Ask a Manager: Will having an anti-gay religious school on my resume hurt me?

[minoanmiss]

When I was an undergraduate student, I went to a religious school. They’ve been in the news for their anti-LGBTQ policies, including kicking someone out because they are gay and forcing an undergraduate student to go to conversion therapy. I obviously didn’t think about this when I was 18 applying for schools, and the school’s actions doesn’t reflect my beliefs. (For what it’s worth, I’m about five years removed from college.) Will this school hurt my chances of employment in the future?

It depends on the school and its reputation for academics. There are plenty of religiously affiliated schools with strong academic reputations (think Georgetown, Duke, Wake Forest, etc.). But there are a handful with terrible academic reputations because they’re known for anti-intellectualism and for valuing religious teaching over critical thinking (think Liberty University, Oral Roberts, etc.) From your description of events, it sounds like it’s probably the second category — in which case, yeah, it does risk being an issue. Employers can’t legally discriminate based on religion, but it happens anyway … and some will be skeptical of the quality of the education a school in the second category provided and/or will worry about how you’ll handle working with people different than you.

On your resume, lean into work accomplishments to outweigh that as much as you can, and make sure that in your interviews and cover letter you’re coming across as … well, the opposite of what people might be concerned about (so, for example, open-minded, inclusive, and rigorous in your thinking). If you happen to have done, say, volunteer work for racial justice or LGBTQ rights, including that kind of thing in a Community Service section of your resume could also help counter potential concerns.

Comments

Re: I'm more sympathetic to LW than you might expect

[jadelennox]

Aren't most private universities in the US technically church affiliated? So loosely that the students don't even know about it? I legit think it's almost ubiquitous.

I'd distinguish between good schools that really are still are more than a little affiliated (eh. Brigham Young, Boston College, Yeshiva, Notre Dame) and the ones that it's basically down to the founding story (nearly every other private non-profit university or college in America).

Re: I'm more sympathetic to LW than you might expect

[minoanmiss]

Yeah, most were church founded, but, frex, BYU is religion-controlled in a way that Yale no longer is. (BYU is also hella racist but that's a side discussion.)

Re: I'm more sympathetic to LW than you might expect

[shirou]

Right, that was my point. LW clearly isn’t talking about a university that maintains a loose church affiliation like Duke. A more useful response would have contrasted schools with a strong religious affiliation and strong academics (Notre Dame, Wheaton) with those that sacrifice academics in favor of pushing a religious ideology (Liberty).