<p>Is being Jewish like being Asian when it comes to the admissions process? I was thinking of mentioning something about my Judaism in an essay, but my dad told me that since Jews are sometimes considered ORMs that it might hurt my chances.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Chances are, if they care, they will notice anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>Jews are an over-represented minority because, well, they are over-represented at Harvard, vastly so in relation to their presence in the general population. Lots and lots of Jewish kids are admitted, and my guess would be that many of them have ECs, schools, or essay topics that clearly show their Judaism is important to them.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Are Jews held to a higher standard, as some Asian students claim they are? Perhaps, but it doesn’t matter whether they mention being Jewish in their essays. And any tougher standard probably has little or nothing to do with being Jewish, and much more to do with things like having educated parents, relative affluence, and lots of educational opportunities – factors that are not limited to Jews at all, and that probably raise the bar for anyone who has them, but from which many Jewish applicants “suffer”.</p>
<p>Jews in the Harvard admissions office are rare. I’ve never heard of any, other than student interns who perform clerical work, and professors who serve on the admissions committee. It’s a distinctly “American white majority” (or possibly WASP) culture with a smattering of ethnic minorities, especially Asians. Unlike Asians, who are a Federal minority category, there is no extra admissions reader checking for cultural sensitivity in the processing of Jewish applications. </p>
<p>The admissions readers are an educated, politically left-leaning and socially progressive group, and they generally either like Jews or are comfortable around them. But they don’t necessarily have clear or correct ideas of what Judaism is, what Hebrew School means culturally or academically (compared to, say, Sunday School or Chinese School), what a rabbi is, or the nuances of what religiosity might entail for Orthodox or Conservative Jews compared to Christian fundamentalists or Quakers. Admissions officers are also mostly female and thus may view gender distinctions in Orthodox Judaism as unfavorable, if not as bad as in Islam. So referring to the particulars of these things can carry a different message than intended. </p>
<p>The admissions readers sometimes are Christian church-goers but on the average are probably secular or implicitly atheistic. This means that although they would not discriminate based on religion (and thus treat Moslems, Sikhs, Bahai etc carefully and perhaps as “diversity” candidates), there is also some tacit presumption of conservatism, intellectual inferiority or backwardness possible when plain, overt religiosity is revealed. If you straightforwardly profess a love of God you may look like a bumpkin to sophisticates, if you write about overcoming the strictures of an Orthodox upbringing this might get a patronizingly favorable reception. If you just mention being suburban-ethnic-Jewish it is so common that it would just be neutral background for whatever else you write. </p>
<p>Admissions readers are, overwhelmingly, of the lefty pro-Palestinian or even anti-Israel political persuasion. If your essay is about your service in the IDF shooting Arabs, the response will be negative. Other than that, all of the above considerations are probably relatively minor in their effect one way or the other.</p>
<p>The best food on campus is at the Hilel in my opinion. :)</p>
<p>Try jewish food related topics as a metaphor for your
cultural awakening or something creative like that with
a light touch at self depreciating humor.</p>
<p>Siserune’s post was scarily realistic. Catering to your
audience will always win you brownie points. Knowing this
I find it odd in retrospect that I stuck to my guns and
took the attitude that the colleges would accept
me for who I am or not at all.</p>
<p>
I think that’s the way to go. When my son was asked why he hadn’t applied SCEA to Harvard (back when you could) he told his interviewer because Harvard wasn’t his first choice. Didn’t stop Harvard from accepting him. BTW my son has an “obviously” Jewish last names, but as it happens we aren’t Jewish. </p>
<p>I think both JHS and Siserune are right. If it’s a good essay nothing wrong with mentioning being Jewish.</p>