Religion in College Admissions

Applying to College
1

<p>Does religion play a role in college admissions?
For example, if you're Jewish and mention it in your personal statement essays as an important part of your life, does it help?</p>

<p>Same with other religions/believe systems</p>

2

<p>Since you are from Mexico, you may not know this, but being Jewish is an ORM…(over-represented minority)…therefore, no, it does not help unless the school is looking to increase it’s Jewish population (i.e. Allegheny)…</p>

<p>Now, being from Mexico, that may be a different story, especially if you are not applying for FA…</p>

<p>That being said, anything you have a passion for and can express that in your essays will help;;;; if being Jewish is a big part of who you are and you can express that, great…</p>

3

<p>a jewish-mexican would be pretty unique, i would say, if u tie it into an essay about identity or something.</p>

<p>does anyone know if the same holds true with being middle-eastern/muslim [well, my parents. but u know…].</p>

4

<p>I mentioned that about my identity and how proud of it I am.
Mexico’s Jewish population is 1% of total population. The Jewish community is located in Guadalajara and Mexico City</p>

<p>I wrote about some hardships due to it because Mexico is pretty Catholic</p>

5

<p>^ “Pretty” is quite the understatement lolz</p>

6

<p>hey my dad was a guest Rabbi in guadalajara last year during high holidays!</p>

7

<p>Two ways it can make a difference:

  1. Catholics definitely get a boost at a lot of Catholic colleges, ditto for students of other religions applying to schools affiliated with their denomination. Special scholarships may also apply.
  2. I’ve seen two women who were Muslim both get widely admitted beyond the schools you would think their stats would match, but in both cases these were incredibly articulate young women who clearly explained how their religious beliefs and practices influenced their lives. I’m not explaining it very well, but they were both the kind of women that you can see becoming leaders of tomorrow - religiously observant, but fully engaged with high school life and willing to explain the positive aspects of religious practices that many of the rest of us viewed as outdated or confining. I bet they add a lot to the colleges they attend. This might be similar to what you might add given the tiny percentage of Mexicans who are Jewish.</p>