<p>Hey everyone, I'll come right out and say it: I'm a fiscal conservative. </p>
<p>I know. The horror.</p>
<p>Anyways, I absolutely love politics and writing and I would love to somehow capitalize on these two parts of me when I apply to college (probably Ivies and other super elite liberal artsy schools). I recently read some article about how admissions officers are usually super liberal and discriminate against people who are in clubs like ROTC and that sort of thing (the article says they have 60% less of a chance than anyone else with the same stats). What could I do to make my passion for politics shine through my application without giving away my fiscally-right leanings?</p>
<p>I’m not sure how it would be beneficial to write about fiscal politics no matter from what point of view- like, how does it show how you’d shine on campus?
But if it’s something you feel passionately about, go ahead- I mean, I think that liberal admissions officers would discriminate more if the candidate is SOCIALLY conservative, not fiscally.</p>
<p>I think it is load of BS that admissions offices discriminate against anyone who is in a high school activity related to the military or wants to be in ROTC in college. Absolutely zero truth in that at all. However, interest in the military and conversative politics are not the same thing. It is certainly true that strident political opinions of either stripe could sink your application. I honestly don’t know why you would HAVE to put that into your essays, etc. It might show up in your ECs; for example, if you campaigned for candidates in the last election and specifically name them, it is going to show up. You can, however, just talk about the experience of working on a campaign, for example, without talking about the candidate.</p>
<p>And there are TONS of things you can write essays about that don’t have anything to do with politics. Let’s see… so far my kid has written on a literary figure that she used to imitate, a school academic activity she loves, her insect collection, her art studio at home, tons of “why college X” essays that do not mention political leanings of the college (or herself) at all, and an area of physics she wants to learn more about. I can honestly say that I suspect admissions officers don’t really want to know your political opinions.</p>
<p>“I recently read some article about how admissions officers are usually super liberal and discriminate against people who are in clubs like ROTC and that sort of thing”</p>
<p>Lemme guess— from Foxnews? I’m not liberal but I think the above sentiment is baloney. I went to an Ivy and didn’t don my beret or my “Che” Tshirts. Neither did a sizable amount of my acquaintances. I think it’s a straw man argument. JROTC was my main EC – and I got into several Ivies-- including some with super liberal reputations.</p>
<p>@milkyway531: Yeah I’m a libertarian but if I were to campaign for someone who was a Republican. @intparent: I don’t really do anything interesting like that haha, my only two interests are writing and politics and my ECs show that (debate team, newspaper, started politics club), so it might be something difficult to get around. Not sure if they’d like me talking about campaigning or interning for a politician without saying who, since it can’t be proven. @T26E4: No, not Fox. There’s tons of articles out there about how crappy the college admissions process is and how it’s pretty much completely subjective. Congrats on getting into a bunch of Ivies though! :)</p>
<p>T26E4s point was that the source of the article is likely bias, so just saying there are ‘tons of articles’ without citing the sources of any these articles is incredibly unconvincing. I hope your political arguments have more substantial foundations ;).</p>
<p>“There’s tons of articles out there about how crappy the college admissions process is and how it’s pretty much completely subjective.”</p>
<p>Which isn’t what you claimed above . . . but, oh well.</p>
<p>Can you provide a source for the ROTC article you claimed?</p>
<p>Apply where you think you are a good fit . . . there are plenty of places for people of all stripes to thrive . . . consider asking about Naviance or other similar tool from your HS that can give you info about what success people with similar stats have had from your school.</p>
<p>And know that the Ivies are a reach almost everyone.</p>
<p>@Kei-o-lei: Yup, Princeton sociology professor Thomas J. Espenshade’s 2009 book “No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal”. It’s about individual factors that dramatically raise or lower the likelihood of acceptance into the leading American universities. I have a Naviance account but that’s not promising… I go to an extremely small, sports-centered Catholic school. The only kid who got into an Ivy (Yale) from there is a legend: captain of every sports team, great SATs, etc. I really don’t compare to this guy in any way, shape, or form haha.</p>
<p>@entomom: CC tends to be more of a relaxed setting, didn’t know I needed to back myself up so much on this. Don’t worry, I’m great at debating politics .</p>
<p>@T26E4: Thanks for the article! It’s pretty rough… I’m worried that I don’t fall into any of those categories :-/ I’m not artsy, can’t play sports, not a legacy, and fall into every gender, ethnic, and religious majority group imaginable. I try hard to distinguish myself in what I’m good at and become a leader (started Young Politician’s club, principle told me personally that he wants me to be debate team captain, newspaper editor, and yearbook editor next year) but I don’t do much else. I volunteer at the library… not sure if that adds to my writing angle or detracts because it’s a little weak. UGH!</p>
<p>Colleges are ALWAYS seeking diversity. The majority of college-aged kids happen to be more on the liberal side. Therefore, I feel like it could be somewhat of an advantage in the admissions process, simply because you’ll bring some new views to the campus to spark debates and such (which elite schools/ivies are extremely fond of).</p>
