<p>
</p>
<p>A reasoned and coherent essay about Sarah Palin (more reasoned and coherent than Sarah herself, of course) shouldn’t be a disqualifier. Surely there’s a difference between supporting a given controversial political candidate (though I suppose Palin is now just a private citizen, not a politician) and supporting a dictator.</p>
<p>Probably quite a few sons and daughters of dictators attending top U.S. colleges</p>
<p>speedo - colleges are functions of the people who are functions of the city and region they are from. If you have ever been to nwe, it will be clear to you as to what the general atmosphere is like.</p>
<p>Simply put, explain why schools in the northeast are very liberal if they admit “everyone”. Adcoms admit people who will fit in and embody the culture of the university. Not to say that the body is homogeneous, but it is very liberal leaning</p>
<p>pizzagirl - a reasonable article about Palin would not be a disqualifier. However making Palin your hero might as if your hero is incoherent and generally not perceived as smart, you either have to have a Pulitzer caliber essay or it probably will hurt you</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What is “nwe?” I have never seen that acronym before.</p>
<p>new england. thats how it is written in the NFL (NWE 48 - DAL 27 for example in 2007)</p>
<p>ok thanks. That is what I assumed.</p>
<p>sorry. big Patriots fan here…</p>
<p>I’ll bet most colleges would love to have a super-bright kid writing about his love of hunting. And that WOULD add diversity to a school in a good way. I seriously doubt that love of NASCAR would disqualify a candidate. I think it would make a candidate stand out in a good way. After admissions counselors have read their eight millionth essay on the day grandma died or the week I spend building a well in Guatemala, what could be more exhilarating than reading about a kid who loves something–ANYTHING–that’s different. And I don’t think being from the South is a disqualifier in any way. Most colleges desperately hunt for geographic diversity and proudly publish the numbers of students they have from different places. It’s probably a hell of a lot harder for a brilliant Asian girl from northern New Jersey, where the schools are incredibly competitive and churn out many overqualified kids, to get into Harvard than it is for a pretty bright white boy from Alabama who has the guts to go for it. And frankly, that’s not all bad–why not have different viewpoints represented?
I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with a kid saying they love Ronald Reagan or Sarah Palin, if they can do it in an intelligent way that shows something of their own personality, which of course is the point of these essays. As long as kids talk about something they truly love, not something they hate, they’re probably in good shape. And by love, I don’t mean, “I love being a racist” like one of the posters above. That post was quite the sad little read. </p>
<p>I definitely don’t buy the idea that people are discriminated against because they’re conservative. For every article you could find that says that this is true, you could probably find another one that says it isn’t true. Some of the top schools have a 7% acceptance rate. They’re rejecting people with 2400 scores. So there’s definitely a chance element.</p>
<h1>103</h1>
<p>The op and others on this thread are making some pretty serious allegations. So far no facts to back them up.</p>
<p>When you write a college essay, you are selling yourself. The adcom who reads the essay is the potential buyer. He or she is a human being, with biases. Personally, I think it is foolish to write an essay that will cut against the biases of many people. Therefore, no matter how much you may love something, I don’t think it’s a good essay topic if a lot of people (either in general or in the region where the college is located) look upon it with disdain. We can quibble, I suppose, whether adcoms at elite Northeastern schools are likely to look upon hunting, NASCAR, or Sarah Palin with disdain.</p>
<p>To put it another way, will adcoms likely think that your interests are diverse and interesting, or will they think that they are extreme and off-putting? How you present them matters, of course, but what they are matters, too.</p>
<p>I dont think there is a resolution to this issue. I guess do whatever you feel is best and if you get in, good for you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>because you made the qualifier. Brilliant >>> Pretty smart. Regardless of race. Id much rather have a brilliant group from NJ than a “pretty smart” set from somewhere else.</p>
<p>Do you not see the giant handicap you just made for the alabama guy?</p>
<p>The “pretty bright” white boy from Alabama won’t get into Harvard, because there are brilliant white boys in Alabama. But it’s probably true that, all other things being equal, being from Alabama will be an advantage over being from New Jersey. Why would you want to squander that advantage by writing an essay that might turn off the adcoms?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Clearly the elite colleges don’t agree with you, since otherwise they’d just to go to Exeter, Andover, and the like, go to Harker and Harvard-Westlake and the like, and fill in the gaps with Scarsdale, New Trier, Short Hills and the like, and they wouldn’t care if everyone was upper-middle or upper-class privileged.</p>
<p>pizzagirl - i think hunt answered your question. they would find the brilliant boy from alabama, not the stunningly mediocre one</p>
<p>They aren’t finding mediocre kids in Alabama.</p>
<p>what exactly is your point?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The non-sequitor is that Harvard and Yale do admit applicants who deer hunt, whether they write about it in their essays or not. And those students do fit in and thrive there. (I know this because both of my D’s have friends at H and Y who deer hunt and post photos of it on their FB).</p>
<p>If adcoms are disdainful of all applicants who like deer hunting, NASCAR and Sarah Palin to the point that they would not admit them for it, then they ought to be providing boxes to check for those and all other disdainful activities applicants might engage in. Otherwise, they might unwittingly admit someone who loves deer hunting (the horror).</p>
<p>Bay, I don’t think you’re getting this. This is about whether you’re putting your best foot forward in your essay, or not. In my opinion–and it’s just my opinion–you’re probably not putting your best foot forward if you write an essay about how much you love deer hunting. It’s not about whether Yale does or should take students who hunt–it’s about what impression you will make on the adcom who reads that essay–you know, the guy who is going to make a “holistic” evaluation of you and determine whether you “fit” and will contribute to a vibrant campus, yadda yadda yadda. You are certainly free to disagree with me about what that guy is likely to think about hunting, and take your chances.</p>
<p>To put this more bluntly, in my opinion and experience, a lot of urban Yankees think that hunters (especially Southern ones) are redneck gun nuts. (My own wife is an urban Yankee who thinks this way, despite the fact that I have plenty of relatives who hunt.) I think, furthermore, that there is a significant risk that a Yale adcom will be one of these urban Yankees.</p>
<p>Note: on another thread, I just told a kid that, in my opinion, he shouldn’t write his admissions essay on being bisexual. I also think that’s a topic that carries a risk that some percentage of adcoms will react negatively (at least, at some colleges).</p>
<p>I get it, Hunt, I guess I just don’t want to believe that adcoms at Yale would be so small minded about deer hunting, NASCAR and Sarah Palin, all of which are perfectly legitimate interests, so I am thinking out loud about how it can’t possibly be so.</p>
<p>I am aware that one can find people who are biased about virtually everything. I would be disappointed to know that adcoms at the world’s best universities really think this way.</p>
<p>I’d hate to burst your bubble about this, but those views are pretty common among liberal Northeasterners.</p>