<p>I'm applying as a junior transferring to several schools, some conservative and some liberal. I'm a poli sci major and I lean quite left. I have a personal statement essay on an interesting topic thats about my life and past..blah blah blah. I don't talk about my politics in it however. </p>
<p>The thing is, I run a political web-site. It show my "passion" for government and my chosen major. A huge understatement would be to say that it shows my bias. </p>
<p>Is it a good idea to list this(by name) on my apps? I would like to b/c it shows my commitment to my beliefs, reflects my hard work, and communicates something about me that isn't otherwise explained in my apps. However, IF it can hurt me at the most selective ones I'm applying to, it doesn't seem worth it. </p>
<p>I would imagine at a Roman Catholic institution such as Notre Dame, the addmissions committee would hold some pretty strong personal beliefs on issues like abortion. When I first entered your page, the first thing I noticed was your quote by Sam Alito relating to this issue. I do believe the members of the committee are very proffessional but they could still be offended by your attempts to demean the only true moral choice. The language was difinitely innaprpriate as well. Ultimately, though I completely disagree with the message of your site, I would have to say 'be yourself' and if it does effect your addmittance to ND then you probably wouldn't fit in anyway. This is the attitude I took when applying to some liberal schools. Please understand I have no connections or inside information on how the addmissions committee works, but I am just merely speculating. </p>
<p>On a personal aside, I don't appreciate your use of the picture George Bush with the late Pope JPII as a way of making fun of our president(<a href="http://blunitedstates.com/humor.html)%5B/url%5D">http://blunitedstates.com/humor.html)</a>. It seems to be in very poor taste coming from someone applying to a catholic college. Also, not to be intolerant but I really have a problem with your poltical stances and fallacious ways of trying to relay a "Conservatives are bad" message through misleading statistics, sweeping generalities, worthless celbrity testimonials, and tasteless humor. I don't want to be completely negative because your site is skillfully done, but at some points I had to ask myself weather these were serious views. I am sure others would like to respond, but before I go may I ask what draws you to ND.</p>
<p>Good luck with your transfer.</p>
<p>"If you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man."
-C.S. Lewis</p>
<p>I appreciate the critique of my site, though if I wanted critiqued on the specifics I would've included the link on the post. I'll concede, however, that it doesn't take a genius to notice the obvious clue as to the address.
Your opinion on the highlighted quotes on the front page echo my personal belief, which just happen to contradict my political views. i believe,when blending science and morals, one cannot pass judgement on others if these factors dont equal the same conclusion, especially when one of these variables is open for interpretation.<br>
Also, those to the extreme right might also be offended to your use of JPII as an abbreviation for John Paul II, much as they are to the use of "X" in "Xmas" ~ X resembles the Greek letter Χ -chi- which has often historically been used as an abbreviation for Christ -Χριστός in Greek(Wikipedia.) A silly humor page isn't the place to decipher one's personal beliefs and I'm sure most would recognize that.<br>
Regarding any portrayal that "conservatives are bad"(which i don't outright say, so your use of quotes is unwarranted) - show me a truly conservative sight that doesn't make liberals out to be pot-smoking, tree-hugging, baby-killing hippies and I'll change the tone of mine. Thats what politics are. Anything else is government. </p>
<p>Although I went on the defensive, I do appreciate your comments. What would have been preferable, however, would've have been a personal message if all you were going to was attack my site, or even a simple, "i don't recommend sending the address" would have sufficed. </p>
<p>When all is said and done, this discussion makes a democracy just that. after all, that's why we're in Iraq, right? (at least, after the two others excuses didn't pan out.)</p>
<p>"If you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and
walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back<br>
soonest is the most progressive man."</p>
<p>sidenote - doesn't that describe John Kerry? oh wait, he was a "flip-flop" when employed those ideals in regards to Iraq. sorry.</p>
<p>I am sorry if I offended you with my critique and there is no excuse for my comments if they come off as rude. You obviously have strong views and I respect that, but I couldn't help but throw in my own as well.</p>
<p>Next time I will remember to just send a PM, rather than publicly address my personal opinions that are irrelevant to the thread. Good luck once again with the transfer. </p>
<p>By the way the quote is a direct attack on idealogues and was included in the book Intellectual Morons. I also probably should not have just abreviated the name of John Paul II, but it was late and I was typing fast, sorry.</p>
<p>I doubt your left-leaning views will hurt you. If anything, they will help you. I would imagine most of the political science majors at ND lean to the right. Notre Dame values academic inquiry and integrity above all and wants different views in the classroom.</p>
<p>And besides, the ad-coms at ND are smart, thoughtful people and are certainly aware that there are many Catholics who disagree with the church on certain issues (for example, the death penalty, Iraq war, and abortion). They'll probably welcome your dissension; after all, without dissension the Vatican might still be stuck in the Middle Ages.</p>
<p>Can you draw? You might have a future as a political cartoonist! I thought you took a lot of good shots at "my" guys - humor based in many cases on at least a partial truth. E.g., Bush may not be dumb, but he certainly sounds it much of the time. </p>
<p>That said, for your web site to be impressive to an adrep, doesn't it have to get a lot of hits or make money for you or try to cure cancer or something?</p>
<p>I think NDhopefull6 did exactly the right thing by going to the website (anyone who opines here should as well) because the OP did mention stating it by name.</p>
<p>I do not think that the adcoms would hold your views against you (I do think they lean more left anyways) and they probably would not go to your site anyways. However, regardless of lean, I agree with NDhopefull that there is some stuff on here that may be offensive regardless of political stance.</p>
<p>If I were you I would mention that you run a left-leaning website and talk about why and why it is important to you, but I would not provide a link because I would personally have second thoughts seeing a picture of a bably peeing on the president on the front page (I think that is what I saw). </p>
<p>It is you call; I know you have put a lot of work into it and it is important to you so you want to include it. I just don't personally think it is in your own benefit. You can get the same benefit by mentioning it w/o the name and run a lot less risk.</p>
<p>i echo what irish said in the previous post...it definitely can't hurt to mention about the site and that you run it. Not sure how the admissions counsel would take it if they went there, then again you never know...</p>
<p>well, with all the feedback, i've made several changes to the site(forum, surveys) although, all the posters who mentioned the "underhandedness" and "lack of substance" ignored the values, news, AP polls, voter registry, and local representatives sections of the site(i get a detail of what pages are viewed and 95% seemed to go right to humor - the least serious part of the site) </p>
<p>will the adcoms explore this further, if at all?</p>
<p>My guess is that the adcoms won't even go there. It is not putting your website down at all but they just have a ton to do and probably won't have the time (unless they really hate Bush in which they might). That is just my thought on it, however, and I could be completely wrong. I still recommend not mentioning it by name but it is up to you. Good luck and don't worry...I will work with you on getting those political views straightened out when you get out to ND! lol, just kidding.</p>
<p>I would be interested in why ND or for that matter a catholic school? If a catholic school is your choice then why ND as it is probably a bit more conservative than say Georgetown.</p>
<p>There are plenty of active liberals at ND and their groups do a lot of things. One reason to choose ND I guess is if you are liberal you could possibly make a bigger difference because you have more conservatives who can be converted. I don't know, just arguing devil's advocate.</p>
<p>Also, he is right, liberal doesn't have to mean spiritually lacking and he may feel that ND is spiritually better than Georgetown (I think it is). Perhaps that is something that is important to him?</p>
<p>I am just speculating, but those are some reasons he may pick ND.</p>