NY Times on new application essays dabbling in so-called "identities"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what it means not to partake in "identification". Are you saying that your kid refuses to answer questions about their gender, or religion, or nationality, or family status or hobbies?

You're lumping a few things together here, but yes, you're right. My kid refuses to answer questions about all of these things unless they are necessary for a legitimate purpose. For instance, a medical doctor might need to know about their biological sex to correctly diagnose symptoms. Otherwise, it's nobody's business, and especially not some random AO's.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know identifies as something.

Get around more and talk to people outside your "bubble." Not everyone is constantly obsessed about "gender," not everyone follows a religion, and few people can choose their nationality.
Many are fed up with the constant emphasis given to these by some.

So what makes your kid interesting / different / unique? Nothing? That's really sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what it means not to partake in "identification". Are you saying that your kid refuses to answer questions about their gender, or religion, or nationality, or family status or hobbies?

Everyone I know identifies as something.

If you're a white male, cis/het, not religious, UMC, family been here a long time and intermixed (generic European), truly what is there to say?

I'm not in this category but I feel like these Qs should be optional. Otherwise it is very cringe and fake.

"Tell us about an aspect of your identity OR a life experience that has shaped you."

By 17, kids have been shaped by something. If not, write an eloquent essay about being an unmolded lump still seeking form.

No need to bolden that. "Shaping life experiences" are also none of a university's business and this part of the question has no legitimate purpose, either.

Anonymous wrote:
My kid has many aspects to his identity. He is Jewish. He has a disability. He has a brother with a disability. He is white. He is American. He is a cis male. He plays a sport. He grew up in the south. He enjoys science. He is an extrovert who prides himself on prioritizing friendships. He volunteers. Some of those things he shared in essays, and some he chose not to either because he felt they were too personal (e.g., his disability) or irrelevant (e.g., they saw his citizenship and sex/gender when he applied and he didn't have anything to add on that topic). That left him with tons and tons of things to talk about, many of which he "chose" for himself (sports, academic interests, volunteer work, friendships).

Are you familiar with the teen slang TMI?
None of this belongs in a college application, and shouldn't even be asked.

A college application should not ask about sports, academic interests, and volunteer work? Or, again, is the problem with race, religion, and gender?

Your brain seems so mushed that you can't see the difference. Yes, colleges can asked about academic interests - though better only academic achievements.

Race, religion, gender, sports, volunteer work are nonacademic issues that have no relevance. You know who does it that way?
Every industrialized country aside from the U.S. You send in your transcript, perhaps take an entrance exam, and that's what decides.

Not your oversharing your "identity" to play some kind of stupid game, as other posters have pointed out.

[Anonymous]

The United States has congenital issues unlike every other industrialized country in the world. Despite that, admission to its universities are coveted like nowhere else in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everything about college these days...from the admissions process to the day to day culture of what "matters"... seems so backwardass stupid - I'm embarrassed for the administrators and the parents buying into it all....

+1. It seems to be playing into our worst instincts as humans, to make everything tribal. All of this obsession with identities feeds into that mentality.

I'm surprised more people don't see this for what it is, it's an extension of some of the worst traits of human beings. It's very natural to group people together and stereotype and discriminate, but we seem to be leaning into the primal need to identify with a group as if this is a good thing.

ha ha. When white people did it for centuries it just seemed natural, didn't it? And then when non-white people started doing it suddenly the alarm bells ring!

Do you even work in an admissions office?

Yea had to laugh at that one.
Lamenting about the trend towards making everything tribal- does pp know who started it? or anything about the history of the US?
Probably (and conveniently) not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know when victimhood and trauma became such a hot commodity to AOs. It's really sick.

There’s nothing in that question that assumes either trauma or victimhood. I don’t think my kid would have read it that way.

[Anonymous]

Sadly I fear these sorts of questions are going to just encourage more gaming of the system. Expensive college counselors will probably do a better job of manufacturing their client's hardships than the kids that actually lived them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what it means not to partake in "identification". Are you saying that your kid refuses to answer questions about their gender, or religion, or nationality, or family status or hobbies?

Everyone I know identifies as something.

If you're a white male, cis/het, not religious, UMC, family been here a long time and intermixed (generic European), truly what is there to say?

I'm not in this category but I feel like these Qs should be optional. Otherwise it is very cringe and fake.

"Tell us about an aspect of your identity OR a life experience that has shaped you."

By 17, kids have been shaped by something. If not, write an eloquent essay about being an unmolded lump still seeking form.

No need to bolden that. "Shaping life experiences" are also none of a university's business and this part of the question has no legitimate purpose, either.

