Northwestern University's wording, checked October 26, 2026“Northwestern is a place where people with diverse backgrounds from all over the world can study, live, and talk with one another. This range of experiences and viewpoints immeasurably enriches learning. How might your individual background contribute to this diversity of perspectives in Northwestern’s classrooms and around our campus?”
How to approach it
- 1Show the perspective through one example, then where it would show up.
- 2Background is broad: family, place, work, language, belief, a circumstance.
- 3Check it against your required Northwestern essay and choose a different side of yourself.
A structure that works
One way to shape this answer. It describes moves, not sentences: the words have to be yours.
- 1One part of your background, shown in a specific situation.
- 2The way of seeing it gave you.
- 3A classroom or campus setting at Northwestern where that view would change the conversation.
- 4What you hope to learn from perspectives unlike yours.
Where the 200 words go
| Part | Words |
|---|---|
| The moment or example | about 80 |
| What it shows or changed | about 70 |
| Why it matters, or what you bring | about 50 |
Mistakes to avoid
- Repeating the required essay.
- Describing a background without showing what it lets you see.
The checklist our grader uses for this question
When you check your Northwestern answers, this answer is read against these 5 areas. Each comes back Met, Partly or Missing with a quote from your draft as evidence, and together with the 200 words limit they set its readiness verdict.
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| One lived experience | It focuses on one specific aspect of the applicant's life or background, shown through a moment or detail, not a list of labels. |
| How it shaped you | It shows how that experience changed what the applicant thinks, does or notices, with evidence rather than a claim. |
| What classmates will gain | It makes clear what the applicant would bring to conversations, classes or campus life because of it. |
| Northwestern's ask | Says how the applicant's background would contribute to the diversity of perspectives in classrooms and on campus. |
Check your Northwestern answers
Paste this answer (and any other Northwestern answers you have). One report covers all of them: the checklist above for each, a note on every sentence, coaching questions and a revision plan. One supplement token ($4.99) covers the whole college. We never write a word of it.
Check your college supplemental essays
All of this college's answers in one report, for 1 supplement token.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Common App or any college.
Open the picker and search for a college to see its 2026–27 supplemental questions.
Supplement reviews are paid: your free review is for the Common App essay or a UC answer · we never write your answers
Questions
More on Northwestern and this kind of question
- Harvard: Life experiences you will contribute · 150 words
- Yale: Essay: your personal experience · 400 words
- Princeton: Your voice: lived experience · 400-500 words
- Columbia: Your lived experience · 150 words
- Brown: An aspect of your growing up · 150-250 words
- Dartmouth: Let your life speak · 250 words