<p>Is being Jewish considered an advantage in college admissions? Or is it a disadvantage? Or no pull at all? </p>
<p>Silly question, but I'm curious.</p>
<p>Mostly doesn't matter. However I know for a fact that USC was recruiting Jewish students a few years ago and Vanderbilt was also supposed to be doing the same.</p>
<p>URM deals with race, not religion</p>
<p>means underrepresented minorities. This is more than race depending on the situation at the particular school. It could be Hispanics (who can be black or white or a range in-between) or religious minorities like Jews. It could also be students with disabilities. Or in some schools it could be first generation applicants or students who are in free lunch programs in high school because they are poor.</p>
<p>The college gets to define who they consider a URM.</p>
<p>LOL, sadly Jews are indeed a minority but NOT normally considered URMs. As someone has said, Vanderbilt tries to recruit Jews because they have a low Jewish attendance. RIT probably tries to recruit Jews too.</p>
<p>Jewish and Asians are not minorities in college admission. That is a fact.</p>
<p>Correction: They are not minorities in MOST college admissions. There are some Southern and out-somewhere-in-the-middle-of-the-Red-States schools where they are under represented. As far as I know, they're not often actively recruited, however.</p>
<p>Trust me, there are still a LOT of Jewish people down here.</p>
<p>Let me repeat again: each college gets to decide on its own who they consider a URM. USC specifically went after Jewish students to make up for perceived anti-Semitism at the school going back many decades. They were unhappy with the lack of applications that they were getting from the Jewish community in Southern California, which is one the largest Jewish communities in the country. They wanted to improve their image with this group. They hired a special recruiter, established a scholarship, and published a pamphlet on Jewish life at USC. There was an article about their program in the LA Times sometime in 2003 I believe.</p>
<p>At most of the elite schools in the Northeast, Jews will make up around 10% of the community, atleast, without trying. I've heard that both MIT and Tufts hover around 25% of the student body. So really, if you're looking at big schools up north, then no.</p>
<p>A number of years ago, I read an article, which I believe was in the "NY Times" about Vanderbilt recruiting Jews as ppl mentioned. Interestingly, I believe another school was also mentioned as interested in recruiting Jews- Texas Christian University.</p>
<p>Wow...a Christian school? That is odd...</p>
<p>I don't understand why jews would be URM group considering that there are african, caucasian, and asian jews....certainly they are minorities but not in the same context. It could be a boost though.</p>
<p>tsdad- you mentioned that disabled students can sometimes be considered urm's. one of my friends has a physical disability- would it potentially make sense that he mention that in an essay or something?</p>
<p>I hate when people use the essay as a way to display their disabilities and what they overcame, just for the purpose of admissions.</p>
<p>glucose- I assume you aren't including anything on your application "just for the purpose of admission" either, and clearly that is very noble of you. However it only makes sense admissions officers consider applicants in the context of their backgrounds, and if this included overcoming physical disabilities, I'm not sure why you'd find this so hateful.</p>
<p>It's not that...I hate it because they could be talking about themselves, something original, instead they choose the cliche.</p>
<p>I think you answered your own question quite well.</p>
<p>If you Google, you'll find an article indicating that Vanderbilt wishes to attract more Jewish students.</p>
<p>glucose, Yes, TCU wanting some Jewish students does sound surprising. Many Christian affiliated schools also have put Judaic Studies programs into their schools. By the way, TCU I guess has not had a lot of success in bringing Jewish students onto campus. I just found an article that states out of 7,000 students only 30 are Jewish.</p>