Atheism and Admissions

<p>Although I completely understand where your coming from I don't think writing about religion is a smart idea no matter what you are. While it's great you are defined, and are perhaps a minority in your beliefs, it's simply not a smart idea, IMO, to talk about politics or religion in a college essay. Hope this helps, best of luck to you!</p>

<p>To the OP, what exactly do you hope to convey in your essay?</p>

<p>I read life of pi, didn't do much for me.
The book that converted me to atheism was "The curious incident with the dog in the night-time". Its wasnt meant to but it did. </p>

<p>I don't like how I always have to bubble in Other when I fill out the college board religion. There should be a bubble for atheism, I mean they have enough bubbles. Also I've only seen one school that has Atheism as a choice for (optional) religion. That would be UPitt of all schools.</p>

<p>I read Life of Pi too, I liked the story but it wasn't really an effective argument for religion. Anyway, what I meant by my post was, should I mention atheism at all? I came across something in an essay where I thought it would be good to mention, but I don't need to and I don't think I will.</p>

<p>Ouch, I am in the middle of writing an essay about my participation in my youth group. (church)
Should I stop ?</p>

<p>Don't stop with the church group essay, but make sure the essay is about the EC aspect and not the religion.</p>

<p>A little while ago I posted a slightly anti-religious statement on the parents forum, you could see what kind of responses did I get. America is not a country to discuss your atheistic views on the college application essays. You will not get in. Period.</p>

<p>Non-religious schools could honestly care less. A good portion of the faculty at a lot of state schools are athiests.</p>

<p>adcoms are people
people are biased
if you get a devout pious christian to read it it'll hurt.
if you get someone who can relate, it'll help a bit.</p>

<p>not to say that adcoms are rly biased people, but there are little things that can make or break your acceptance.</p>

<p>OP, I don't think there's anything wrong with mentioning it if it helps an essay on another topic. Just don't make your entire essay about atheism.</p>

<p>what if your family is part of an extremely religious group&you want to write about how that has affected you? for example, my whole family are jehova's witnesses &for a long time discouraged me from overachieving in school because they think that by doing that i'm participating in "worldly matters" &that i should be passing out pamphlets instead ( no joke ). how would i go on explaining this, or should i?</p>

<p>From what I have read/heard, there is nothing wrong with writing about a religious experience as long as you don't come across as trying to convert the reader. Another thing to avoid would be to treat religious doctrine as widely accepted truths in your essay.</p>

<p>Colleges want to learn about you by reading your essay. If atheism or your religious belief defines you better than anything else, I say go for it. I don't believe that even if your belief (or, lack of it) is contrary to that held by ADCOM member, it matters. What really matters is whether the admissions officer learns something important about you by reading your essay.</p>

<p>A lot of people write about religion, especially if you grew up in a very religious family.</p>

<p>But no one wants to read an essay about how you lost your faith.</p>