Will ISIS attacks hurt my PhD application as a Muslim? I'm a dedicated person, very passionate about physics and pursuing my PhD at a good school is crucial to my life. I've been preparing my application documents for a while now. GPA is almost 4 and Physics GRE is 980. My general GRE is at the 97 percentile. Good recommendation letters. I have other few decent ranks since high school as well. HOWEVER, I'm from the Middle East, and yes, my name is Mohammed. I can feel how the world is infuriated about the Islamic community in general, though the vast majority of Muslims are vulnerable to (and on daily basis thousands are already subjected to) similar attacks from ISIS. The majority of us, including myself, are terrified by ISIS, sorry for and mortified by these attacks by ISIS.

My question: Will these events perhaps hurt my application? If you were to decide on my application on the admission committee, how would my citizenship, religion and name affect your decision?

So grateful for any attempt to help. In fact, I'm sort of developing anxiety due to this issue.



EDIT: For those wondering, I'm applying only for universities in the USA.
Will ISIS attacks hurt my PhD application as a Muslim?


Only indirectly.

Admissions committees have good incentive to get the sharpest, most hard working people into their programs. They will care about your excellent results, as they should.

But administrative procedures may hinder people coming from your part of the world more than other applicants. I am basing this on my experience of being a Serb who wanted to study at Western universities, while Serbia was screwing up royally on the political scene, waging wars and making enemies everywhere. Sanctions made it difficult to travel. A friend of mine was denied a visa even after being admitted into an academic program and obtaining funding. Tuition was more expensive for us (to study in the EU), but far less funding was available. Even though I obtained a scholarship that covered the tuition, it was paid to me in monthly installments while the university insisted that I (as opposed to EU students) pay the entire tuition up front. Nobody could employ me without massive administrative hassle, meaning I couldn't just work at a bar a few hours a week if I needed some extra cash. Phone companies would not let me have a contract with them, limiting me to expensive, pre-paid phone cards. And on and on the list goes. 

So yes, I think your chances will be smaller, but not because of admissions committees within any given university. It could happen that academic staff are not sufficiently aware of the additional hurdles you're facing, though. On the other side of the equation, professors from your side of the world might be less experienced at writing recommendation letters, for example. So a number of small obstacles will accumulate, many of them stemming from recent and current world politics.

And my heart goes out to you. It sucks to be vilified by outsiders for things people you don't identify with are doing.