<p>Looking over my son’s applications in process, I noticed he answers “prefer not to answer” or “none” . I am wondering if that makes any difference at all to the schools adcoms. Granted, he has not had any formal religious training,has a Jewish mom and a Catholic dad. If he had to choose one he would likely say he was Jewish. I am simply wondering if there are pros/cons to not answering the question with a specific religion. He is not applying to any religious-based school, but mostly NC or VA State colleges.</p>
<p>I don’t believe it will make any difference.</p>
<p>Wh knows what my S put? He is the child of a half Jewish/half Catholic mom (me) and a dad who is nominally Protestant, but really “nothing.”</p>
<p>He got accepted pretty much everywhere, including highly selectives, with the exception of one uber-reach. I don’t think it made a whit of difference what he put.</p>
<p>I don’t think it makes any difference, except at a religiously affiliated college.</p>
<p>My kids have one Jewish and one Christian parent. I think that both put “none” in answer to the religion question, presumably because they have no interest in receiving solicitations from any campus religious groups. We never gave it a second thought.</p>
<p>I didn’t even know the question was on apps. I don’t know why they’d ask other than for statistical purposes but it seems like something that’s none of their business, especially for a state school.</p>
<p>Public schools can not use religion any more than they can use race or sex in determining admission. The question is asked because schools do like to keep track of demographic statistists and for many applicants “diversity” is a sought after characteristic</p>
<p>Agree with above posters – makes no difference except possibly at schools looking to diversify.</p>
<p>He wouldn’t want to be at any school where his religion, or lack of it, mattered. Public schools wouldn’t discriminate on the basis of religion even to have diversity- the data may be useful to offcampus groups. btw-Judeo and Christian mythology share the same roots, my son has parents with Catholic and Hindu roots- east meets west, how to question so many assumptions most people make in this country…</p>
<p>I really have always thought it was just an option for kids to answer. Perhaps at some schools, the Neuman (spelling? I’m sorry, Catholic society for college students); the Hillel (for Jewish kids) organization has a way to contact those who have expressed interest to welcome them to worship services and weekday activities. Protestant chaplains might email students who register in their denomination to greet them as freshmen. But it should make no difference, whatsoever, in admissions against a student to leave it blank, unless perhaps the school has not only a religious foundation but an active, current mission to advance that faith.</p>
<p>It could be relevant if a private university or college has a religious affiliation, even if they don’t expect every student admitted to practice that faith. My own son’s university is affiliated with Disciples of Christ (we’re not of that faith). Naturally, they’d like to admit a cohort of students who register DOC as their faith. I’m sure it’s a factor there, just as is the geographic distribution they want. I never got the impression that DOC kids were so numerous they were crushing the chances of kids from other denominations. I certainly understand why a DOC-affiliated school wants to be sure to include a good cohort of DOC students, as this relates to the school’s continued identity, which plays into continued alumni support. </p>
<p>At Ivies, perhaps it goes back to when there were quotas against Jewish applicants to limit their total numbers on campus, for example at Harvard before WWII. By tracking the upswing in Jewish students after WWII, universities can reassure themselves they no longer practice such discrimination. </p>
<p>I wonder, too, if knowing the religious make-up of each freshman class plays into budget allocations for supporting organizations such as Hillel, Neuman, and Protestant chaplaincies. How can a school justify funding for a Neuman society, Hillel chapter, Muslim Imam, or Methodist (for example) minister, unless they know the numbers of such students? </p>
<p>I must say, I can’t think of any other time any of my 3 were ever asked by their college about their faith, except on admission applications. It was certainly their option to answer it, or leave it blank. They chose to answer it, to help insure services by clergy from their own faith, That’s all it meant to them. </p>
<p>One of their colleges had a policy NOT to pass along self-declared names to each student religious organization. This left it up to each student to find that organization, a fact which some parents didn’t know and assumed those prganizations or clergy would come out looking for those freshmen. Not so, at that particular school. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, my S was found out because he mentioned his religious self-identification on Facebook pages for incoming freshmen. Upperclassmen did a searchword filter, looking for new freshmen to email from their faith, and ask if they wanted to be greeted. If the answer was positive, they showed up to help move in during orientation. That was nice, although they talked more than lifted boxes, but okay. It was happy and friendships were made.</p>
<p>That crap was really only referred to by student organizations sending out “welcome week” information. I think it is unethical and probably illegal to discriminate in college admissions against people of certain religious groups.</p>
<p>
It would be illegal for public universities to do this, but private institutions can do so. Those that are strongly affiliated with a particular religion certainly do so–indeed, some of them require a profession of faith.</p>
<p>I’m surprised a state school even has the question on the application. If the Common App asked it (and I didn’t see it when I just checked), we wouldn’t even download the information into our student system.</p>
<p>Thanks, all! I won’t concern myself with it then. He can write whatever he feels he wants to write, and I won’t stress over it. ( there is so much more to worry about as he finishes up his essays and apps…Oh my gosh!)</p>
<p>Most of the private schools have a religious affiliation dating from way back when. Religious denominations still offer scholarships to some of those schools. There are also scholarships for children of ministers in those denominations. I always figured it was a way to flag a student, to advise her to apply for such a scholarship.</p>
<p>My understanding is that there are scholarships available for kids of a certain religion sometimes and by checking you are, say, Jewish, it opens up all the scholarships that have been endowed for kids of Jewish faith. I wouldn’t think it would hurt to check what you are, you might get some money out of it. Also, if a school would NOT accept you because of your religion, maybe you should think twice about going there?</p>
<p>Despite the objections, there is a legal reason that the college applications request this type of information…the same reason they do ask for ethic background. The Federal (and sometimes State) governments require all colleges (whether public or private) to submit this type of information annually to demonstrate that they are not discriminating. It also gets compiled into Census information. If the students don’t answer the question (actually leave it blank) they school can get into trouble…so many will try to guess. Its only purpose is statistical…and federally required.</p>
<p>There has been a very interesting discussion on this issue in the Vanderbilt section. A poster by the name of Palmettotree posted this article.</p>
<p><a href=“http://paste.lisp.org/display/12638[/url]”>http://paste.lisp.org/display/12638</a></p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, I did a quick check of a few other public schools in Virginia (William & Mary, Mary Washington, and Tech) and confirmed that, like UVa, they don’t ask applicants about religious affiliation. If the government required us to report on it, we’d be asking the question.</p>
<p>Of the schools where I have worked, two (private, religiously affiliated) schools did ask the question and one (secular, private) did not.</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you that every college application I have seen (and I have been looking at quite a few as I prepare for my oldest daughter to start applying for college) has asked for religious affiliation. Almost across the board, it has been in the same “optional” section that requests ethic and gender information.</p>