Political Organizations in CV

[BCHistory]

I am a bit concerned that I put student political organization memberships in my CV. In college, I was the Executive Director of my campus's College Republicans group, and I also helped found an Intercollegiate Studies Institute chapter. I put them on my CV, but now I am afraid that admissions committee members may hold these against me. I know of the philosophical and political leanings of many humanities faculty. Will this hurt my admissions chances? I don't want programs to be wary of me and dismiss me because of my college opinions. But I also didn't want to leave them out of my CV because I did dedicate much time and effort to these groups, and to purge them from my apps would not only gut my CV but would also make me feel incredibly dishonest (to myself).

[jacib]

I am a bit concerned that I put student political organization memberships in my CV. In college, I was the Executive Director of my campus's College Republicans group, and I also helped found an Intercollegiate Studies Institute chapter. I put them on my CV, but now I am afraid that admissions committee members may hold these against me. I know of the philosophical and political leanings of many humanities faculty. Will this hurt my admissions chances? I don't want programs to be wary of me and dismiss me because of my college opinions. But I also didn't want to leave them out of my CV because I did dedicate much time and effort to these groups, and to purge them from my apps would not only gut my CV but would also make me feel incredibly dishonest (to myself).

Even as someone who generally finds mainsteam Democrats too conservative*, I'd say that the school would have to be pretty amoral, unethical pricks to hold that against you. The focus as always should be on the scholarship. The ethicist at the Urheimat of "liberal bias" had a pretty convincing piece about why you'd be morally wrong to not hire someone because of their politics. If your scholarship is obviously biased, well that will hurt your chances, but I don't think being in the Young Republicans makes you any more prone to bias than being in the Get-drunk-and-throw-a-frisbee-pseudo-hippies Club (in which I only participated for my first two years, though I am no hippie). I seriously can't imagine a committee consciously taking that as a negative. History, of all the humanities and social sciences, is probably the field that has the most conservative sympathies, outside of Economics and perhaps Political Science. Though I would be totally interested in hearing what other people think is the most conservative friendly field. Classics or philosophy, I could also imagine having a decent sized conservative cohort. I know some historians even actively lean towards the Republican party ideologically, like remember that guy who made up all those statistics about historical gun-ownership... (forgive me, I couldn't resist). In short, include it. It'll look good, and I would be shocked if it hurt your chances.

*For a while, if you googled my name you could find me as a member of "Young Greens" but I think that website has since been taken down. You can still find me quoted in some fucking Communist newspaper whose reporter did not identify his news organization when he interviewed me... (he indicated that the article was for a journalism class).

Edited December 23, 2009 by jacib

[cooperstreet]

I am a bit concerned that I put student political organization memberships in my CV. In college, I was the Executive Director of my campus's College Republicans group, and I also helped found an Intercollegiate Studies Institute chapter. I put them on my CV, but now I am afraid that admissions committee members may hold these against me. I know of the philosophical and political leanings of many humanities faculty. Will this hurt my admissions chances? I don't want programs to be wary of me and dismiss me because of my college opinions. But I also didn't want to leave them out of my CV because I did dedicate much time and effort to these groups, and to purge them from my apps would not only gut my CV but would also make me feel incredibly dishonest (to myself).

What BCEmory said. You're scholarship is what matters, althought the quality of judgment one would have to actively work for Republicans might also hinder their ability to create greate scholarship. I kid, of course.

What field are you applying for?

[fred987]

I've heard mixed reviews about this from faculty. Generally speaking, they don't include any personal contributions to political parties in their CVs, though they too may have dedicated significant amount of time to the organizations. My girlfriend had a similar problem, but with liberal organizations, she kept it out of her CV but spoke about the leadership skills that she developed from her work with "political organizations on and off campus" and how it contributed to her success in other ventures. She also used the club advisor, who was also a professor of hers, as a reference. My point being, thought we like to think that they will look beyond that we cannot know for certain, and at the end of the day its up to you. However, there are ways you can include it without straight out writing it on your CV.

[poli90]

This problem was tough for me to get around, as I spent the last two years working for a major Canadian political party. In the end, I left them out of my personal statement but included it in my CV - I really don't think they will care. On the other hand, I am applying to a fairly left-leaning field and worked for a left-wing party.

[Sparky]

It's a little different for a specific student organization than a campaign, I guess, but FWIW: I worked part-time (15-20 hrs/wk) on presidential campaigns in both 2004 and 2008, and the advice I received with respect to my CV/list of activities was to title them as simply "Political Campaign." But since the CRs are a national group, I'm not sure "Nationally-Known Student Political Organization" work really work well.

But I don't think you should worry about it hurting you for admissions. I mean, unless your personal statement consists of "I LUV GLENN BECK AND HE IS GOING TO SINGLEHANDEDLY SAVE AMERICA!!!11! MY GOAL IS FOR ALL MY FUTURE STUDENTS TO BE JUST LIKE HIM!"...

Although then, the profs would be questioning your sanity rather than your politics.

[BCHistory]

It's a little different for a specific student organization than a campaign, I guess, but FWIW: I worked part-time (15-20 hrs/wk) on presidential campaigns in both 2004 and 2008, and the advice I received with respect to my CV/list of activities was to title them as simply "Political Campaign." But since the CRs are a national group, I'm not sure "Nationally-Known Student Political Organization" work really work well.

But I don't think you should worry about it hurting you for admissions. I mean, unless your personal statement consists of "I LUV GLENN BECK AND HE IS GOING TO SINGLEHANDEDLY SAVE AMERICA!!!11! MY GOAL IS FOR ALL MY FUTURE STUDENTS TO BE JUST LIKE HIM!"...

Although then, the profs would be questioning your sanity rather than your politics.

Hahaha! Yeah, for political campaigns on which I worked, I used generic labels. The thing is, my (former) political affiliation has nothing at all to do with my plan of study in graduate school, but I didn't want to just leave CRs out of my CV completely, considering I held multiple offices in the organization.

[swisnieski]

I don't know if it will be held against you, but I don't think it's a wise idea to include extracurricular activities in your CV at all unless it relates directly to your field of study. It seems like filler to me.