Olm Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Form F (online) You must submit both F1, the Statement of Purpose and F2, the Personal History Statement online. Do NOT send hardcopies of F1 and F2 along with your supporting documents. ^^^^^^^^^ What in the hell are they talking about when they say personal history statement. I have never heard of such a thing. I thought you weren't supposed to include personal hobbies etc. in the SOP, fine, but now Berkeley wants it? Do I have to submit it and talk about how I regularly save boxes of kittens from burning buildings or whatever? If anybody could help, I would very much appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Rule Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 No, you have to talk about personal experiences that you've had that mean you bring something unique (i.e. add to the diversity) of the campus. I'm sure there is a description somewhere. I vaguely remembered that I talked about my family background and community service. My guess is it's something that's not going to hurt you if you don't have anything wonderful to say, but it'll help those who do come from really unique backgrounds. So write it, write it well, but don't stress about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olm Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Graduate Diversity Outreach Office: Sample Personal Statement Found it. Yesh... just when I thought I finished writing a whole bunch of nonsense... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicunomics Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Graduate Diversity Outreach Office: Sample Personal Statement Found it. Yesh... just when I thought I finished writing a whole bunch of nonsense... HA, I read stuff like that sample and a certain hand motion comes to mind (kind of looks like one might be feeding chickens...). I am comforted by the fact that economics does not thrive on emotive, flowery language. I think Berkeley allows like 2000 words for this statement (and 3000 for the SOP - seriously, how much is there to write about your interests?!) but I don't think I'll be threatening that limit. My only diversity is that I used to be a high level amateur golfer, and my parents are Romanian...so that should chew up like...400 words. I hardly think being a white Australian, family background aside, living in a middle class suburb, going to a good secondary school and top university qualify me as 'diverse'. I'm only ever going to get in on academic strength, and not diversity, so I don't really worry about this too much because I never intended for this aspect of the application to contribute positively. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olm Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Seesh, my SOP is barely over 500 words. I am a no bullshit kind of guy and I don't dance around too much. Seriously, 3000 words? You can probably include a good third of your MA thesis in that length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicunomics Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Well actually that's 12000 characters, so I'm thinking I may have overstated it. Didn't mean to scare you. I'm thinking: average word length is like 4.2 characters or something like that, but then spaces after every word would make that 5.2...sooo...lets say it's only a bit under 2400. Much better :D I think no-bullshit is a good approach to have though. I keep asking myself when I write stuff for my SOP/other bits and pieces: how credible is this? You have to assume that they're going to pick up any BS the second it hits the paper, so keeping it to the point would be appreciated, one would hope... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
constrainedoptimizer Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 U.C. Davis had the same field in their online application. They gave the instructions to list events/experiences in your life such as struggles you had to overcome, etc. I am assuming this is another dimension they may look at if they have two applicants they are undecided about. "Let's see how they did on the writing assignment..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EconPL Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Seesh, my SOP is barely over 500 words. I am a no bullshit kind of guy and I don't dance around too much. Seriously, 3000 words? You can probably include a good third of your MA thesis in that length. Same here. I'm really poor in bullshiting. But I doubt if Econ admission commitee will care much about it. Remember guys that this is a university form, not a departmental applications so hopefully it does not really matter in our case. Maybe this kind of thing is important if you want to study literature or whatever... but economics? At least I hope that this is the case. Anyway, I'm not planning to spend much time on it. Pure waste of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
econphilomath Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I think this type of information is not relevant at all. I have a hunch its just a relic of some sort left over from other areas or from undergraduate applications. I am almost completly sure no one will be reading your "diversity statement" unless the adcoms are bored and are looking for a good laugh. Another thought, why would they be interested in your personal "diversity" if 2/3s of the students in the program are from all over the world!! You can't get much more diverse than that. Who cares if your grandmother is Italian, if they want good pasta at the economics potluck, they can accept a couple of real mediteraneans, imported direct! Same goes for mexican food, indian, etc. Now I can imagine why the "great hardship" category could be usefull if you think the X's (gre, grades, etc) adcoms look at are determined by some funcion of your IQ,motivation,talent AND oportunities. If your have the same X's as someone else but not the same oportunities, that might mean your a lot smarter/motivated...? However, since you can bullshit al you want, I suspect the signal won't be very informative. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpsteiner Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 I'm working on the Berkeley application as well. They allow for so much room, but I think I'm going to keep my essays ~8,000-10,000 characters for the first and ~7,000 for the second. I don't know what to write about on the second one either. Perhaps something interesting. I'll look at the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eqtisadi Posted November 25, 2007 Share Posted November 25, 2007 I agree. I submitted my application last week and put the same SOP I use for all departments (adjusted for Berkeley a bit) for the first form. It was around 4000-4500 characters long, I think. The second one was totally BS. I don't remember its length. But don't you think this essay might affect the chances of getting a scholarship? I think that public universities tend to have such funds that are designated for diversity etc and might help the department get more funding for their students in the name of diversity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
