Am I My Resume?

Who am I anyway? Am I my resume?
That is a picture of a person I don't know.
What does he want from me?
What should I try to be?
So many faces all around and here we go,
I need this job Oh God, I need this show.
-Paul, A Chorus Line

Still working on grad school applications- just UC-Berkeley left. It turns out, I need to write another essay. It's so difficult, trying to figure out what exactly they want, especially when they give you such a limited amount of space.

I wish they would do an interview instead of requiring a Personal History Statement. All the questions they ask are so personal, I hate to document them on paper. I can just envision them passing around the deepest and most secret details of my identity and history, examining them with reading spectacles perched on the tip of their noses. "I don't know about this one," Dr. A explains, "I don't think she's suffered quite enough."

It honestly seems like they just want people who have suffered. Here's what they ask for:

In an essay, discuss how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Please include any educational, familial, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how you might contribute to social or cultural diversity within your chosen field; and/or how you might serve educationally underrepresented segments of society with your degree.

Can't everyone contribute socially and culturally? It just seems like they're secretly saying: "If you're a person of color or gay or have one leg or practice Satanism, we want you, because you will contribute with your freakishness." It makes me feel like a spectacle, and I really don't appreciate the notion in an Ethnic Studies program, particularly.

But, anyway, they're number 3 in the country, so I'll just stop complaining and get it done. Grr.