Does Being Transgender Give Me an Edge in Applying?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Hello,
I am FtM transgender and I am just wondering if this will at all give me an advantage in being accepted to MIT. I know colleges often accept students who they think will add to the diversity of the campus.

More specifically, how will clarifying my gender identity on my application compare to just checking “female” and moving on? I know that at tech institutes like MIT, female applicants tend to be favored in the acceptance process. With this in mind, would saying I am transgender be MORE advantageous than saying I am female?

Thanks.

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Are you arguing that your gender identity is determined by whatever you think will give you the biggest advantage?

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Hey guys! First post here. Been browsing the forums a while and finally decided to start posting.

@decetnoa I think that’s awesome how open you’re willing to be on your application. I applied for transfer admission to MIT for Spring '17 (two more weeks until I hear back…) and had to ask myself a similar question about how being a gay male might affect my application.

After thinking about it, talking to others about it, researching online, and even visiting MIT, My conclusion is that it doesn’t make any difference - as it shouldn’t. The question I asked myself and ultimately discussed a lot in my essays is how my sexuality was relevant in respect to my personal growth and why it made me a good fit at MIT.

Basically, when I came out at age 18, it did not turn out so great with my family. I had to support myself financially and work full time office jobs way beyond my years. I composed music to journalize/vent my feelings. I was more preoccupied with hanging out with friends to feel like I still “fit in” with others. 6 years later (I’m 24 now), I’m working at a CPA firm and my songs have been used for TV commercials/radio. The point I made was that my sexuality was like a curse for the first 22 years of my life, but it taught me how to thrive regardless of the circumstances - now I see it as one of my greatest gifts. I don’t have the time to re-summarize my entire essay, but it was because of this path that I found extreme passion in studying math and logic. In the end, it created a nice and succinct narrative about my life that 1.) told them who I was, 2.) talked about my passion, and 3.) demonstrated that I believe I’m a good fit at the school (through my geekiness, hard work, and intensity).

Has being a transgender FTM had any profound effect on your view of the world, or anything for that matter?
How do you think your gender identity might truly “add” to the diversity of the campus?

Obviously, I’m just a guy on the internet saying all these things, but those are questions I’d ask myself in applying to any college. The way I see it… these holistic applications offer an amazing opportunity to stamp your application with your own personality and life. The hard thing is making sure everything is relevant, otherwise it might come off to the admissions office as extraneous information. It’s just what makes sense to me… guess I’ll be able to tell you how that works out in a couple weeks! ha

@MITPhysicsAlum I think you may have the wrong idea about what OP is saying. On the application, sex assigned at birth is asked, so he will have to answer female. However, I’m guessing the OP feels that might diminish the complexity of his gender identity and how he ended up where he is now. On that note OP - don’t forget you have the essays and a personal statement. That leaves you a lot of room to tell them about how awesome you are!

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@MITPhysicsAlum Not at all. I’m definitely female-to-male transgender, but I don’t feel compelled to specify this on an application unless it gives me some kind of an advantage, which would have to be a more significant one than the edge I would get from being a female applicant to MIT.

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Being female doesn’t really give one an edge. There are fewer females applying but their GPAs and test scores are, on average, higher than the males applying. So, in the end, the GPAs and test scores for admitted males and admitted females are about the same. Can’t remember where I read this, but it was a while ago and don’t see any reason why the trend would be any different now.

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In reading a lot of acceptance threads the past few years I do think schools are trying to be more diverse in many ways beyond race. Just being “diverse” in some way though isn’t enough to be a hook. It seems to be the people who were potentially advantaged by being/disclosing something diverse about themselves were also ones who were doing something special to highlight that aspect of their life from volunteering to starting a club at their school to doing research or getting involved in their community/politics, etc.

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Certainly, acdchai, colleges look to admit high achievers. Some people have a lot of opportunities afforded to them, some not so many. It is those people who take advantage of the opportunities that get accepted and the ones (to me at least) who have a disadvantage and turn it around to make a positive.

So, to the OP; just stating that you are a transgender won’t seem to help in the admission process. What did you do and what kind of difference did you make in that community? If you didn’t do anything, then it won’t hurt your application, just won’t help either.

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@HPuck35 @acdchai Obviously, being of a certain demographic is never a substitute for a qualified profile, but the numbers do say that it does have an impact. Time Magazine reported just last year that acceptance rates at MIT are twice as much for females as they are for males. I’m only looking to know how the advantage of being a female applicant compares to that of being a transgender applicant, not to be told that being either one makes me a shoe-in for MIT. Thanks for your replies.

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If you are just pondering the demographics I would think that ethically you would need to put whatever sex you legally are on paper now as your sex if only given male and female as options. If your current legal sex does not match who you are then that should be included in the section they give to explain your demographics. MIT more than any other school seems to value precise honesty which I think is probably why they have the little section to explain. I’m not sure about including links on here but if you search through the admissions blogs there is at least one that talks about what if I have a complicated ethnicity situation (2011). If there is any chance they think you are trying to play the system vs being your authentic self you will have no chance at all.

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@acdchai Because schools are required to report admission statistics by birth sex, an applicant to MIT must put down his/her/their birth sex. However, the MIT application does offer an optional field allowing one to specify his/her/their gender identity (there are options from “trans man” to “other”).

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I couldn’t say whether it helps (my guess is probably not) but I can assure you it shouldn’t hurt, I revealed that I’m trans and pan on the app and got accepted (I figured the LGBTQ+ question on the app was simply to connect us with the proper support groups on campus once we get accepted).

Your view of admissions is skewed. Gender does not affect admissions decisions as much as you seem to think. The higher accept rate of females is due to fewer, but better scoring applicants as compared to males, not because of affirmative action. Whether you put trans or female on your app, there’s a 99% it will not change your admissions decision.

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@Helianthium Respectfully, do you have evidence that supports that female applicants really are more qualified than male applicants? MIT has always had less women than men apply, and somehow, no matter what the acceptance rate is for females, whether it is triple that of males like it was 10 years ago, or 2.2 times as much like it is now, it always allows MIT to spit out a roughly 1:1 gender ratio. You think that this is just coincidence? It is naive to think that a school does not take quotas into account during the admissions processes. Race, sexuality, gender, and region all play a role in getting accepted to college. It’s sad, but schools like to boast a diverse student body. Thanks for your reply.

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The answer to your question is: no.