4 ms·

Wait where do you have to "demonstrate your committment to the polical cause of the moment" to apply to college

BitwiseFool 5y ago
It's not like there is some peer reviewed study I can cite for you, but in my own anecdotal experience one of my admissions essays needed to be about "what Diversity means to me". I, of course, said it was the greatest thing since sliced bread because I can't help but think a neutral or contrarian viewpoint would instantly get my application rejected. One of my Gen. Ed. requirements was to take a course that was flagged as co-curricular with "Human Diversity". And, the school I went to isn't even considered that liberal.
retrac 5y ago
On the sections for extracurricular activities, volunteering, etc. where you try to make yourself look saintly. Just guessing, but six months volunteering at a homeless shelter for refugees will probably help your admissions more than six months volunteering to catalogue 19th century clogs at a museum.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Coming from country where even behavioural interviews are rarity and only very specific fields have something beyond entrance exam the whole extracurricular activity thing feels extremely strange. Why should that have anything to do with academic performance.
enchiridion 5y ago
For grad school across fields a statement supporting “equity and inclusion” is becoming the norm. While this does not sound political, the use of the word “equity” vs “equality” is political. Specifically, equity explicitly entails redistributing resources based on lack of privilege. This is instead of equality, which entails providing everyone with the same resources and opportunity. Now we are left with question of how to fairly distribute resources. These are centralized decisions made by career bureaucrats. If the distinction was made along economic lines, this would not be all that political. However, lines are commonly drawn along race, gender, and sexual orientation. Now those making these decisions have decide based on belief structures about what groups are the least privilege. These structures are inherently political and a poor proxy for economic status.
- foofoo4u 5y ago
  I want to add from anecdotal experience that this conformist ideology spans beyond just university applicants. I have had to declare my views and positions on "equity and inclusion" at job interviews for software development positions here in the Bay Area. I'll call them out; it was DoorDash in SF.
  - gorwell 5y ago
    How did they ask that question? How direct are they in determining a candidate's ideology and political leaning?
    - scarmig 5y ago
      At Google, a couple years back they swapped out one of the technical interviews for a G&I interview, which is really just a behavioral interview. But the questions come from an approved question bank, with each question tagged with a different attribute it's supposed to probe. One of these tags is DEI, and you're required to ask at least one question tagged DEI when conducting one of these behavioral interviews. Usually the question does not explicitly call out race or gender, but the grading rubric definitely dings the candidate if TC doesn't reference them in their answer or says anything about political, economic, or regional diversity instead. The one saving grace of this system is that no one expects any meaningful hiring signal to come out of these interviews unless TC is a total idiot when answering the questions.
- scarmig 5y ago
  And, if people are wondering if these statements are evaluated in a particular way, you can view a typical rubric here: https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversity/rubric-assessing-candidate-contributions-diversity-equity https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversit... Which speaks for itself.
at-fates-hands 5y ago
Just had two nieces start college last year. Both in Large midwestern state colleges. These were not Ivy League or staunch liberal arts colleges. Both put a huge emphasis on extracurricular activities which needed to be focused on social justice areas. Both were petrified they didn't have enough activities to get accepted. In the end, they got accepted to where they wanted to go, but the shift to tow the line for social justice, inclusion and other hot topics of the day has been surprising to me. When I applied in the early aughts, the only thing my classmates were worried about were our SAT/ACT scores. Nobody cared at that point about your political leanings. Seems like today that is a greater focus than ever before.

It's not like there is some peer reviewed study I can cite for you, but in my own anecdotal experience one of my admissions essays needed to be about "what Diversity means to me". I, of course, said it was the greatest thing since sliced bread because I can't help but think a neutral or contrarian viewpoint would instantly get my application rejected. One of my Gen. Ed. requirements was to take a course that was flagged as co-curricular with "Human Diversity". And, the school I went to isn't even considered that liberal.

retrac 5y ago

On the sections for extracurricular activities, volunteering, etc. where you try to make yourself look saintly. Just guessing, but six months volunteering at a homeless shelter for refugees will probably help your admissions more than six months volunteering to catalogue 19th century clogs at a museum.

Ekaros 5y ago
Coming from country where even behavioural interviews are rarity and only very specific fields have something beyond entrance exam the whole extracurricular activity thing feels extremely strange. Why should that have anything to do with academic performance.

enchiridion 5y ago

For grad school across fields a statement supporting “equity and inclusion” is becoming the norm. While this does not sound political, the use of the word “equity” vs “equality” is political. Specifically, equity explicitly entails redistributing resources based on lack of privilege. This is instead of equality, which entails providing everyone with the same resources and opportunity. Now we are left with question of how to fairly distribute resources. These are centralized decisions made by career bureaucrats. If the distinction was made along economic lines, this would not be all that political. However, lines are commonly drawn along race, gender, and sexual orientation. Now those making these decisions have decide based on belief structures about what groups are the least privilege. These structures are inherently political and a poor proxy for economic status.

foofoo4u 5y ago
I want to add from anecdotal experience that this conformist ideology spans beyond just university applicants. I have had to declare my views and positions on "equity and inclusion" at job interviews for software development positions here in the Bay Area. I'll call them out; it was DoorDash in SF.
- gorwell 5y ago
  How did they ask that question? How direct are they in determining a candidate's ideology and political leaning?
  - scarmig 5y ago
    At Google, a couple years back they swapped out one of the technical interviews for a G&I interview, which is really just a behavioral interview. But the questions come from an approved question bank, with each question tagged with a different attribute it's supposed to probe. One of these tags is DEI, and you're required to ask at least one question tagged DEI when conducting one of these behavioral interviews. Usually the question does not explicitly call out race or gender, but the grading rubric definitely dings the candidate if TC doesn't reference them in their answer or says anything about political, economic, or regional diversity instead. The one saving grace of this system is that no one expects any meaningful hiring signal to come out of these interviews unless TC is a total idiot when answering the questions.
scarmig 5y ago
And, if people are wondering if these statements are evaluated in a particular way, you can view a typical rubric here: https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversity/rubric-assessing-candidate-contributions-diversity-equity https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversit... Which speaks for itself.

at-fates-hands 5y ago

Just had two nieces start college last year. Both in Large midwestern state colleges. These were not Ivy League or staunch liberal arts colleges. Both put a huge emphasis on extracurricular activities which needed to be focused on social justice areas. Both were petrified they didn't have enough activities to get accepted. In the end, they got accepted to where they wanted to go, but the shift to tow the line for social justice, inclusion and other hot topics of the day has been surprising to me. When I applied in the early aughts, the only thing my classmates were worried about were our SAT/ACT scores. Nobody cared at that point about your political leanings. Seems like today that is a greater focus than ever before.