University Application Personal Statement dilemma - Should I mention my jw past?

by will-be-apostate 38 Replies latest jw friends

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  will-be-apostate

  I am applying to chemical engineering course in the UK through UCAS (a lot of things changed since I've posted last time).

  I have a lot of skills I developed while regular pioneering, like public speaking skills, ability to reason (even if it's bs), presentational skills etc.

  I feel it would boost my personal statement a lot, but I'm also afraid they would say "this guy beleives in god, and loves science, he must be creationist. away with him".

  How could I mention that I gave interviews front of thousands of people and did voluntary work in my hometown without giving a bad impression?

  I don't want to go into details and start explaining myself that "however I don't beleive in god", or something like that. What did you do in a situation like this where you could use your jw past in your advantage?

  Any thought would be appreciated.
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  sir82

  Can you phrase it vaguely?

  "I was involved in volunteer work, which at times meant speaking to large groups of people, etc. etc."
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  Simon

  Better to be honest - if someone wants details you can say "I was brought up as ..." and show that it's something you are capable of and provided a skill even if you don't follow it now.

  If you try to lie you may be obvious and that would be worse than the reason for it (to them).
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  talesin

  You can categorize this as part of your volunteering on your CV or personal statement, and skills learned via that volunteer work. And that is being honest, because it was truly volunteer work.

  xx, and hey, good luck, and enjoy the math! Love math *big grin*

  tal
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  will-be-apostate

  @sir82: I think they'd expect a little more detail on that. I phrased it like this:

  I participated in conventions of the church that my family belongs to where I gave interviews about self development, time management etc.

  It doesn't have to sound too formal either. What do you think?

  Simon, the problem is they won't ask me for details. They either accept or decline my application, and because of the great amount of equally qualified applicants, they take personal statements seriously, that's why I'm not sure.

  Although the fact that I mention words like "self development", "time management" (i truly talked about these things) should clarify that the emphasis is not on the faith.
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  will-be-apostate

  Talesin, I think that's a good idea. I could mention that it was more about being social rather than being religious.

  Any other suggestions?
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  breakfast of champions

  I put my JW experience in my essay: public speaking, leadership role, volunteering. . . That's all they care about.

  Got my #1 pick first try.
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  will-be-apostate

  @breakfast of champions: but how did you phrase it and what course were you applying for? did you actually mention that you were jw's or did you referred as "my church", "i volunteered at a local church" ?
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  rmt1

  Here's my "any thought", worth less than a widow mite. I started in on a Chemical Engineering degree and discovered I did not have sufficient real math preparation, yet I wanted a degree as feasibly soon as possible to have a discriminator between my present then self and the former JW self I was trying to escape. So, I first fell back to an English degree. One of the talks by graduates said they started out at $60,000 (22 year old) and they basically got by with draconian discipline during the week, and party only, if ever, on the weekend. That, plus the axiom that Chemical Engineering is particularly difficult because of the trifecta, 'hard, boring and dangerous'.

  So- succeeding in that degree is going to take terms like "tenacity", "persistence", "perseverance", "attention to detail", "clarity in communication", excellent technical writing, ability to follow safety procedures to the letter. Public speaking and public presentation comes up in every degree, so mention it in the tenor 'but, of course', and don't pretend like it's unusually significant. Too many non-JWs do too much volunteer work, as well, for it to mean anything special. Mention it as, 'but, of course'. Convert all JW word bombs (free advertising for them) into vanilla plain "church". You are now graduated from JW-land and entitled to voice the fact that it WAS a church.
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  gingerbread

  You are facing the personal dilemma that many of us that were raised in deal with (or not) - wearing multiple "masks", being careful to only reveal parts of our personality, seeing our job and our 'life' as separate entities, learning not to be 'ourself' around 'worldly' family/schoolmates/workmates/neighbors etc.

  You're struggling with honesty - because we are trained as JW's to be dishonest.

  This probably won't help you with your immediate situation - but it's something to think about it as you continue your exit.

  ginger