<p>Hi all, I was involved in a political extracurricular activity and have a quick question. Right now in the "Activities" section of my Application, I refer to my role and the type of campaign I was involved in, but leave the political affiliation/candidate ambiguous. Is this okay? Is indicating partisan affiliation, at least at that point in my life, risky?</p>
<p>Yeah it might be risky. I left that out of my list of activities</p>
<p>As long as it’s not some whacked out extremist group, saying you’re a Tea Party member or ActUp won’t be a detriment. Certainly simply identifying that you’re a Dem or a GOP is nothing.</p>
<p>I would definitely leave it out. You have no idea who will be reading your application, and politics is an ignition point. If I was an admissions officer and you said you worked for the Obama campaign, I would be biased against you no matter how much I tried not to be. Applying is walking a tightrope, so there is no reason to add your own obstacles.</p>
<p>Awesome, thanks for the input everybody. My only concern is that being vague may prompt someone to think that I’m lying. Is that fair? </p>
<p>I had a relatively large role within this campaign, so I can’t leave it out of my application. I’m proud of my hard work.</p>
<p>You only get like 150 characters anyway, so it’s hard to fault you for leading things out. A compromise would be to name the candidate but not their party.</p>
<p>Leaving it out is fine, but about the only one you really shouldn’t list is the Nazi Party or perhaps the Animal Liberation Front. Most organizations will be just fine, though you would probably have more trouble listing some right-leaning organization on some campuses, vs. the few campuses where left-leaning organizations are an issue. No mainstream campaign is likely a problem anywhere, and if it is, you don’t want to go there anyway.</p>
<p>At many–dare I say most–colleges, working for Obama would be a plus, not a minus. So I think it depends a bit on what kind of colleges you are applying to. If you’re applying to Reed, don’t mention that you worked for Ted Cruz. If you’re applying to Liberty, don’t mention that you worked for Al Franken.</p>
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<p>My son had both Republican and Democratic volunteer opportunities and extracurriculars in high school; political action is very much a part of who he is. He listed both. There’s no need to dissemble about this. These were still mainstream causes / campaigns.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, applications are read by individuals, who are biased each in their own way. Political views are the number one polarizing hot button, especially these days. I see no reason to push that button.</p>
<p>It makes no sense to leave them off. If admissions readers let personal bias get in the way of their decisions then they will not be admissions readers for long. Having the specific details on the application shows who you are and what you bring to the college.</p>
<p>I would just keep it vague, like President of Young Political Party Club, or campaign volunteer for Senatorial, Presidential, etc. position.</p>
<p>@imlumberjack It is hard to keep bias out, no matter how much you try. If I read that someone was a proud member of a certain political movement that I am familiar with, I could not help but think less of them or of how the rest of the app fits a certain stereotype. Does that make me a bad person? No, it makes me human. </p>
<p>"Awesome, thanks for the input everybody. My only concern is that being vague may prompt someone to think that I’m lying. Is that fair? </p>
<p>I had a relatively large role within this campaign, so I can’t leave it out of my application. I’m proud of my hard work."</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think you’re lying. I’m sure admissions is familiar with this practice and wouldn’t be upset by it.</p>
<p>admissions is also familiar with students exaggerating their activity with vague statements. Also if a school rejects you because of your political affiliation do you think you really want to go there. There are multiple readers and a committee at most colleges that should get rid of any personal bias. Also why would you want to lie(not a true lie but a lie of omission) about who you are.</p>
<p>We (parents) attended a college info night. One of the activities was selecting between 3 different applications. These same applications were given to a dozen different parent groups. Each group was moderated by an actual Ad Com. What was a secret was to which college the adcom belonged. </p>
<p>One of the pretend applicants had an EC which indicated heavy heavy involvement in a particular political campaign. In short, all of the parents in our group voted to not admit this person because of obvious red flags in the app. The Adcom got extremely belligerent and simply stated that they would admit our rejected admit above all the other. It was clear as a bell that the admissions would be due to the PARTICULAR side the political spectrum the applicant was supporting. FWIW, of the 12 or so parent groups which completed the same exercise not one other group voted to admit the politically active applicant. After we were informed which school the Admin represented, the decision made sense. So, the lessons learned: if you know the particular ‘leaning’ of an institution, political activities could work for you; if you don’t know the leanings they might work against you; or it may not matter at all.</p>
<p>If it is crystal clear to the OP that a particular institution prides itself on a particular political leaning…and the OP’s activities are in line with this leaning…mention it in bold underlined and capital letters. If the OP is unsure, stay away from the ‘third rail’.</p>