<p>Um, um um
religion is a very important EC I have. I don't want to go in depth on what I do. It involves learning daily and reading out Sanskrit slogans in temples and listening to religious seminars.</p>
<p>So so so
I know religion such as Christianity did give problems for the advancement of science. Some of their philosophy might not got in sccordance with science. I had the feeling MIT might not like it or something. But it is very important, i have been doing these activities since I was a brat.
Will that get counted against me? Thanks!</p>
<p>I'd imagine admissions and such won't count your faith against you, unless it blatantly contradicts science. "Furthermore, I spend my free time teaching children that the earth was created 6,000 years ago and dinosaurs lived together with people," etc. </p>
<p>Having said that, be prepared for the fact that MIT is disproportionately atheist/agnostic. If you've never been in such an environment or it would trouble you to be in such an environment, you may want to consider your options further.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say the majority are atheistic/agnostic. I'd say a lot of people belong to some religion, but don't necessarily go to church regularly.</p>
<p>Olo didn't say the majority were atheist/agnostic. He (she) said disproportionately, meaning that there's a higher proportion than in the general population. Can't argue with that.
Based on my experience, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the atheists and agnostics were in the majority.</p>
<p>Um um um
I am sure I can explain that my religion doesn't contradict science. Yes, I have been in societies consisting of athiests. Im totaly okay with that. I mean I don't try to convert anyone to my religion.
People who are interested in my religion are welcome to practice it. Converting like the way Christians do is not our policy. </p>
<p>Oh, yes, we don't have "the earth was created 6,000 years ago and dinosaurs lived together with people"
type of things. We bwlieve in community service and other things that don't contradict science. In fact, our religion promotes science. Im sure I can explain all this on the essays</p>
<p>Greenblue, I guess I didn't read the post carefully enough. However, I think I still disagree with it. I'm guessing you would get more flak for being religious at an ivy league school, although probably moreso for Christianity than Islam. Religion is something which is not talked about by the vast majority of students at MIT. I think people are less judgemental at MIT than at the ivies.</p>
<p>I'm guessing the OP is Hindu as he is reading Sanskrit, and I don't think people would look down on it at the ivies, let alone MIT. LOL--do you know how many Indians there are at MIT?</p>
<p>That would make for an interesting test case: whether rejecting someone because of religious views which are also crazy -- in the sense that they are very fringe views among educated people (so not something like mainstream Christianity) -- would be considered discrimination. Remember, the non-discrimination statutes require equal treatment assuming the person is able to do the job or receive the education just as well as anyone else, and the religion is just a personal choice outside of work. If the religious views seriously interfere with the ability to perform the job or be a productive member of the educational community, there is probably a strong case to be made that rejecting on those grounds would not constitute discrimination.</p>
<p>The Iowa State Physics Department recently denied tenure to a prof who wrote a book about "Intelligent Design." Several profs admit it was part, although certainly not all, of the decision, even though the guy did not teach about ID at all. It will be in the courts, and seems like a similar parallel to the question here.</p>
<p>So what do I do???
Don't tell me to not mention religious EC. It means a lot. I do have others, but I feel really passionate about this.
ya ya, I am hindu
I know its a touchy subject, but can you give some tips to avoid looking alien with my religion? I don't know . . .</p>
<p>I was pleasantly surprised to see the large number of students at MIT (around 10%) from religiously affiliated secondary schools. Perhaps these individuals are assumed to have a greater moral fiber, who knows?</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd say writing about Hinduism in academia is even safer than even Christianity (although I'm sure the MIT committee wouldn't discriminate against you even with Christianity.)</p>
<p>But didn't christianity pose real big problems during the Age of Reasoning? The pope didn't aprove scientific advancement (The proposition of the geo-centric model over the helio-centric model is a solid example).
In fact, even before, the pope emphasized on Aristotle's wrong teachings and forbade any other scientific research.</p>
<p>The results of research during the Age of Reasoning and Enlightment (during Galileo's time)totally contradicted with the Bible.</p>
<p>Are you all sure MIT wouldn't look down on Christianity?</p>
<p>^it was said before, but that would be discrimination, just like like seeing the application of a muslim student and assuming he is a suicide bomber. generalizations = bad</p>
<p>Even if you don't practice a mainstream religion, wouldn't MIT look at that as a positive trait that would introduce diversity and a different perspective into the student body?</p>
<p>WorrieMom -- Enlightenment popes aren't a good model for Christians who apply to MIT today. Sure, the Christian establishment persecuted scientists a long time ago, but that doesn't mean that MIT would be hostile to that religion, taken as a whole, today. Plenty of Christians hold quite sane views which are compatible with the modern "scientific creed" and so would be perfectly acceptable members of the community.</p>
<p>Those who hold fringe religious views and show signs of letting that interfere with their work as scientists or engineers would probably find their chances diminished because of conscious or unconscious prejudice against those things on the part of the admissions officers. Let's face it -- the majority of MIT admissions officers are quite liberal and, being human, would probably not find it so easy to completely discount their personal reactions to views that are crazy from their perspective.</p>
<p>But practicing a perfectly mainstream religion like Hinduism the way that millions of other people do doesn't raise any eyebrows among educated liberal types so, Ashwin, you will do fine and probably even improve your chances if you write about it.</p>
<p>Ben says:
"Those who hold fringe religious views and show signs of letting that interfere with their work as scientists or engineers would probably find their chances diminished because of conscious or unconscious prejudice against those things on the part of the admissions officers. "</p>
<p>You mean they would look down upon a religion that requires its followers to stab their hands with oiled knives every morning before attempting to solve math problems? ;)</p>
<p>Ok ok
Thanks for all of your comments. But I do have a question that bugged me.
Caltech is a school that actually wants science and math ECs. They are all in for sciecne and math. Is MIT like that? Would MIT "prefer" like Caltech math and science . . . stuff? Religious ECs aren't science or math. Its also a touchy subject . . . I mean I can write about my religious ECs freely to say, Stanford or Harvard because they aren't only focussed on math and science. They are willin gto accept people with different interests. I was just wondering MIT is acceptable with my religious EC. </p>
<p>PS: I like science and math, so don't say MIT is not a fit for me or something.
but Im not a super nerd . . .</p>