econphilomath Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I just submitted mine. SOP 3000 characters and the diversity crap was two or three lines explaining how good I am at baking brownies...:crazy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polkaparty Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 the diversity crap was two or three lines explaining how good I am at baking brownies...:crazy: are you serious!? That'd be cool if you were.... I don't understand how y'all are so far ahead! I'm nowhere near submitting any of my apps. I'll be sticking it out till the day before the deadline no doubt.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
econphilomath Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 are you serious!? That'd be cool if you were.... I don't understand how y'all are so far ahead! I'm nowhere near submitting any of my apps. I'll be sticking it out till the day before the deadline no doubt.... Serious about the three lines, not about the brownies... I'm giving my applications a "Big Push" to break out of the poo trap I've been stuck in for the last weeks. I've spent the last two days ffinishing my SOP and filling out stuff. Princeton closes next week so I'm up against the wall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polkaparty Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Princeton closes next week so I'm up against the wall! Saturday is the 1st, so does that mean their deadline carries over to the following Monday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karina 07 Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Serious about the three lines, not about the brownies... Aw, you should totally go with the brownies, man. Seriously, though, I don't think it matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpsteiner Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 I am freaking out, but most of my apps aren't due until January; that means my "big push" won't occur until winter break. My Berkeley & Yale applications are almost done, and I'll submit those probably this weekend. For Berkeley, I ended up writing about growing up in the cornfields of southern Illinois in my diversity statements. And tutoring math at the minority office. I don't bake brownies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08Applicant Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I'm writing this right now. I'd really like to go to Berkeley so if this helps, I'll put in a few hours of effort. I was reading the sample that someone linked. Yeah it sucks but I'm willing to play their game. That was until I read this: Growing up within a male-dominated culture and family has made me keenly aware and sensitive to the contextual confines that oppress women's actions and desires; it has also made me appreciative of the imaginative and courageous ways in which women have collaborated and conspired sometimes tacitly, other times quite overtly to challenge and subvert patriarchal authority. You've got to be f'ing kidding me. What kind of self-aggrandizing crap is this? She just said she's a female student of Mexican descent. If she's an American citizen and this was written in the last 20 years, then it's an insult to people that actually struggle in male-dominated cultures. Simply awful. I like economics. I like research. I think I can do both and make meaningful contributions to the sum of human knowledge. My research interests, research experience, and volunteer experience demonstrate my commitment to making my work and my time accessible to issues that help many people of different economic and racial backgrounds. I like academia. I had great mentors. I would like to do the same for others. Done. (I will polish the language in final version) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
econphilomath Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I like economics. I like research. I think I can do both and make meaningful contributions to the sum of human knowledge. My research interests, research experience, and volunteer experience demonstrate my commitment to making my work and my time accessible to issues that help many people of different economic and racial backgrounds. I like academia. I had great mentors. I would like to do the same for others. Done. (I will polish the language in final version) Sounds good to me....you can also metion your martial arts skills. They could come in handy if things get rough at the yearly soccer match against Stanford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08Applicant Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I would actually say something to that effect if I got any hint from the school/department that they didn't take themselves and that part of the application so seriously. Right now my SOP will be 5000-7000 characters I'm guessing. I'm cannibalizing NSF essays and I have 2000 characters so far. My personal history, 2-3 paragraphs, maybe 2000 characters at most. I did some volunteer work I want to mention and I want to reiterate something about my current research. But otherwise what I wrote in my other post is about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fp3690 Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Well actually that's 12000 characters, so I'm thinking I may have overstated it. Didn't mean to scare you. I'm thinking: average word length is like 4.2 characters or something like that, but then spaces after every word would make that 5.2...sooo...lets say it's only a bit under 2400. Much better :D I think no-bullshit is a good approach to have though. I keep asking myself when I write stuff for my SOP/other bits and pieces: how credible is this? You have to assume that they're going to pick up any BS the second it hits the paper, so keeping it to the point would be appreciated, one would hope... Average word 4.2 characters? How many it are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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