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?

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.

[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.

No one wants to go to school with a kid who refuses to talk about their hobbies, or where they come from, or their family, or their experiences, etc . . . They sound very boring.

Students don't "go to school" with admission officers or university administrators. In fact, at actual universities, the latter groups have almost zero contact with the students they admit

[Anonymous]

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.

asian/male/high stats:

People look at me and think, "He's probably tutored to death and can't hold a conversation. He's a robot with no real personality." I have to prove myself everyday that I'm neither a robot or tutored. I excel in an extra curricular activity that requires public speaking, and I don't even have to really try that hard to get straight As in school. The high level classes like Multivariable Calculus just naturally comes easy to me; I find doing calculus problems in my head kind of fun and easy.

But that doesn't seem to matter that I'm high achieving without prepping or my parents pushing me. I get pigeoned holed as soon as someone sees my face or my name. The person reading this college essay probably assumed all of this even before they read this essay or had a chance to speak with me.

People say to not judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to URM, but they seem to not have a problem doing so with Asian Americans. It's disheartening".

[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?

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

asian/male/high stats:

People look at me and think, "He's probably tutored to death and can't hold a conversation. He's a robot with no real personality." I have to prove myself everyday that I'm neither a robot or tutored. I excel in an extra curricular activity that requires public speaking, and I don't even have to really try that hard to get straight As in school. The high level classes like Multivariable Calculus just naturally comes easy to me; I find doing calculus problems in my head kind of fun and easy.

But that doesn't seem to matter that I'm high achieving without prepping or my parents pushing me. I get pigeoned holed as soon as someone sees my face or my name. The person reading this college essay probably assumed all of this even before they read this essay or had a chance to speak with me.

People say to not judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to URM, but they seem to not have a problem doing so with Asian Americans. It's disheartening".

Former poster. You win.

[Anonymous]

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.

It's the only way to "identify" that colleges care about. That's a fact. And yes, being white and cis will hold you back. Also a fact.

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

Again: admissions office only cares about your race, gender, and are you LGBTQwhatever.

My husband wrote his essay on being an only child.

Which no admissions office ever cared about, ever. But I guess he had to say something.

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

I immediately thought it was a sneaky way for them to ask about race without directly asking about race, which it very obviously is.

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.

I have a disability, too, but I don't imagine for a moment that anyone cares about it, least of all a college admissions committee.

[Anonymous]

This is a nothingburger. Sure, a kid *could* write about their race or gender, but much more interesting probably would be about identifying as or experience with so many other things!

The only one in their family not into sports
Someone who's only lived in suburbia
Someone who's traveled a lot or not at all
A perfectionist
Someone who always felt people had low expectations for them
A victim of a crime
Afraid of heights
A dog person
A good cook
Got really lost somewhere
Someone others looked up to or down on
First in family to go to college
Midwesterner
New Yorker
Child of parent with an interesting job that affected their life
Rollercoaster fanatic
...

[Anonymous]

It’s obvious that there will be a huge market for high level education on-line that’s rigorous has tests in a proctored setting and accepts everybody but fails out stragglers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s obvious that there will be a huge market for high level education on-line that’s rigorous has tests in a proctored setting and accepts everybody but fails out stragglers.

Expect a fight. It will destroy the gouging and grifting Big Education Parasites.

[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?

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.

I'd write an essay about how I identify as the opposite of all of these things.

[Anonymous]

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.

People look at you and see "white" (and maybe athletic depending on your event / build)

Nothing else you listed can be seen by anyone. If they think any of those things they are prejudiced.

[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....

Then why do you want to go to those colleges?

Part of choosing a college is choosing a community to join. If you don't value diversity in your community, why would you want to join a community like Harvard that places a high value on it? There are plenty of colleges you can get into based on stats alone. Often they are less expensive. Why not go there?

dp.. because many of them provide the launching pad to great careers and high paying jobs.

If you're elite enough to be able to get into a school like Harvard, then you do have an identity whether you like it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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....

Then why do you want to go to those colleges?

Part of choosing a college is choosing a community to join. If you don't value diversity in your community, why would you want to join a community like Harvard that places a high value on it? There are plenty of colleges you can get into based on stats alone. Often they are less expensive. Why not go there?

dp.. because many of them provide the launching pad to great careers and high paying jobs.

If you're elite enough to be able to get into a school like Harvard, then you do have an identity whether you like it or not.

I can just see it now... "How being rich shaped me: It's hard being rich. I have to live up to my parents' expectations. But, if I don't, I'll at least have my trust fund to live off of. So, AO reading this essay, being rich shaped me to not have to worry about anything. Never really had to work for anything. My identity is wrapped in my parents' money."

[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?

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.

You could write about your identity as teacher, scientist, artist, craftsman, writer, big brother, etc. What led you to define yourself as you do today.

[Anonymous]

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

I am the poster who mentioned her disability (missing limb) earlier. In fact, I even said I hated that people reduce my story and experience to feeling like a victim or trauma or like I am scoring points by sharing my story. You're the sick one.