Will it reduce my chances of admissions if I am applying to the University of Notre Dame and one of my activities listed is a gay-straight alliance I am a part of?
I was researching about this kind of thing and online it says that the university only recently allowed a queer club to exist after a lot disputing. Still it was very opposed and I was wondering if it was such a bad thing in the eyes of some members of the university will admission counselors view me with hostility and say “nope.” and not even give me a chance if I include it on my activities?
I would hope that a university would not base a rejection entirely on a student’s involvement with just one extracurricular club, whether a “queer” club (by the way, do the members of your club actually still use the Q word?) or any other club.
I think it is important that you go through life as an honest person. If your involvement in this gay-straight alliance has been important to you, then you should include it. Sometimes, people do miss out on opportunities due to their chosen life principles - but that is a risk you should be willing to take.
But I would not worry about it. If Notre Dame is like other universities, they will be looking foremost at your test scores and grades. I know they all say they look at extracurriculars, and they may to some extent, but they want students who be academically successful.
My daughter listed her membership in her HS gay-straight alliance on her application to a conservative Catholic college much smaller than ND. At her interview, the admissions counselor told her that a group existed at the school under a fake name to hide it from the very conservative bishop for the area.
Two years later, when my kid was president of that group, the nun who served as the faculty adviser asked if she would help her present a lecture on homosexuality to a psych class. My kid asked what she needed to do, and the nun said “just speak about your own personal experiences”. My daughter had to explain that she was straight and couldn’t be of help.
The school should not reject you because of own part of your identity. And would you really want to attend if it were that discriminatory?