politically biased admissions?

<p>I'm applying as a junior transfer to Cornell. 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 app? 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 app. </p>

<p>does cornell lean one way or another? if so, does that go for the adcom as well? If there is any chance the "tasteful" but biased content might hurt my chances, I won't name it.</p>

<p>Opinions?</p>

<p>if anything id say that ivies are very open minded</p>

<p>that being said, you take a risk when you put yourself out there. you dont know who is reading your application, which way they lean, etc etc.</p>

<p>BUT, if its your passion, i say put it on there. if they dont take you because of youre political stances, you dont wanna go there anyway.</p>

<p>"It show my "passion" for government and my chosen major"</p>

<p>I don't know how your website shows passion. I consider myself a liberal and I think some of the material on your website is pretty offensive.</p>

<p>I'm a liberal at Cornell. The student body is liberal and the administration is liberal. But I don't think showing that website would be helpful. While I wasn't offended by it, it didn't seem terribly mature. You could just mention that you run a political website without listing the address, if you found some way of working it into the essay without it sounding strange.</p>

<p>it is somewhat new and underdeveloped. the committee, if at all, would not be viewing it until several things are added/deleted and it is much refined. with more substance and less filler, would you still recommend leaving the address of the app?</p>

<p>It's not a very professional or good looking website, so I don't recommend you mention it. I'm not knocking on your work, but anyone can buy a domain and set up a webpage or start a blog. Unless it's a popular webpage or one with a very clear purpose in mind, it wouldn't be a good indicator of your political involvement.</p>

<p>And as an FYI, I highly doubt (and hope) that an adcom would hold your beliefs against you unless you said something crazy on your app like "I hate blacks"</p>

<p>did you read the post above yours?</p>

<p>Probably leave it off even if it improves significantly. </p>

<p>Reasons to leave it off: Unless it has heavy traffic, has received awards, or contains really AMAZING content, giving a link won't help. The admissions people probably won't look in the first place, but if they do, they're not going to give you points for your political beliefs. They may take away points if you sound immature or obsessed. If you had a political site filled with long essays (like the kind you'd find in a smart Washington magazine) that may be helpful. If you had a political site with actual academic-looking papers with citations and all, that might be very helpful. But just a blog or something like it- ranting- while I personally have no problem with it, I may even like it, it isn't going to impress the admissions committee.</p>

<p>Reasons to put it on: What giving an address does do is show that the site is real. That might help. It might also help if they looked at it for a very short period of time and were generally impressed with the layout and appearance (but if they read it more, you're screwed, because a blog/ranting type thing won't impress these people).</p>

<p>Your site's soo cool!!! REALLY loved it. (mostly coz i hate bush)</p>

<p>However, I wont really advise u to put the site name on the app.</p>

<p>I wrote an essay about how Bob Dylan's lyrics and philosophy reflected my personal liberal poltical philosophy. I also wrote about how his songs that spoke out against corruption and inequality (e.g., "Hurricane") epitomized my goal of becoming very politically active in college and how Cornell possessed the perfect atmosphere for this to occur and I got in ED so I think that you're fine.</p>