<p>I'm filling out the Common Application and am trying to decide which religion I should list. I have significant affiliation with Jewish culture and thought, but don't quite believe in God.</p>
<p>For the purposes of college admissions, which religion should I list?</p>
<p>Most of the colleges claimed that they will not receive your religious preference. So you don’t have to worry that much about that part.</p>
<p>I know some of the colleges on my list, including Princeton, do want to receive it.</p>
<p>You can just put Jewish (as you have “significant affiliation” with it), or there should be a “decline to state” option, or something of the sort.</p>
<p>Zoroastrianism</p>
<p>Put Jewish. Remember, Judiasm is a religion, culture, and ethnicity. You had be Jewish and athiest (I’ve met quite a few).</p>
<p>woooo jew pride</p>
<p>jewish culture or no, it’s asking for religion. not culture. as far as I can recall Judaism is a monotheistic religion.</p>
<p>Jewish is NOT a race. Many Jews are Semitic, Ethiopian, every other race/ethnicity, etc…</p>
<p>Judaism would be the religion but if you are Atheist it would only be ethical to put Atheist… Unless you aren’t sure and then well…</p>
<p>Edit: I meant race, not ethnicity… Oops!</p>
<p>Ugh !!!</p>
<p>I think it is sad that colleges are even asking this question.</p>
<p>My son is 1/2 jewish, 1/2 christian.</p>
<p>Why does a college need to know his religion?</p>
<p>I don’t think they should be asking your race either.</p>
<p>I would not put down that you are jewish, because jews are “over-represented” at many universities, as asians are, and this could prove to be a negative.</p>
<p>But I think that they would expect you to put down jewish. I am not religious, but ethnically, they would view me as jewish. Jerry Seinfeld may or may not be religious, but I think everyone would consider him to be jewish.</p>
<p>You are an atheist. It is asking for religion, not culture. That’s like saying an atheist from Iran or Saudi Arabia should put Islam simply because they are affiliated with Islamic culture. Do you believe in God? NO. Then you are not religious. Put the “no preference”. It’s unethical to put Judaism.</p>
<p>My understanding has always been that you can be considered Jewish if you do not believe in God. You cannot, if you accept a different religion’s concept of God (e.g., you can’t be both Jewish and Christian).</p>
<p>OP, put down whichever you want – Jewish, Athiest, or leave it blank (if permitted)</p>
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<p>What does this mean? I assume you mean one parent is Jewish and the other Christian. A student’s parents’ religions are irrelevant. Religion is a personal choice, not a genetic trait.</p>
<p>Except being Jewish doesn’t only mean you follow the religion. Judaism is a culture, even an ethnicity. Most Jews who I know don’t even know what country their families are from. They’re just… Jewish</p>
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No. No. No.</p>
<p>@PrettyAwesome27 it doesn’t matter. they want to know religion. they aren’t asking if you’re jewish. they’re asking whether you follow the religion of Judaism</p>
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<p>Ok, but the form is not asking for your “culture,” it is asking for your religious preference. If you don’t already know what your preference is, then either you don’t have one, or it may be a good time to give it some thought and make a decision about it.</p>
<p>Without getting much into whether Judaism is or isn’t more than just a religion, just ask yourself this: Do I want to affiliate with the Jewish (or any other religious) community at college?</p>
<p>If you do, put that you’re Jewish. (After all, you are Jewish if your mother is Jewish, regardless of whether you believe in God.) If you don’t, put that you’re atheist, or decline to answer.</p>
<p>The most that any college is going to do with the information is to give your name to Hillel (or the Catholic student center, or whatever organization is appropriate). And if they don’t give Hillel your name, and you decide later that you’re interested, you can just go to Hillel on your own. It’s not as if the location of the Hillel is a secret or anything.</p>
<p>tsdad, look up any definition of “ethnic” (one is :“pertaining to or characteristic of a people, especially a group…sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like”), and you’ll find that it’s perfectly accurate to call Jews an ethnic group. And since Jews don’t usually identify with any other ethnicity, it’s all we’ve got! My ancestors were Hungarian and Polish Jews, but the Hungarians and the Poles did not consider them part of their ethnic group–especially not when discriminating against them in countless ways and murdering them. All this is completely apart from the religion issue, so I admit it’s off-topic, but I thought it should be clarified.</p>
<p>kameronsmith -</p>
<p>It is perfectly fine to just skip this question. It isn’t necessary to make a statement about your faith or non-faith status.</p>
<p>Why would the colleges ask about it?