<p>Most of my extracurricular activities point to some sort of future involvement as a government policymaker -- student government, debate team, etc.</p>
<p>My junior year, however, I worked on the executive board of a "Students for Barack Obama" chapter at my school. I went knocking door to door, and made some phone calls, and in the end had a good time. My application would probably be fine without mentioning it, but this would represent a really tangible activity of political advocacy I could add to my application.</p>
<p>Would I be putting myself at a disadvantage putting this on my application, if some conservative admissions counselor happened to get my application? Even if they didn't consciously look down on me for it, I'm wondering if subconsciously the activity would have a reaction.</p>
<p>I can’t see why you shouldn’t be able to put it on your list. However, it may be best to take it off just in case, especially if your EC list is strong enough without it.</p>
<p>I think you would be fine as well. If you wanted to present a more neutral picture, would you be able to state your activities without mentioning specific candidate names? Just an idea. Really I do think you’re fine either way.</p>
<p>Another idea would be to flesh it out in an essay, discuss your experiences as you talked with people going door-to-door, etc. That would be a VERY interesting read, regardless of political party.</p>
<p>Ideally, your file readers won’t be colored by personal biases. I interviewed a young lady who was very confident about her religious and political work. I didn’t find it offensive whatsoever and she presented herself well --and I wrote so in my writeup. However, I did think that someone else could hold it against her in other situations if they were petty.</p>
<p>I doubt it would work against you. In fact, I had a similar experience to you and wrote essays for multiple schools detailing my door-to-door work for Obama before the NH primary.</p>
<p>Any school that would count that against you, you would not want to attend anyway The same goes for conservatives listing GOP internships etc. on their application.</p>
<p>My son did the same thing for the Obama campaign and he did list it on his apps. He got in early to his first choice Ivy school, so it didn’t hurt him. I’d go ahead and put it down. My feeling was that even if the admissions officer doesn’t share his political views, it shows involvement in the process.</p>
<p>I interned with a political orginzation and i listed it. But again it all depends on where you are applying to schools. For example working for Obama is great at umich or something. But if you were doing BYU, I wouldnt list it. similarly for someone who worked for Romney.</p>
<p>I worked for Obama as well, and I listed it on the app as Political Activism/Campaign Work. Yeah, it probably won’t hurt, but better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>I definitely feel that you should mention an activity that you spent time on and was important to you. Many many college and high school students worked for Obama and it will not be held against you in the process–in fact, it might even help.</p>
<p>It honestly shouldn’t hurt you; I listed it on applications as Political Campaign Work, and then expanded and listed each candidate I volunteered for in an attached resume.</p>
<p>“Any school that would count that against you, you would not want to attend anyway The same goes for conservatives listing GOP internships etc. on their application.”</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>Most colleges don’t factor ECs into admission anyway, but make decisions based on stats and (for public schools) state of residence.</p>
<p>The few schools that do factor ECs into admission are places like Harvard, Stanford, Amherst,that able to factor ECs into admission because they can use ECs to create a well rounded student body from their overabundance of highly qualified applicants. Such schools want students from across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>I’ve been an alum interviewer for Harvard and have given good recommendations to politically active students whose politics differ greatly from mine. What’s important to such schools is the depth of one’s involvement in an EC, not whether one’s political views are similar to those of their interviewer or admissions application reviewer.</p>
The same goes for conservatives listing GOP internships etc. on their application.</p>