<p>in the sections where they want you to list the books you’ve read in the past year/for pleasure?</p>
<p>The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins</p>
<p>I’m an atheist, but I don’t want the adcoms to get the impression that I’m as antireligious as Dawkins is nor do I want them to think that I would bash anyone because of their religion…</p>
<p>No. They cannot discriminate based on religious beliefs. Also, while the majority of the country is religious, this is not necessarily true for admissions officers. Or perhaps it is, but either way, they admit people with diverse political, economic, and religious views. I mean, I wouldn’t put it down if you were applying to a religiously affiliated school, but I’m pretty sure you’d be able to figure this out.</p>
<p>^You could safely put it down for a religiously affiliated school, as long as you had a strong pro-religious contrast (i.e. books of that sort, your essay(s), etc.)
That would show maturity, I think.</p>
<p>^Maturity? “My favorite books are The God Delusion and, of course, The Bible.”</p>
<p>I think that would just be confusing.</p>
<p>“books you’ve read in the past year for/ for pleasure”
You enjoy reading up on religious critics with various viewpoints (to test your convictions, for instance), rather than feeding yourself just the information that you want to hear from a provincial selection of sources. This demonstrates you know what confirmation bias is and that it is bad. In turn, this conveys maturity.</p>
<p>Ah, I misread that. Sorry, I have applications that have lists of favorite books AND lists of books in the past year, so my mind mixed the ideas up. In that case, I understand what you mean, keellota. If both were included, a religious school would likely not be able to tell which reflected the individual’s beliefs, if either did at all, and the applicant would seem to be questing for the truth in the matter.</p>
<p>But as for the OP, I remain convinced, you’re not going to get rejected for that.</p>
<p>As long as you don’t write a scathing diatribe against religion for your common app essay, your belief is not going to work against you. And that goes for anyone who writes an offensive piece, with any background as the driving force.</p>
<p>Honestly, at top colleges, I’d bet on atheism as a more positive factor in the admissions room than, say, a belief in talking snakes.</p>
<p>(Also, that last part is something offensive that you would not want to say on your common app.)</p>
<p>i’m sorry, where on the common app does it ask you to list these titles?</p>
<p>In the columbia supplement it asks you to do so.</p>
<p>They wouldn’t be allowed to reject you based on religion, but keep in mind that the people reading your application won’t necessarily share your beliefs. If they are serious Christians, they won’t look on your application as positively, whether they do so consciously or not.</p>
<p>That being said, if it really is a book that you love, then you might as well put it down. No need to lie to get colleges to like you.</p>
<p>Don’t adcoms almost always have a degree from the school they work for?
Or at least have a degree from a comparable institution?
I don’t see Princeton letting just any average person decide who gets accepted.</p>
<p>Assuming that is true, the adcoms at any respected school are going to be intelligent and mature; and I highly doubt that such an adcom would have a subconscious condescending attitude that would hold more weight than his/her conscious attitude gained from going to school for four years with some of the brightest students in the world, many of different beliefs regarding the supernatural.</p>
<p>But Keellota- Do you think that a Princeton graduate would really be working as an admissions officer? (I do NOT mean this offensively to admissions officers . . . it’s just that I believe that someone who attended Princeton would most likely have a different career . . . )</p>
<p>Not all Princeton kids become CEO’s and surgeons… and some just love their school… blah… I honestly don’t know the credentials of the adcoms, but my main point is that I highly doubt they would be close-minded in the way megapiano was saying.</p>
<p>…and I would surely hope not, considering my main common app essay’s topic is very relevant to this…</p>