political groups on application?

[Jahorgasen]

This might have been addressed before and could be a stupid question, but here goes:

One of the groups in which I have been most active over the past 4 years has been one of the two big political parties on my campus (I won't say which one, for the sake of getting unbiased answers). I really want to list this on my application when I apply next summer because I've done a lot with this group (helping with events, flyering/chalking, etc.), but I am worried that if I put this down on my resume I might find a member of the opposing party on the admissions committee who might...you know...

Does this happen or should I believe that these individuals actually remain unbiased when deciding these things? If you have heard of cases where people may have received the raw end of the deal or are you inclined to believe one way or the other? If these things do happen, should I just put down "Participated in University ____'s" and explain what I did with the party while not specifying the group?

Thanks for any info you guys can give me!

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[DrBowtie]

Put it down.

 

[chaldobruin]

This might have been addressed before and could be a stupid question, but here goes:

One of the groups in which I have been most active over the past 4 years has been one of the two big political parties on my campus (I won't say which one, for the sake of getting unbiased answers). I really want to list this on my application when I apply next summer because I've done a lot with this group (helping with events, flyering/chalking, etc.), but I am worried that if I put this down on my resume I might find a member of the opposing party on the admissions committee who might...you know...

Does this happen or should I believe that these individuals actually remain unbiased when deciding these things? If you have heard of cases where people may have received the raw end of the deal or are you inclined to believe one way or the other? If these things do happen, should I just put down "Participated in University ____'s" and explain what I did with the party while not specifying the group?

Thanks for any info you guys can give me!

95% chance you are a liberal democrat, which is normal for college students. I would try to play with words and hide the name of the party... you may find some conservative people on adcoms. Not worth the risk. Say you did work for X College's Political organization or something.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I can't believe they would discriminate based on political affiliation. How is that any different from religion, race, or sex? I think if you put it down, what is more important to realize is that they can ask you about it in an interview and you need to be able to talk about it in a sensitive yet solid manner, just like any other tricky subject.

 

[Dookter]

I know of one guy in my class who is a pretty strong conservative who says that he was shafted at a school for reasons similar to this. He was asked a question about whose health plan he liked better, etc. Of course he came up on the conservative side of the issue, which he says did not sit well with the dean of admissions there. I am not sure what the specific question was, and he probably got shafted over a health policy question more rather than b/c the dean of admissions did not share his political stance. So def. mention groups that you participated in, but do realize that if someone throws you a curve ball you better be able to handle it....and do realize that some schools may have certain goals [i.e. some school seek to provide care to underserved populations, etc] so if you are thrown a curve ball and go in with a stance that goes against what the school stands for, you might not like the outcome.

 

[LizzyM]

Politican affiliation isn't a protected class like "age, race, sex, marital status, etc".

However, if you (the OP) feels strongly about the party's position on issues that matter to you (particularly those related to health and health care) it might be interesting to work those into your essay as well as listing the volunteer work among your experiences.

It is my experience that no matter what an adcom member's political affiliation, they admire applicants who don't just have opinions about issues of the day but put the time and effort into doing something about whatever they think needs to be changed, improved, or protected through direct service or through the political process.

 

[LizzyM]

I know of one guy in my class who is a pretty strong conservative who says that he was shafted at a school for reasons similar to this. He was asked a question about whose health plan he liked better, etc. Of course he came up on the conservative side of the issue, which he says did not sit well with the dean of admissions there...

Maybe the dean didn't like conservatives but I wonder if the dean was looking for applicants who were able to think through an issue and show the reasoning behind a particular choice. If the applicant says, "I like Mr. __'s plan best because the other candidate/party is just pandering to special interests and I can't go along with that" does that show that the applicant even knows what the issues are and what the different health plans involve, his own philosophy about health care and government, and why one is therefore superior to the other? I suspect that more often than not, it isn't that one espouses a particular viewpoint, but that the viewpoint is poorly formed based on parental influences, social pressure from a peer group, and the like rather than a well developed political philosophy or a pragmatic decision based on self-interest.

 

[wolfram241]

Nobody cares if you chalked 'no war for oil' all over the quad in between games of hacky sack. At least it shows passion for something.

 

[Guile]

Nobody cares if you chalked 'no war for oil' all over the quad in between games of hacky sack. At least it shows passion for something.

Haha.

I put down my heavy involvement in a conservative political group on campus, and I've gotten multiple acceptances. While no one can guarantee that there is not the smallest chance you could experience discrimination, I think the good (you were active and passionate about something) outweighs the bad (the minute possibility that someone will discriminate against you because of it).

 

[braluk]

This is something along the lines of Kaplan lecturers (and maybe TPR?) that tell you to stay away controversial politics for the writing prompts- there might be a chance you may offend someone, and might affect your grades. Who knows, if you're not out throwing firebombs, I'm sure it should be ok (although personally I wouldn't mention anything political (especially with dubya since the majority of the country aren't fans of his [off topic]), unless it was something noteworthy, or helpful to people (altruism, etc. etc.). But to each his own opinions.

 

[CTSballer11]

I would put it down but I would stay away from direct references to dubya and his cronies. They are not very popular right now.

 

[Dookter]

Maybe the dean didn't like conservatives but I wonder if the dean was looking for applicants who were able to think through an issue and show the reasoning behind a particular choice. If the applicant says, "I like Mr. __'s plan best because the other candidate/party is just pandering to special interests and I can't go along with that" does that show that the applicant even knows what the issues are and what the different health plans involve, his own philosophy about health care and government, and why one is therefore superior to the other? I suspect that more often than not, it isn't that one espouses a particular viewpoint, but that the viewpoint is poorly formed based on parental influences, social pressure from a peer group, and the like rather than a well developed political philosophy or a pragmatic decision based on self-interest.

The Dean said he felt my buddy lacked compassion, etc., based on his response to the question. This guy really probed the school after getting rejected, so that is how he found out why he was rejected. This was also someone who spent a year working in Africa, etc. Clearly a compassionate guy. He got shafted. I am def. not a conservative, and even I think he got shafted. It most likely will not happen to the OP, but people need to realize it does happen.

 

[Jahorgasen]

Thanks guys for the responses. Even though I've been particularly active in one group I do not think that I display radical tendencies (as some of the people above suggested would be detrimental to an application). I'm definitely hoping that volunteering with the organization because I believe it works toward certain healthcare organizations will help. Then again, I'm still a bit unsure of saying the particular organization, especially after the one comment above. But I'm guessing that saying I did such and such for a particular organization because I believe in such and such fundamentals can't hurt, even if I'm a little vague. I don't think that political affiliation should be used as a factor at all, but I imagine that it could very well affect one's admission status.