<p>One of the schools I am applying to is Notre Dame. They are preetttyyy conservative. </p>
<p>The only other religious school is Georgetown, but I don’t think they are a strict religious, when I visited the school it was not very strict or in-your-face.</p>
<p>Go for it! Don’t listen to those who tell you not to. The college essays are supposed to speak to the admissions officer(s) reading your application, to tell them something that your grades, scores, and ECs won’t. Write about what you feel is important to you and about what you want to convey to the admissions committee. After all, it is all about selling yourself to them.</p>
<p>I also feel like people in the admissions committee are fairly liberal, open-minded people. I highly doubt someone would read an essay and see the word “gay” or “catholic” and immediately throw it out. They’re looking for reasons to accept you, not reject you.</p>
<p>I would say that as long as your essay doesn’t read as an attack on any particular group, and that you write about the subject with sensitivity whatever biases the reader may have, you should go for it.</p>
<p>When I was brainstorming for topics for my essays, I always knew that I wanted to write about the conversations that I had with my family at the dinner table (my sister is an atheist, parents are Catholic, I, as a 13-year old teen, was caught in the middle) and how they taught me to think critically and question, not rationalize, my beliefs. I was not ashamed, in my essay, to proudly proclaim my new ardor for my Catholic faith and how I am passionate about strengthening my ideology through the use of discriminating and exacting reason. All in all, I thought it was a very good essay, and it said a lot more about me than just “I love being Catholic a lot.”</p>
<p>I sent it to every college I applied to, and apparently most of them liked it - I ended up getting into even really liberal, secular schools. After I got into Yale, I got a personal note from the admissions counselor who read my application, and she actually noted how much she liked my essay. To quote, “the risk you took paid off.” So yes, even she acknowledged that it was a bit of an “edgy” or “touchy” subject, but perhaps that can work to your advantage. :)</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about Notre Dame. Do they pride themselves on diversity and/or openness, or on being a Catholic institution? I think in intellectual environments, even if they are religious, there is a fair amount of tolerance, and sometimes even a desire for challenging religious points of view. </p>
<p>I’m curious about why you are looking at Notre Dame and Georgetown. If your atheism is important to you, would you not appreciate less religious institutions? Will you be comfortable in those environments? I understand you are ‘used to it’, perhaps, but maybe this would be a good time for a change.</p>
<p>If you take the risk and show yourself as you are, and you don’t get admitted, say at Notre Dame, how would you feel? Do you want to play it safe? If you do, will you feel you are selling out?</p>
<p>I want to go to Notre Dame for business, same with Georgetown. I have legacy in Notre Dame, and I really just like the school and location with Georgetown.</p>
<p>To me, the religious official of a school is about as important as gender ratio, or how good the sports are. I don’t want religious affiliation to be a deterrent from a good education. I don’t proclaim my religion, and I doubt the schools will too.</p>
<p>And I will write this essay btw, this is a high risk/ high reward situation like one of the previous posts mentioned.</p>
<p>Well, it’s supposed to be revealing- but what it’s supposed to reveal is the personal qualities that adcoms want to see for their freshman class. It’s not a thesis statement essay, a treatise or all about opinions. And the prompts are to get you thinking-</p>
<p>OK, prs, it’s helpful to know what you want to do. I see you’ve already made your decision, but the comments below will still help you in understanding how to focus your essay, I hope.</p>
<p>I encourage you to research the mission statement (found on the websites) of the schools themselves. </p>
<p>I googled ‘Georgetown mission statement’ for you and here it is:</p>
<p>“Established in 1789 in the spirit of the new republic, the university was founded on the principle that serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical and spiritual understanding. We embody this principle in the diversity of our students, faculty and staff, our commitment to justice and the common good, our intellectual openness and our international character.”</p>
<p>So ask yourself, is an atheism essay good for this audience? Yes, quite good, they are striving for understanding among different faiths - serious and sustained discourse! (If I knew how to bold text, I would bold from “understanding … discourse” in the prior sentence!) It’s excellent, in fact, and I would say low risk in this context.</p>
<p>I suggest you google Notre Dame and see what their mission is. This is an excellent way to start to research any organization or business, by the way, and is helpful when you have interviews with prospective employers. Always know your audience FIRST!!</p>
<p>You are ‘pitching’ the schools a unique product - you! No one else has your voice, background and experiences. The question is always, does my essay make me a more or less attractive candidate to the institution? Some essays will make you a more attractive candidate to all the institutions you apply to. </p>
