Share an experience through which you have gained respect for intellectual, social, or cultural differences. Comment on how your personal experiences and achievements would contribute to the diversity of the University of Michigan.
(Approximately 250 Words)
Studying in the Canadian International School (CIS) has always kept me exposed to diverse cultures from over 35 countries. However, throughout my time I have never had the chance to meet and interact with Middle Eastern People. As a result of this, I fell to common stereotypes that these people were very conservative, and hid themselves behind arcane traditions and rules that made them different from me. All this however changed during my Model United Nations trip to Doha, Qatar. At Doha, I had the chance to meet students from Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Oman, Bahrain, and the UAE. What happened at Doha was inconsistent with what I had earlier expected. During the three days of the conference, I met a diverse body of students and we instantly became friends. From my time there, I learned that Middle Eastern students were like me. We had similar tastes in trends and talked about the same things. They did indeed have traditions and were slightly conservative, but in reality I could not blatantly see "this" and so there were hardly any differences between us. At the end of the conference, I exchanged e-mails with my new friends and we stayed in contact. From my experience at Doha, I learned that one should never judge a book by its cover and never fall prey to gossip and rumours that could create stereotypes. With this experience and my time at CIS, I would bring to the University of Michigan a student who has been exposed to a wide range of cultures, and has grown up respecting each other's cultures.
Please help, I think that I may have not touched on the subject properly...
what I had earlier expected
"Earlier" is not needed, as this is implicit in "expected."
Please help, I think that I may have not touched on the subject properly...
No, you have addressed the prompt quite adequately, demonstrating both your respect for diversity and you ability to change your mind in response to new information. Good job!
Your essay is really good. The only constructive criticism I have is that perhaps you want to be a little more specific about what about the Middle Eastern Students caused you to abandon your previous stereotypes. For example, you mention something about similar trends, so you might want to expand on which trends. I think that would show that you really got to know the students. Just a suggestion, but even without it, your essay is great.
