For pretty much my entire life, I have had to face racism and discrimination on the basis of my religion. I am a Sikh, and I wear a turban, which leads a lot of people to associate me with Islamic extremists. My religion has been a relatively important part of my life, as I have attended and done service at the Sikh temple weekly for as long as I can remember. Many of my values have been influenced by my religion.
I have heard mixed opinions about this, but would it be appropriate to discuss this on a college essay? I was thinking of using this topic on Stanford’s “What matters to you” supplemental prompt, and maybe supplemental prompts for other colleges as well. However, I don’t want to get on a bad note with an admissions reader who isn’t big fan of religion, or may be prejudiced themself.
If you can present it as “this is how I have learned to be understanding and inclusive” as opposed to “I am resentful and have a chip on my shoulder” (I’m not suggesting that your post implies the latter), I would think that it is a legitimate topic. I guess I have a little bit of trouble with your concern about “an admissions reader who isn’t big fan of religion, or may be prejudiced” but maybe I’m just a naive 60+ Anglo-Saxon male who has never experienced discrimination (except against short people) and I earnestly hope that there are no such characters in college admissions anywhere. I would be astounded to find such a person at Stanford (and I say that as a fervent Cal supporter).
I agree w poster above. Definitely make sure it doesn’t come off the least bit as having a chip on your shoulder. The school shooters at VTech, Santa Barbara, Umqua all had a massive chip on their shoulder. U don’t want to be perceived as a ticking bomb.
Emphasis should be on how the discrimination made u more empathetic to other people from non mainstream cultures.