For my common app essay, I am thinking about writing about how I almost didn’t go through with my Confirmation last year for the “Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?” prompt. I have heard a lot that you shouldn’t be talking about religion or anything controversial like politics, etc. However, the points that I want to make are not about questioning the religion or its values, they will be about how I learned that it’s okay and often beneficial to question a tradition, no matter how many people blindly follow it. Does this sound good/ acceptable for adcoms? (I’m not applying to religious schools, most of them are large state schools)
Sounds appropriate. Maybe try to get a Christian and a nonreligious person to read it to see if they find it ok
Yeah, probably fine.
It sounds like you have a good understanding of how the essay should be used. I agree that finding people with a range of beliefs to review it would put your mind at ease.
There’s a small chance that some adcom will hate the essay just because it’s about religion. But then again you could write about how Jello changed your life and some adcom would end up having a fear of Jello.
The problem with a lot of religious essays is they just talk about how the person is saved or how important Jesus is in their life. They don’t actually tell anything about the student writing them. Your take is self-reflective so it is a good potential topic.
The last thing worth considering is the vanishingly small likelihood of an adcom having an insuperable and unrecognized bias of this sort.
Of course, religion essays can be disastrous, but that’s because they’re awful essays and not because of the subject matter. I’ve seen many successful essays written from a religious or spiritual perspective.
That was my point
Too late to edit above comment - but to clarify, some adcoms will react negatively to anything - that’s unpredictable. But a well-written essay that conveys the essence of the writer will resonate - whether about religion or other “taboo” subjects. It’s not the topic, it’s how clearly the personality of the writer shines through, and how it shows what the writer will contribute to the composition of the college.
On a related note, I’ve encountered a couple of people who have an irrational fear of Jello - hence my example. You just never know what is going to be seen as a positive - or a negative - by any particular individual. All you can do is showcase yourself in the best possible light.