Hi, so I’m wiccan and I want to know if I should put that on my college app. Will the admissions officers discriminate against me or what? I’m applying to all Ivy Leagues and they support LGBT. But do they support wiccans. Just saying, I don’t mess around with witch craft. So no insulting comments.
There won’t be conscious discrimination per se. In fact, because they don’t get many Wiccans it might be a plus.
However, Wicca does create certain connotations some people might be wary of. I would think you’d have to be careful to show them you are serious about this and not just some dabbler. Perhaps addressing it in your essay as well.
I do think it’s a bit of a risk and could either work strongly for you or against you. If you are already a strong candidate I’d be more inclined to say not to mention it. If schools are reach schools anyway then why not go for it.
This is all predicated on your being a serious devotee to Wicca and to your religion being a central part of who you are. If it isn’t central to your identity I’d leave it out.
Use common sense. It may be OK to be gay. However, don’t tell them you are a Wiccan, an atheist or anything like that. You don’t need to list religious affiliation, certainly not at Ivies. You want to give the impression you are a real person, interesting and social, but no need to get into controversial areas.
Wow, sattut! It may be okay to be gay? Just maybe? And don’t mention being Atheist or Wiccan? Since when are either of those things controversial or, worse, something to be ashamed of? Troyus, universities are open-minded and liberal for the most part (unless you are applying to a very narrow and specific set of schools). There is no reason not to indicate who you are and leave it at that. Do you really want to go to a school that would discriminate against you because of your religious beliefs?
My concern was not so much about the open mindedness of admissions offices (although they have their biases like the rest of us) but more that it may be viewed by the admissions office as a way to draw attention and there may be skepticism as to its veracity. If it’s truly as part of the OPs identity it could make for a really interesting application, if not it might come off as a stunt.
I think you should put it if you would like; it is your religious affiliation after all. Just because some people might have misconceptions about it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put it. For the record, I put that I was atheist on my application (I might have said agnostic, actually, but I don’t remember) and didn’t have any problem with it. I disagree that you should leave that out of your application. If a school rejected me due to my religious beliefs or lack there of, that’s not a school I would have wanted to attend. Quite frankly, that’s discrimination and something schools are generally not allowed to do.
Put it down. At the vast majority of schools it will have no impact on admission. Just don’t try for BYU or Bob Jones.
Yeah, won’t impact admissions. I’ve known kids who have identified as Wiccan and matriculated to top-20 schools.
Many schools don’t even see what you put down for religious preference (they don’t consider it as a factor and opt out of seeing what you selected on the common app). The only colleges that really consider religion are the likes of liberty, byu, etc. Check off whatever box you want, it won’t particularly matter.
Any acknowledged Jedi faith followers admitted into the top 20?
HA!
Pastafarians?
My kids received invitations from the religious group they indicated on their applications. I don’t think the school cared at all. I did receive a Christmas card from the group too.