<p>I'm curious to hear opinions.</p>
<p>Not considered in admissions decisions unless you're applying to Brandeis or BYU.</p>
<p>I'm not sure Jewish is even an ethnic option you can check on college apps. I think you might have to check caucasian.</p>
<p>But anyways, I think Jewish people are numerically considered overrepresented because their percentage in college is much higher than their percentage in this country.</p>
<p>At some universities, particularly Southern ones, being Jewish can be a plus because it can add to the diversity of religions represented in the student body. Google and you can find at least one article in which Vanderbilt admits making efforts to attract more Jewish students.</p>
<p>The admissions officers would learn about applicants' faiths through ECs, essays and similar things.</p>
<p>When it comes to places like Ivies, being Jewish wouldn't be an advantage because there are plenty of Jewish students at places like Ivies. Probably being Mormon or wiccan would be an advantage in helping the admissions officers add to their diversity of religions represented.</p>
<p>Religion is rarely an advantage or a disadvantage. Plainly because someone can just claim to be any religion and to have converted to it.</p>
<p>Religion can be a strong advantage if one is applying to a college affiliated with one's faith or if one's religious path would add to the diversity of a college that considers that kind of diversity important. From what I've seen, colleges that view it a plus for applicants to be of their religion ask for some kind of recommendation from the applicants' religious leader. Colleges looking to expand the religious diversity on their campus would be looking for such evidence in students' extracurriculars and essays.</p>
<p>I think it could be an advantage at southern universities like Vanderbilt, and possibly religious-affiliated schools like Notre Dame.</p>
<p>wuts URM or ORM?</p>
<p>URM=underrepresented minority (African American, Hispanic American, and sometimes Asian Americans)</p>
<p>ORM=overrepresented minority (oftentimes Asian Americans)</p>
<p>Um, I'm pretty sure that Caucasians are usually underrepresented. But they're not really minorities either, so they can't be URMs or ORMs.</p>
<p>It's not considered.</p>
<p>yeah, i didn't mean to put them there... oops.</p>
<p>
but they're not underrepresented</p>
<p>Oh yeah, Native Americans are URMs as well.</p>
<p>i'll just second what FredFredBurger said</p>
<p>Jewish=Caucasian=Majority, not URM or ORM</p>
<p>orm. take a look at what % of america jewish people make up, then look at the percentages they make up at top schools. it's crazy how well-represented they are at top schools</p>
<p>What if you're an African American Jew? A family friend of mine is an example (converted), and his twin daughters are much more religious than I ever was, and will soon be applying to college. Food for thought.</p>
<p>Well, then you are African American. Like I said, I'm not sure that there is a place for religion on college apps, but there is definitely a space for ethnicity. If you're white and Jewish, then you mostly likely have to put Caucasian as your ethnicity. If you are black and Jewish, then you put black/African American or your ethnicity.</p>
<p>The prevalence of Jews at top schools is, in part, a result of the high concentration of them in the Northeast. There are much fewer Jews at UT-Austin or Stanford than there are at UPenn.</p>
<p>The way I view my Judaism is that it is my race because I am as connected to the culture of it as one would be to African American culture and am more connected to it than white/American culture. So I don't view it as a religion, but as a race. I have friends who write "other" as their race on applications because they share this view.</p>
<p>I have always thought of Jewish as sort of in between race and religion, so I understand where you are coming from. I suggest you do like your friends and put other and write in Jewish.</p>