I am planning to apply to UPenn (top choice) and some other Ivy League institutions, and the application has a field to specify my religion. If I specified myself as an atheist, would this potentially reduce my chances of getting in?
Absolutely not.
Makes no difference at all.
Does anyone know why they would ask?
I don’t know for sure, but it might be for diversity.
It is probably an optional question, you don’t have to answer. That info isn’t going to affect your admission decision.
It’s for stats, and isn’t seen by admissions.
But if it were, it would be a plus. Disclosing yourself as a strong Christian wouldn’t be a plus.
@bagels: I disagree with your final statement.
@AboutTheSame I don’t think @bagels comment was bigotry. He said that religion isn’t looked at for admissions, but if it were then it would help compared to being Christian which is most likely the majority at most colleges.
@classof2017 : I’m afraid that your logic escapes me – as did the post I was responding to. I do not think there is any evidence to support the assertion that “[d]isclosing yourself as a strong Christian wouldn’t be a plus.” That actually implies that it would be a negative, and I take offense to that. Take a look at a map of the Dartmouth campus, for example, and note the various religious houses. D’s ECs included a very strong commitment to and service for her church.
This is patently false.
@8bagels - I agree with you final statement.
It’s okay, just check the weak Christian box.
@AboutTheSame I think we have already established that religion is NOT taken into account. However, my reasoning is that IF it were, then being Christian wouldn’t help. It would be for diversity reasons just like race or gender. Being Christian would be the same as being Asian in terms of diversity. If you take offense to that, you must also think Affirmative Action is offensive or else your comment is ironically bigotry.
I do not understand why anyone would think that a strong interest in one’s religion would be any less relevant than a strong interest in any other subject.
@classof2017; Being Christian or Wiccan or whatever is a choice. Being Asian is not. That is not to say that religion and ethnicity cannot both be bases for discrimination, but that is not what we talking about.
I do not believe that anything I have said relates to diversity, and the logic of your final sentence is as impenetrable to me as your prior post. What I said was that I would take offense to the concept that a religious commitment would be viewed as a negative. Was that not clear? How that statement could be translated as hostility to affirmative action or any form of diversity baffles me.
You’re right, but they said “strong Christian” rather than just “Christian.” You wouldn’t be able to convey “strong Christian” just by checking a box; you would have to write your essays about church or something.
Going back to the original question…No, it wouldn’t be a negative and neither would selecting Christian, Agnostic, Jewish or and other religion.
The box exists to track demographics. You can always choose not to answer the question and it will not affect your application.
Very true, @tonymom. Thank you. 
I find this interesting. My D is an atheist. She doesn’t recall seeing this particular question on her apps, but one of her college choices has a very cool chapel, no religious figures in stained glass. Instead the stained glass figures are icons of their branch of knowledge. She wanted to say that she really liked this chapel and was drawn to it, despite being an atheist. She didn’t though, because she was concerned it would end up sounding extreme. By and large, she has gone for colleges that are not strongly religious. Apart from colleges that are obviously Christian, do they care about the religious inclinations of applicants? I remember the Swarthmore rep saying they did give slight preference to Quakers.
Adcoms are too tired to care usually. Won’t affect you at all, likely just for statistics or something of that nature.