<p>Hello all!</p>
<p>I am a high school student living on the west coast who is considering starting a type of atheist/freethinker club at my school.</p>
<p>The problem for me currently is whether mentioning this in my application will hurt my chances of admission for schools such as Berkeley, UCLA, USC, etc.</p>
<p>A significant reason, to me, for creating this club would be for the sake of admissions so any opinions and suggestions would be helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>So much for “freethinking” if you’re creating the club for admissions sake… but whatever. </p>
<p>No, it won’t hurt your app. They’ve seen worse.</p>
<p>Creating anything for the sake of admissions is problematic but hey, if that’s what floats your boat, then so be it. I don’t think they’d care.</p>
<p>LOL: this is a tremendous post. Just priceless.</p>
<p>OP: Here’s something for you to wrap your freethinking soul around:
[Closing</a> Of Homeless Shelter Leaves College-Application-Padding Students With Nowhere To Turn | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source](<a href=“http://www.theonion.com/articles/closing-of-homeless-shelter-leaves-collegeapplicat,2461/]Closing”>Closing Of Homeless Shelter Leaves College-Application-Padding Students With Nowhere To Turn)</p>
<p>It’s not as if I don’t actually hold the aforementioned views. I just wouldn’t invest the time in making one if it’s going to be detrimental to admissions. Meh. Perhaps the way I said it before came out wrong.</p>
<p>@T26E4: The decision for me is not about padding my application, but whether expressing my views would be beneficial.</p>
<p>T26E4, you just made my day!</p>
<p>Colleges that impart any importance to EC involvement want actual people who are involved and do what they do because of its own importance – not just to create lines on their resume/college app.</p>
<p>Do it if you have the time and find it useful. Otherwise, spend your time on something else you find valuable. The number of “I created so and so club” claims by HS students applying to selective colleges is cliched enough to be mocked in mainstream culture.</p>
<p>But to answer your question: "whether expressing my views would be beneficial. "</p>
<p>The schools you listed are open enough where an atheistic mindset won’t raise any eyebrows – nor will they really stand out either.</p>
<p>I realize that but am afraid of any religious bias. If I end up not doing it because of admissions then I’d pursue it as an undergraduate student after I get in (since I know schools like Berkeley actually do have those types of clubs).</p>
<p>Again I’m not just padding my application, just afraid that it may do more harm than good.</p>
<p>Edit: All I am asking is whether or not colleges where I live are known to have these biases.</p>
<p>Edit: @T26E4: Thanks. My bad for giving you guys the wrong impression in the original post.</p>
<p>What will you call this club?</p>
<p>"significant reason, to me, for creating this club would be for the sake of admissions so any opinions and suggestions would be helpful.
"</p>
<p>This is a stupid reason to start a club, and more than likely the very few colleges that factor ECs into admission (those tend to be places like Harvard) will see through your reasons for starting the club, and won’t accept you. Anyway, for the few colleges that factor ECs into admission, just starting a club is not going to impress them.</p>
<p>Lots of applicants to such schools start do-nothing clubs just to try to stand out in admission. The ECs that impress such colleges are ones in which the student has made a big impact such as by organizing a major project, making a difference in a person’s life, etc.</p>
<p>BTW, freethinkers tend not to be joiners.</p>
<p>There’s not going to be a religious bias unless you are applying to a religious school - and even then, depending on the school, it may not matter (American University is methodist affiliated, for example, but I wouldn’t worry about it).</p>
<p>“BTW, freethinkers tend not to be joiners.”</p>
<p>LOL–I salute you --The Best Response of the Day :)</p>
<p>I can’t believe people are still misunderstanding me at this point.</p>
<p>I’ve made the point several times to clarify my thoughts on the matter.
The part about creating the club for sake of admissions came out completely wrong the way I had typed it.</p>
<p>Admissions is just one of the factors for me whether to create one or not. By this I mean if I find that colleges tend to frown upon such mindsets and subjects then I’d avoid it. This is not to say, however, that I would have absolutely no interest in it if colleges did not. Since my plans for the potential club would be quite time-consuming for me, if it turns out that the creation and involvement of the club would not do more harm than good for my application, I would hold off on that particular interest **until a better time<a href=“like%20after%20getting%20admitted”>/B</a>.</p>
<p>Religion and atheism as the focus of an activity is, to me, different than other foci because most other foci generally receive either a positive or neutral reaction.
On the other hand, the focus of my club has the potential to draw negative attention so I can’t just “do it because that’s what my interest is” and completely disregard the opinions of others; when I say “others” I’m mainly speaking of colleges, whose opinions, well, would actually affect me greatly.</p>
<p>AGAIN. All I was asking was whether colleges where I reside tend to have any religious bias that would render my creation of this club harmful to my admissions. I do have a deep interest in these subjects but am unsure whether high school is the best place to express them.</p>
<p>@sylvan: I was planning to call it something along the lines of Rational Response. I know it isn’t really original, but the original name I doubt would be well known.
The name would fit because my main goal for creating this club would be to inform and educate my peers on atheistic, rational, and secular thought. The amount of misinformation and misconceptions about matters of religion and atheism is just…unbelievable and I hope to be able to help combat it.</p>
<p>Big thanks to the people kind enough to answer my question though! (:</p>
<p>Edit: My situation is actually sort of similar to that other guy on this forum who asked whether writing about his life in relation to atheism is a good idea.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would have an impact --good or bad-- on your college apps.</p>
<p>mapguy: several people have already stated that at the colleges you listed: an atheist club/activity would most likely NOT make any stirs – i.e. no negative religious bias.</p>
<p>Again, it’s just our opinion on the matter. I think that’s all you were asking for, right? There you go. Good luck w/your college admissions.</p>
<p>I think if you just call it an Atheism club or whatever, you should be fine – I doubt the adcoms at those colleges will care. They know enough to know they aren’t supposed to be biased based on religious belief (or lack thereof), and I bet at least some of the adcoms are atheists or agnostic themselves. </p>
<p>OTOH, I wouldn’t call or describe it as an atheist/“freethinker” club, because that implies that you think people who ARN’T atheists aren’t freethinkers, and that MIGHT **** off an adcom, or make them wonder if you wouldn’t be able to interact respectfully with religious students on campus. Which is not to say that that is what you actually think, just that calling it that could come off wrong.</p>
<p>What do you plan to do with said club?</p>
<p>This reminds me of the English Club at my school that the football team. Their meetings were football practices conducted primarily in the English language (and also grunts and roars and sweaty slaps on the butt), and each person got a one week turn being President.</p>
<p>I completely sympathize with you. I actually wanted to start a similar thing at my high school, but I live in an extremely conservative area. Actually, one of my close friends (who I thought would accept me because he was very intelligent and would trust me all sorts of personal things) completely stopped speaking to me for a year after I told him I was an atheist. But I really don’t think it’ll be such a problem in college. With the exception of extremely religious institutions, most top colleges seem to have a pretty high percentage of atheists/agnostics. In fact, if you’re from a conservative area, they may even be impressed with your courage. I say go for it.</p>
<p>I think this club would be okay if it’s done in the spirit of openness and positive free inquiry. If it is founded as or becomes a platform to mock and attack religions or religious people, colleges might take a dim view that sort of intolerance.</p>