Anonymous wrote:
My kid has many aspects to his identity. He is Jewish. He has a disability. He has a brother with a disability. He is white. He is American. He is a cis male. He plays a sport. He grew up in the south. He enjoys science. He is an extrovert who prides himself on prioritizing friendships. He volunteers. Some of those things he shared in essays, and some he chose not to either because he felt they were too personal (e.g., his disability) or irrelevant (e.g., they saw his citizenship and sex/gender when he applied and he didn't have anything to add on that topic). That left him with tons and tons of things to talk about, many of which he "chose" for himself (sports, academic interests, volunteer work, friendships).

Are you familiar with the teen slang TMI?
None of this belongs in a college application, and shouldn't even be asked.

A college application should not ask about sports, academic interests, and volunteer work? Or, again, is the problem with race, religion, and gender?

Your brain seems so mushed that you can't see the difference. Yes, colleges can asked about academic interests - though better only academic achievements.

Race, religion, gender, sports, volunteer work are nonacademic issues that have no relevance. You know who does it that way?
Every industrialized country aside from the U.S. You send in your transcript, perhaps take an entrance exam, and that's what decides.

Not your oversharing your "identity" to play some kind of stupid game, as other posters have pointed out.

So, if the only part of your identity you're comfortable writing about is your academic interests then write about that.

People from every country in the world want to come to the US for University. So, it would appear, that we're doing it right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what it means not to partake in "identification". Are you saying that your kid refuses to answer questions about their gender, or religion, or nationality, or family status or hobbies?

You're lumping a few things together here, but yes, you're right. My kid refuses to answer questions about all of these things unless they are necessary for a legitimate purpose. For instance, a medical doctor might need to know about their biological sex to correctly diagnose symptoms. Otherwise, it's nobody's business, and especially not some random AO's.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know identifies as something.

Get around more and talk to people outside your "bubble." Not everyone is constantly obsessed about "gender," not everyone follows a religion, and few people can choose their nationality.
Many are fed up with the constant emphasis given to these by some.

So what makes your kid interesting / different / unique? Nothing? That's really sad.

What’s unique about your kid is… he or she is your kid.

Step back and take the perspective of an admissions officer. Your kid is simply not very different from thousands of other bright suburban kids, sorry. It is what it is. They could replace the whole process with a lottery and not much would change. Probably be more fair, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sadly I fear these sorts of questions are going to just encourage more gaming of the system. Expensive college counselors will probably do a better job of manufacturing their client's hardships than the kids that actually lived them.

Every parent in America is striving mightily to make sure their kids do NOT experience genuine hardship, so making adversity the key to college admission is immensely stupid - not least because it provides huge incentive to fake the answers.

[Anonymous]

I guess I don't get the outrage. They are basically asking you to write about who you are as a human, and I don't sense that they are asking you to specifically identify with a certain class, gender, race, etc. Who are you as a person and how have your experiences shaped you? That is how I read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what it means not to partake in "identification". Are you saying that your kid refuses to answer questions about their gender, or religion, or nationality, or family status or hobbies?

Everyone I know identifies as something.

If you're a white male, cis/het, not religious, UMC, family been here a long time and intermixed (generic European), truly what is there to say?

I'm not in this category but I feel like these Qs should be optional. Otherwise it is very cringe and fake.

"Tell us about an aspect of your identity OR a life experience that has shaped you."

By 17, kids have been shaped by something. If not, write an eloquent essay about being an unmolded lump still seeking form.

No need to bolden that. "Shaping life experiences" are also none of a university's business and this part of the question has no legitimate purpose, either.

Anonymous wrote:
My kid has many aspects to his identity. He is Jewish. He has a disability. He has a brother with a disability. He is white. He is American. He is a cis male. He plays a sport. He grew up in the south. He enjoys science. He is an extrovert who prides himself on prioritizing friendships. He volunteers. Some of those things he shared in essays, and some he chose not to either because he felt they were too personal (e.g., his disability) or irrelevant (e.g., they saw his citizenship and sex/gender when he applied and he didn't have anything to add on that topic). That left him with tons and tons of things to talk about, many of which he "chose" for himself (sports, academic interests, volunteer work, friendships).

Are you familiar with the teen slang TMI?
None of this belongs in a college application, and shouldn't even be asked.

A college application should not ask about sports, academic interests, and volunteer work? Or, again, is the problem with race, religion, and gender?

Your brain seems so mushed that you can't see the difference. Yes, colleges can asked about academic interests - though better only academic achievements.

Race, religion, gender, sports, volunteer work are nonacademic issues that have no relevance. You know who does it that way?
Every industrialized country aside from the U.S. You send in your transcript, perhaps take an entrance exam, and that's what decides.

Not your oversharing your "identity" to play some kind of stupid game, as other posters have pointed out.

And you realize that those countries are almost all dominated by publicly funded (and WELL-FUNDED) university systems, right? You do realize that. I hope you realize that. Please tell us you realize that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I don't get the outrage. They are basically asking you to write about who you are as a human, and I don't sense that they are asking you to specifically identify with a certain class, gender, race, etc. Who are you as a person and how have your experiences shaped you? That is how I read it.