<p>I’m pretty much contradicting these “tons of articles” with this, though, so I don’t know if my opinion really counts. I do think it would be best to leave your political alignment out of your application, though. If you feel it’s something you MUST put in, let’s just hope admissions officers share the same views of diversity as myself!</p>
<p>Fiscal conservative? That’s not even going to raise eyebrows on most campuses. It’s the social conservatives who take the heat. I’m pretty sure that most students (and adcoms) are ‘fiscal moderates’ assuming they have an understanding of fiscal policy (which many don’t.)</p>
<p>Conservatives tend to be in a minority on many liberal college campuses, but that’s not the same as saying it will be held against you in admissions. Conservatives (or at least Republicans) do regularly get admitted to traditionally liberal schools, even the Ivy League, often a forming a very energetic and vocal counterpoint to the prevailing campus politics:</p>
<p>Are college campuses more liberal than the average? Yes. Are they solid blocks of monolithic thinking? Hardly. For every raging liberal in the Sociology Department there’s a harrumphing conservative in the Business School. Students tend to be very liberal. In my experience professors tend to be much more reflective of the national average. And oddly enough, administrators, with their budgetary responsibilities, tend to be downright fiscal hawks. The only time administrators sound like fiscal liberals is when they’re about to get governmental funding cuts (Interestingly enough, I’ve heard big agriculture make almost identical arguments against getting their subsidies cut but no one calls them spendthrifts. But I digress).</p>
<p>Admissions are done by committee. Many of those adcoms are middle-aged with kids and bills and budgets to live under. They are far more fiscally conservative than you give them credit for. </p>
<p>Elite admissions are exceedingly competitive, thinking that there is a check-list that automatically disqualifies you is convenient in that it shifts your rejection to some unseen agenda. But like blaming the referees after losing a close game, invariably there were many other factors at play.</p>
<p>Colleges want intelligent students who are open to new ideas and thought processes. A well reasoned discussion of your political leanings will benefit you while a bloviating polemic will probably hurt your chances.</p>
<p>Faculty do seem to identify with the Democrats more than Republicans, although one can argue that the Republicans have moved further to the right of the national average, leaving those in the center closer to the Democrats.</p>
<p>But consider that social conservatism tends to have compatibility issues with large universities drawing from diverse population groups for both students and faculty. Social conservatism tends to be unfriendly to those of other ethnicity, race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, etc., which a large university drawing from diverse population groups tends to bring together. So the people comfortable enough in a university environment to want to be faculty may be less likely to be social conservatives than the general public. (Younger people who are the students also tend to be less likely to be social conservatives.)</p>
<p>In addition, some academic subjects may be difficult for social conservatives to study. For example, can a social conservative comfortably study biology where evolution is a major aspect? Or anything to do with climate and weather over time? Or the economics of prostitution, psychology of gambling, or literature on sexuality?</p>
<p>On the other hand, fiscal conservatives might not be that hard to find, either among students, or among faculty (particularly in economics and business departments).</p>
<p>I’m pretty liberal on all social issues except for one. I belong to the local “(insert my town’s name here) Supports the Troops” committee, which is really the only thing that makes me stand out as a Republican (my debate and Young Politicians club are clearly political but I don’t need to say my leanings when talking about those). I guess that that kind of thing falls under the more social conservative category rather than fiscal… then again, everyone kind of supports the troops, just not the wars. I’m sure that there’s plenty of other fiscal conservatives at business school in college, although I don’t know how many of them put down political experience as one of their ECs- they probably went for something more business-oriented.</p>
<p>“On the other hand, fiscal conservatives might not be that hard to find, either among students, or among faculty (particularly in economics and business departments).”</p>
<p>Fiscal conservatives are a dime a dozen on campus and not just in the econ and business depts. The ‘free market’ is still pretty popular - once the qualifications about social safety nets, externalities, etc…have all been listed. The real minorities are the true socialists and communists. The only reason you don’t hear more about fiscal conservatives is that they have no party to vote for these days if they are social liberals. That doesn’t mean this group doesn’t exist in large numbers on college campuses. shannoqr is hardly in the minority.</p>
<p>shannoqr - rest assured that you will find plenty (not most, but certainly plenty) of students that share your views at almost any school. ROTC is returning to a number of ivy league campuses [ROTC</a> programs return to Ivy League schools](<a href=“http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123275151]ROTC”>http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123275151) and the leading economists supporting the Bush WH and the Romney campaign are at Harvard and Columbia. Dig a little deeper on the schools that you are interested in and put together the best applications that you can. Good luck.</p>
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