<p>Asksoccerboy’s essay is a great example. While the topic of his essay was overtly ‘religious’, his thesis had to do with his “use of discriminating and exacting reason”. If I was a reader in an Ad Com I would’ve jumped up and down and whopped, then placed his essay on the ‘admit’ pile without further ado. We don’t know if his readers whooped, but we know the essay was successful based on his admittances.</p>
<p>So check out Notre Dame’s website and make a valid, objective analysis of the actual risk involved here. </p>
<p>The essay is just one piece of your ‘marketing job’, but it’s the piece that answers the question ‘what type of person is he or she?’. It needs to be looked at in the larger context of your entire application, with an eye to filling the needs of the university in the composition of their class.</p>
<p>This is a good thread because I am considering a similar topic, but I’m not from a Catholic school, so it probably won’t be as interesting :(</p>
<p>I wrote my religion (Unitarian Universalism, which has many atheists) in my Common App essay. It didn’t seem to particularly help me or hurt me in admissions. I got in where I expected and didn’t where I didn’t expect. If you can write about it in a mature, thought-out way, I think it can be a fine topic.</p>
<p>Here’s another way of looking at it: if a college were to reject you strictly because you are atheist, did you really want to go there anyway?</p>
<p>Most humans are weak and easily offended, don’t do it.</p>
<p>What’s sticking with me is would an essay on atheism be relevant to adcoms- regardless of the religious considerations? You can’t make many final “pronouncements” at 17. It’s not a typical “challenge.” What strengths will you show? That you can go against the grain? That’s risky. First, because you haven’t experienced the range of philosophical considerations to come up with “certainty.” Second because many kids who write on topics like this tend to reveal just that: that it’s a junior decision, not based on much living yet, not tested, very personal and somewhat reactive. Just be careful.</p>
<p>I think you should go for it, if it has shaped you into the person you are today, why not ? However, you should go about in a respectful manner, don’t bash religion, but instead tell how atheism has helped you, etc.</p>
<p>WHat about writing about being the only religious person in your school? I am an international student and the country I come from is not nearly as religious as the US, could I talk about the challenges in this situation?</p>
<p>You all will write what you feel is best. My point is: does atheism or your politics or your feelings about some topic show adcoms how you evolve, will continue to, are open and flexible, and so much more? Or focus on a decision and your sureness, at 17, that you have it figured out? This is all so much different than a hs assignment to "write about a big change.’ Of course, it depends on the college tier.</p>
<p>I agree with “lookingforward”, you would have to say how atheism changed your views positively I hope, though wouldn’t it be hard to talk about positiveness if you don’t believe/hope in anything? ?</p>
<p>Being an atheist doesn’t necessarily mean giving up hope/not believing in anything. If the OP can write about how atheism changed his perspective for the better, go for it. Just be careful of negativity towards religion and/or sounding arrogant</p>
<p>saye329 don’t go into that close minded though about Atheism being hopeless, pointless, and somewhat nihilistic, there is more to it. </p>
<p>And while some of you think because I am 17 I don’t know anything that is good for me, I do know, with 100% certainty, that I will stick with this the rest of my life. </p>
<p>The essay will not be broadly about atheism and what it stands for, it is going to be specific event in my life where I stood for my faith. I won’t even have to talk about atheism and no gods or anything, just that I "challenged a belief, why it prompted me to act, and if I would make the decision again.</p>
<p>It’s not what a poster thinks, it’s how adcoms will perceive this. It’s a college app. The more competitive the college, the more they need to know about how you will tackle challenges, grow, be open minded, engage, and a host of other qualities, including your perspective. I’m not even trying to convince you, OP. “Challenged a belief” is going to need to show a host of strengths that serve you in college, not just tell the tale. This is a period of change, new opportunities, evolution. The fiercer the fight for an admit, the more you need to consider how your 100% certainty may be perceived.</p>
<p>What’s the “more to it” prsguitar?</p>
<p>“I do know, with 100% certainty, that I will stick with this the rest of my life.”</p>
<p>OK, full disclosure. I’m also a 17 year old atheist, so i’m not trying to antagonize you or anything. But the line quoted above sounds very arrogant, and I hope you don’t write the essay with the same tone. As long as you can say that becoming an atheist was meaningful and rewarding to you, then write. You want to stress that atheism is most meaningful to you at present, but if it were me, I would also mention being openminded and willing to learn from other belief systems.</p>