+1

I don’t get the outrage. Doesn’t seem that different from my application essays in the ‘90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people opposed to this only do so because they think race or gender are the only way people identify and they are afraid that being white and cis may hamper their kid's college app.

But it is BS because there are so many ways your identity is defined. Physically, racially, culturally.

My husband wrote his essay on being an only child.


When I read the question from the article, “Tell us about an aspect of your identity or a life experience that has shaped you," I immediately thought of how much of my life has been shaped by my physical disability (missing a limb). In fact, I wrote about this in my college app essay in 1994.

Sorry if it offends you that I was shaped by this, and that I shouldn't have written about it. I know some of you want to believe or downplay the experiences of others as cashing in on "trauma," but you are so far off the mark.

Yup. As always, the people who claim not to want to talk or think about race and gender can’t help but show that they are actually obsessed with it.

white/hetero/athletic/intelligent male:
People look at me and before they know anything about me or my background they think: 'toxic masculinity', 'privilege', 'racist', 'misogynist', 'homophobic', etc. They see the root cause of all that is wrong with society these days apparently. I am a walking billboard for them to direct their hate.

Give us some specific examples of how it's impacted your life.

NP here. If you asked any middle or UMC black person the same question, they are unlikely to have glaring examples to point to, like lack of homeownership or difficulty getting into colleges (on the contrary actually, they benefit). What they would point to were probably many small micro aggressions and insults to their personhood that accumulated over their life. This now happens to white cis males all the time, and if you can't see that you are blind.

My DS is a white cis male and I've just asked him if he's experienced many small micro-agressions and insults to his personhood during his lifetime of 21 years, and he gave me a quizzical look and said, what??? Has no idea what I'm talking about.

So in his case it's not "all the time." In fact I dare say it's been quasi-never. And he has always gone to and still goes to diverse schools. Think Silver Spring/PG county. He also got into a T40 university, with a scholarship.

Exactly- because he's young and has grown up in silver spring PG county type areas and knows the drill - it has been brainwashed into him that he better keep his mouth shut because he has so much privilege. Wait until he starts working.

Moving the goal posts, I see.

And anyway, he's already working. And doing just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people opposed to this only do so because they think race or gender are the only way people identify and they are afraid that being white and cis may hamper their kid's college app.

But it is BS because there are so many ways your identity is defined. Physically, racially, culturally.

My husband wrote his essay on being an only child.


When I read the question from the article, “Tell us about an aspect of your identity or a life experience that has shaped you," I immediately thought of how much of my life has been shaped by my physical disability (missing a limb). In fact, I wrote about this in my college app essay in 1994.

Sorry if it offends you that I was shaped by this, and that I shouldn't have written about it. I know some of you want to believe or downplay the experiences of others as cashing in on "trauma," but you are so far off the mark.

Yup. As always, the people who claim not to want to talk or think about race and gender can’t help but show that they are actually obsessed with it.

white/hetero/athletic/intelligent male:
People look at me and before they know anything about me or my background they think: 'toxic masculinity', 'privilege', 'racist', 'misogynist', 'homophobic', etc. They see the root cause of all that is wrong with society these days apparently. I am a walking billboard for them to direct their hate.

Give us some specific examples of how it's impacted your life.

NP here. If you asked any middle or UMC black person the same question, they are unlikely to have glaring examples to point to, like lack of homeownership or difficulty getting into colleges (on the contrary actually, they benefit). What they would point to were probably many small micro aggressions and insults to their personhood that accumulated over their life. This now happens to white cis males all the time, and if you can't see that you are blind.

My DS is a white cis male and I've just asked him if he's experienced many small micro-agressions and insults to his personhood during his lifetime of 21 years, and he gave me a quizzical look and said, what??? Has no idea what I'm talking about.

So in his case it's not "all the time." In fact I dare say it's been quasi-never. And he has always gone to and still goes to diverse schools. Think Silver Spring/PG county. He also got into a T40 university, with a scholarship.

Schools today are one long unending microaggression against white cismales. If your story is even true (doubtful) your son is obviously brainwashed into believing it’s not legitimate for him to notice that he’s public enemy number one.

This is hilarious. It even made DS giggle when I showed it to him.

His high school awarded him a scholarship for college, btw. He was nominated by a black teacher. Such a microagression!!!

[Anonymous]

This thread is ridiculous.
Elite colleges want more than a 4.56 GPA and high scores. Too many of those kids anyway. They always have and always will. This is just the latest turn.

Honestly if you can’t come up with something interesting to say about who you and where you come from or something that defines you - anything - that should be a knock against you. They aren’t looking to admit chat gpt.