Is it okay if I talk about religion in my essays?

QuantumArbiter · 11-03-2009, 03:30 AM

Hinduism is really important to me, and its actually partially the reason why I'm into science...physics actually.
I want to talk about it, but as long as I make it clear that I won't let religion interfere with my studies, is that okay?

FantomBassoon · 11-03-2009, 05:05 AM

I'd say it's fine; I don't have any personal experience with this, but assuming you handle it well, there shouldn't be a problem and could actually make a good essay.

lizzardfire · 11-03-2009, 07:36 PM

I consider myself to be religious (I'm Christian) and religion and science do share an important connection for me. That being said, I would be careful about mentioning this in an essay unless absolutely necessary. The essay may be read by people who are also of faith, in which case it could be particularly touching. It could be read as neutral (probably most likely) or it could be read by people who find religion to be silly and detract from scientific pursuits, in which case it could be a negative.

While the essays are meant to be representative of your personality, they are also somewhat of a sales pitch--and for any sales pitch, it's important to know your audience. You'll have plenty of opportunities to stand up later and talk about the importance of religion and science in your life.

QuantumArbiter · 11-03-2009, 07:39 PM

^But it IS an absolute necessary to mention...something I find intellectually interesting is to find the parallels in things religion says and in things physics says...both religion and physics attempt to explain the world, and though my independent research, i find some similarities such as blah blah blah

iono, something like that. I would really love to mention that...

lizzardfire · 11-03-2009, 07:48 PM

If you find it absolutely necessary, then do it. While I do find the interconnection between religion and science to be interesting, it's not the primary motivation for my research. If it is for yours, you open the question of "If you lose your religion, do you also lose your scientific motivation?" If you're prepared to firmly defend your stance on this, I suppose this is fine--but I would be careful.

QuantumArbiter · 11-03-2009, 09:01 PM

Okay thanks!

What should I do to be careful though? Like what do you suggest I avoid doing?

lidusha · 11-03-2009, 09:48 PM

Personally, I really really really wouldn't bring up religion. That's the one topic that people can react most strongly to--you risk that strong reaction being a negative one.

On the other hand, they won't reject you for being Christian because that's illegal. And it might make a very original and powerful essay if you do it right.

BUT! It's dangerous ground.

lizzardfire · 11-03-2009, 10:27 PM

Honestly, I don't think the benefits of possibly creating a compelling story outweigh the massive negatives here. (And remember, the OP is Hindu, I am Christian)

ayushkhaitan · 11-04-2009, 12:30 AM

Allow me to offer a little perspective here, although I may be speaking out of turn.

Being a Hindu myself, I've read some of our numerous religious texts. Unlike Christianity, some parts of these 'religious' texts actually do away with the whole concept of God and divinity. They stress that the ultimate religious experience is infact that of a person's inner soul, which connects him with the whole universe in perfect harmony. A man is his own God.

Hence, ancient Hinduism is in fact just an attempt to congregate all human knowledge, in fields like science, math, literature, etc, so as to attempt to find the path to one own's being. That is why so many of Hindu 'religious' texts like the vedas contain experimental procedures, advisable methods of farming, etc.

Hinduism is, in a way, an atheist's religion.

This might have been Quantum Arbiter's motivation behind drawing parallels between Hinduism and Science........

Hriundeli · 11-04-2009, 01:27 AM

I'll just second lizzardfire:
The risks of writing about religion in your essay greatly outweigh possible benefits. I would safe this topic for when you are an old and respected scientist and you are writing memoirs.

mathboy98 · 11-04-2009, 02:21 PM

Q. Arbiter --

My honest advice (as someone who probably very well sees some of the connections you might draw in what you're planning to write) is that it may be better to hold off. Like lizzard said, could your scientific motivation depend too much on faith? Etc, etc. Honestly I think these are stupid things for an admissions committee to think too much about, because with every essay they are reading, they can only do so much to read into the student, and I think taking sincerity at face value really seems the best way to go...but something tells me mentioning something that people on the other end could feel in varying ways about might not bode well for an application.

On the other hand, if you're anything like me, you may just decide if it's the essay that you think you'd be happiest writing, then it isn't worth worrying about. After all, it's not exactly like you know for certain what is and isn't going to get you in. You'll be like Michael from Office Space telling the Bobs that you like so and so pop singer...

Given I imagine your essay would be sincere, it would be really dumb for you to be rejected anywhere close to on the basis of its flavor.

FantomBassoon · 11-04-2009, 08:46 PM

Okay, expanding what I said earlier...

Do you really want to go to a school where you may not have been accepted if your essay had been about religion? Personally, I wouldn't. When I went about writing my essays I wrote about what I wanted to (to answer the question of course); apparently it worked. Personally I'm not religious/spiritual; it's never been part of me. On the other hand, I do understand that it matters to people and should therefore be respected.

gibby · 11-04-2009, 09:06 PM

Religion is a perfectly acceptable essay topic, as long as you are not intolerant of other religious beliefs. My daughter wrote about religion on her common app last year; she's now at Harvard.

QuantumArbiter · 11-04-2009, 09:55 PM

^Right, but thats Harvard...this is Caltech, where science and mathematics take priority over almost everything...I asked this question specifically in the Caltech thread.

mathboy98 · 11-05-2009, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Do you really want to go to a school where you may not have been accepted if your essay had been about religion? Personally, I wouldn't. When

The idea is that you don't want to give some lunatic who thinks (s)he can judge tons about you from reading a measly application a reason to chuck your application. Reality says that such lunatics are scattered all over the place; whether there is one in Caltech's admissions committee, who knows.

I don't think it's fair to judge Caltech (or any school) by the possibility that someone without a straight head may be standing in its gateway, because really that's possible anywhere.

Nevertheless, I think that if the essay is really, really important to you to write, you should write it, because I think it's okay to take the chance that your admissions officers won't judge your personality or tastes and take things personally, and actually make a logical decision.