Coming up with ideas for diversity essay prompts (personal interest, diversity)

I have two scholarship essays to write and plenty of time to do them but I would really like to start coming up with a topic.

I have a lot of trouble working from just a prompt, I feel like Ive been spoiled by the ancilliary questions all of my professors provide.

The two prompts are "How do you contribute to diversity at (University)", and "If you were not attending (University) what personal interest would you be pursuing."

I feel like they should both be easy prompts, but I feel like I lack the creativity to come up with something that really stands out.

Right now Im hoping to pull the "born in a foreign country" card, talk about how different the cultures are and how I can help share a different point of view with the people aroubnd me, however, I feel like everyone else is going to write basically the same essay and I'm also hoping to come up with an excuse for my lack of involvement in the campus.

For the other essay I was going to stick to the different point of view thing, and talk about how "I'd spend the year traveling and working in differnt places and how much I would love learning about different cultures.

Does anyone have some good ideas ion how I could perk these up? Ill start posting as soon as I get drafts but I really want a good base to start from. Does anyone know if it affects how they look at your essay if you turn it in early?

I think the easiest way to stand out and be unique is to write what you are most passionate about. The essays by people who are born in other countries are always interesting to me, but if you also ride a unicycle or play the ukulele it's even better!

"For the other essay I was going to stick to the different point of view thing, and talk about how "I'd spend the year traveling and working in different places and how much I would love learning about different cultures."

It's true that a lot of students do write that, but if you add something like,.."but whatever I end up doing, I know that I'll be spending some of my time",... learning French, studying the tsetse fly, it will make your essay personal and more interesting.

Good luck!
:)

A good way to demonstrate your individuality goes to helping your argument.

yah, many people might write about that, but if you make your genuine-ness and passion come through, it will still be a better essay that a very unusual essay that is mostly fake and written just to sound good. it is very obvious in most people's writing whether they honestly care about it or just sound nice. I feel that being unique is helpful for keeping attention, but being legit is far more important.

I agree with mustafa on using your reasons to be indivdual... specific examples or stuff from childhood. someone else on here talked about how their friends wanted to be james bond but they wanted to get a nobel peace prize to establish that even as a kid she wanted to be a physist. little bits like that can make it more fun while still supporting your main statement.

good luck!

p.s. Check out mine too if you get the chance= Scholarship letter for my high school's college scholarships - suggestions? Thanks!