PLEASE DELETE Forum

[Ahamilton]

too bad it doesnt

[redsox]

too bad it doesnt

[rendlelaw]

Yeah, yeah, I agree with all above posters.

I will say, however, that there was one of these online admissions seminars a couple months ago where a dean at a highly ranked school took issue with someone's application because the personal statement was all about helping people in need and the resume was full of conservative, trickle-down economics kind of institutions. The dean saw this as a discrepency. Any conservative worth their salt would say instead that it represented someone who believed in charity, just not government-mandatedm taxpayer-funded charity. It's really a fairly common political position, and I was surprised to see it cited as a red flag.

The position you describe is a common political position, yeah, but that app seems like hte opposite. A conservative would write a resume about the importance of trickle-down or his experience at those institutions, and quietly have his resume listing several charity activities or whatever. Not write a PS about wanting to help people and have no charity work on his resume.

I have a friend who is a Republican lobbyist and says the most outrageously offensive things on Facebook, then spends every Saturday at a charity he founded to tutor inner city elementary schoolchildren that he funds himself. It used to seem incongruous to me, but apparently it's not. That's the opposite, however, of proclaiming how much you want to help people and then having a resume full of nothing but macro things that arguably hurt people.

Yeah, just like this. The poor law school applicant (and the roughly half of the country that's conservative) didn't volunteer at the Heritage Foundation because they want to hurt people. Conservatives honestly and earnestly believe that supply-side economics and a smaller social safety net help people. I'm amazed sometimes at our inability to see things from another's perspective.
I see no reason why such a person would not see charity work as a fitting topic for a personal statement while keeping the resume more professional-oriented.
I don't think an anti-conservative bias is going to hurt you most of the time, but the dean's comments did shock me.

[ThinkNegative]

Kinda get the feeling it would be a mildly positive soft if your application is otherwise on point.

No, it doesn't matter at all one way or the other.

To clarify: it won't hurt, and to the extent that it makes you distinctive or interesting, could be a positive soft at a school that values ideological diversity and/or has luxury of making choices toward that end.

HTH.

Now if you're a GOP activist and have specific work experience with the party that sets you apart from other candidates, well then now those are softs that could have maybe the most minimal but relevant impact.

So basically the op's situation.

Great, thanks for contributing.

[HYSenberg]

Politics is all one big ass blast.

[tractal]

Honestly it is probably going to hurt you on the margins, at least in the sense that parallel liberal credentials would be more helpful. But all of this is happening on the 1/2 of an LSAT point scale, so you really shouldn't be worried about it. That said, if your resume is already fullish it might make sense to minimize your ideology by removing less significant roles. Internship with American Enterprise Institute: great, keep it on there. Volunteer coordinated for prolife America? Nix. And obviously you should avoid writing about your politics in your PS.

[phillywc]

Honestly it is probably going to hurt you on the margins, at least in the sense that parallel liberal credentials would be more helpful. But all of this is happening on the 1/2 of an LSAT point scale, so you really shouldn't be worried about it. That said, if your resume is already fullish it might make sense to minimize your ideology by removing less significant roles. Internship with American Enterprise Institute: great, keep it on there. Volunteer coordinated for prolife America? Nix. And obviously you should avoid writing about your politics in your PS.

Not even half an LSAT point.

[twenty]

If you want to avoid the same fate as them, you might want to consider writing an addendum explicitly stating that you are okay with blacks, gays, Hispanics, Asians, and liberals. You also might want to mention that although you're usually against any form of contraception, you're cool with coitus interruptus because it is strictly behavioral and you can say it in Latin, which makes you feel like a lawyer.

thoroughly under-appreciated post.

[jselson]

It's not going to hurt you unless you do some stupid apology for your beliefs in your PS, and it will help you if you want to get a clerkship after school, since there's a higher percentage of Republican federal judges than law students, and even the liberal judges are generally more willing to hire Republican clerks (or contra liberal students are less likely to want to work for Republican judges).

[PalmBay]

You'll be fine. You're probably like me, I'm also a conservative (not necessarily republican) and was a part of the NCR. I also happen to be a minority and there's nothing inconsistent with writing about helping people or diversity as a conservative.

1) If a school is going to deny you based on your principles, screw them. You don't want to go there anyways.
2) Again, this isn't going to happen, but even if they were super lib/prog, they'd probably want a crack at converting you rather than just denying you.

[John_rizzy_rawls]

To clarify: it won't hurt, and to the extent that it makes you distinctive or interesting, could be a positive soft at a school that values ideological diversity and/or has luxury of making choices toward that end.

HTH.

Now if you're a GOP activist and have specific work experience with the party that sets you apart from other candidates, well then now those are softs that could have maybe the most minimal but relevant impact.

So basically the op's situation.

Great, thanks for contributing.

He didn't ask if his work experience could be a negative or positive soft, he straight up asked of being a Republican could affect his cycle. The answer is no, not at all, not even a little bit, under any circumstances.

[ThinkNegative]

To clarify: it won't hurt, and to the extent that it makes you distinctive or interesting, could be a positive soft at a school that values ideological diversity and/or has luxury of making choices toward that end.

HTH.

Now if you're a GOP activist and have specific work experience with the party that sets you apart from other candidates, well then now those are softs that could have maybe the most minimal but relevant impact.

So basically the op's situation.

Great, thanks for contributing.

(passive-aggresively quotes someone for no reason to post contrary opinion)
(changes position to agree ... then splits hairs like it didn't happen)

Congrats, you made the troll hall of fame

[redsox]

So basically the op's situation.

Great, thanks for contributing.

(passive-aggresively quotes someone for no reason to post contrary opinion)
(changes position to agree ... then splits hairs like it didn't happen)

Congrats, you made the troll hall of fame

Quotes self and replies...to self.

[ThinkNegative]

So basically the op's situation.

Great, thanks for contributing.

(passive-aggresively quotes someone for no reason to post contrary opinion)
(changes position to agree ... then splits hairs like it didn't happen)

Congrats, you made the troll hall of fame

Quotes self and replies...to self.

lol.

nevertheless, OP is not going to tick a box that says "I am a Republican." He's going to present his life experience and extracurriculars, and is concerned that it'll hurt him because it shows he's a Republican.

[BigZuck]

It doesn't really matter. Just try not to be obnoxious and definitely don't provide any of your point of view in class. Just sit there silently and speak only when cold-called or if you have a legitimate clarifying question. None of your classmates care about what you have to say*

*applies to liberals as well as conservatives. And to everyone else.