UC Berkeley

[good_tea]

UC Berkeley has a personal history form in addition to a statement of purpose. The question prompt is:

"Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Please include information on how you have overcome barriers to access higher education, evidence of how you have come to understand the barriers faced by others, evidence of your academic service to advance equitable access to higher education for women, racial minorities, and individuals from other groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education, evidence of your research focusing on underserved populations or related issues of inequality, or evidence of your leadership among such groups."

The first sentence seems easy to answer "Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree." The rest I don't have much to say about - I didn't have barriers to higher education and while I feel that people should have access to higher education, it would be incredibly silly to write about "how I have come to understand the barriers faced by others," e.g. "When I was younger, I used to think everyone had access to higher education [not true]. However, over the years I have come to learn that this is not the case and that many individuals face a wide range of barriers in their pursuit of higher education."

So is it okay to just not talk about disadvantaged groups, etc. here and just talk about your own personal background and how that contributes to/informs your academic pursuits?

Btw, I have read the previous threads on this topic (at least the ones I could find) and I do not feel this has been addressed there.

- Good Tea (having tea in about 10-15 minutes actually)

[tm_guru]

That sounds more like one of those optional diversity statements.

[chimerical]

It's not optional for UCB.

If you don't have anything concrete to say about being disadvantaged or helping people in that position then just focus on your own background. They will see through unsubstantiated fluff about coming to understand the hardships faced by others.

I also wouldn't worry too much about it. The use of this essay varies by department, but from what I've heard, it's typically used in awarding fellowships aimed at underrepresented groups than in admissions decisions.

[nat_resource]

Just make up a sob story. I'm using the backdrop from Slumdog Millionaire for my statement. Since Slumdog is taken, you should use Good Will Hunting.

[Gecko]

i just focused on my background for the UC statement..

[JohnMcClane]

I would pick the Pianist over slumdog and good will hunting for a background story.

[DasGut]

Do Star Wars. I hear Jedi are lacking in representation at Berkeley these days.

[good_tea]

Thanks for the replies.

I wonder how they would react if someone did write the Slumdog Millionaire story as their personal background (i.e. I went on who wants to be a millionaire and answered all of questions based on personal experience and won a million dollars [more like 2-300,000 USD actually] and was re-united with the love of my life, then I danced in the train station for some odd reason).

[good_tea]

Sorry about resuscitating this thread, but I was wondering if someone could let me know how long their personal history for UCB was. I have written about 350 words and while I could add more, it would start becoming a bit forced. The current length is very short though.

Thanks.

[kimbanator]

Mine's also going to be short. Really, they're looking to see if you're an applicant who might be able to bring in outside funding due to your socioeconomic/ethnic/whatever background. If you don't really qualify, then it's pointless to waste times coming up with a contrived story.