Hello denizens of College Confidential,
I felt the need to start a new thread for my question because I could not find it in any past discussions. I’m a junior in high school currently applying for Quest Bridge, however this question also applies for my college apps next year (UF, GATech, undecided school(s) in California).
For the religion box on applications as well as the essays, would it be beneficial or detrimental for me to express that I am pagan? Although certainly a minority, I feel that I might be looked down upon because of it. Although I’m sure admit people try to be inclusive and unbiased, no one can fully escape their preconceptions. Furthermore, pagan is a very broad term, and carries stereotypes that doesn’t reflect how my family and I practice. I haven’t really encountered any hardship because of my religion (besides missing a day or two of school for celebrations), however no one even knows of my religious leanings because I am a very private person, and fear judgement from my peers if they knew (my city is relatively conservative).
For reference, I have good enough scores/gpa/ECs to not need any extra help for most of my apps, with the exception of some of the highly selective schools I am applying to through Quest Bridge (Stanford, MIT, Caltech, etc.), assuming I am selected for their College Match program next year. Some of my extra-curriculars involve my paganism, however I could edit it out of my essays/ these activities without much effort.
Thank you for your consideration and I’m sorry if I posted in the wrong place.
Maybe because I’m of no religion but I think it’s perfectly fine to leave religion box blank. That would make the most sense to me because you are a very private person.
Anyway who’s not a Christian is a pagan.
My kid is an atheist. She left the box blank. Why do you feel they need to know you are pagan? Is it critical to ho you identify yourself? Unles it is, just leave the box blank. And my understanding is that colleges don’t care about your religion, unless it is a religiously affiliated college.
Take this for what it’s worth, since I am in no way an expert in this area.
I would think that merely checking the box wouldn’t affect things one way or another. Adcoms won’t be able to tell whether this is yours and your family’s long standing serious religious practice, whether you’re a kid going through phase and maybe enjoying pissing off mom and dad or something in between. And I’m hard pressed to think most would care.
OTOH, if you have something serious and interesting to say about it in an essay, I’d think that would be helpful. Relatively few kids can write about growing up pagan. People sometimes talk about how adcoms like an interesting, unusual applicant who can be summed up in a couple of words. I think being “the pagan premed” or “the pagan oboist” could make you stand out.
It will neither help nor hurt. I’ve known students who identified as pagan (at the time–they’ve all “grown out of it” since then) who have been admitted to top-10 schools for which they were well qualified.
Most people don’t get religions that lie outside the mainstream, such as Wicca and Paganism (I don’t mean to equate the two; I just mean to position them similarly). So I suspect the typical application reader will find the designation interesting and simply move on.
Assuming you’re not applying to a school like Wheaton or BYU, of course.
I think the biggest danger is not being taken seriously, as if you were calling yourself a Jedi Knight. To avoid that, as other members have suggested, leaving the box blank might be the safest course. The blank response never hurts anyone.
I will choose “none” as I can’t leave it blank on this application. Thanks for your input everyone 