<p>I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you shouldn’t mention it, but if your primary extracurriculars are Young Republicans or pro-life groups, they may not be looked at favorably. It all depends on whether you’re able to communicate to the admissions committee that you’re not closed-minded. Are Columbia students and professors overwhelmingly liberal? Yeah, pretty much. But you won’t really be persecuted for being open-minded yet holding conservative views.</p>
<p>morningsidelows it is impossible to have an exhaustive list of dimensions of diversity, I wouldn’t read too much into their not having political opinion. For example they also do not have body type, does that imply they discriminate fat people, let’s not be illogical here. </p>
<p>It is absolutely not a disadvantage to be conservative or libertarian, diversity of political ideology is something Columbia definitely encourages and does not discriminate against, even if most students and profs are liberal. To be honest, it might even be an advantage to separate yourself from the large proportion of standard liberal high schoolers. To call it a disadvantage is to give applicants uninformed and potentially harmful advice.</p>
<p>A lot of what I’ve seen in this thread is speculative. Particularly interesting is the advice of a 2014er who, despite his/her extensive knowledge, has not lived at Columbia yet. </p>
<p>One item I wanted to address was the matter of political orientation. You can expect your intellectual mettle to be tested. If you’re liberal, conservative, or moderate, you’ll be asked to explain yourself beyond your instincts. As Dean Peter Awn says, if you haven’t taken a number of courses that challenge your political orientation, you’ve shown no intellectual courage. If you take courses like that - which, admittedly, I haven’t - you’ll come out more aware of what it really is that you believe. Rather than, for example, just saying you’re liberal or that Columbia is liberal, etc.</p>
<p>That said, I’d characterize the mood or sentiment of campus to be left-leaning, though the conservatives seem better organized. Perhaps it’s just because the right stands out more in the setting, but I am constantly aware of Catholic groups, Christian evangelicals of all stripes (from Korean Campus Christian Coalition to the non-denominational prayer groups), MiliVets, College Republicans, the social conservative groups, and so on.</p>