<p>Obviously, underrepresented minorities have a greater chance at college admission.
I know some schools (like UPenn) are starting to factor homosexuals into affirmative action.
I doubt there are any publications released by the respective schools, but based on what you know, what effects (if any) would mentioning my sexuality have for the following schools:</p>
<p>University of Texas - Austin - Austin is VERY liberal
University of Chicago
University of California - Berkeley - Berkeley is liberal, but I heard that the campus isn't?
Rice University</p>
<p>I’m going to go out on a limb by saying that the entering class of whatever year UPenn announces that it’ll consider gays in its AA policy will be 100% gay.</p>
<p>Hey, I wasn’t gay before, but if it’s what UPenn wants, then why not?</p>
<p>antonioray - I understand the ethical dilemma, but please don’t. I am gay, although not a flamer, so I hope the interviewer(s) have good gaydar.</p>
<p>You make good points, but I’ve read (on some online newspapers) that schools are genuinely trying to get more gay students at their schools. I guess there’s no way to really prove sexuality, the interviewer would just have to use his/her best judgement. It’s a difficult situation.</p>
<p>Also, I’m pretty sure schools like UT-Austin, UCB and maybe even Rice don’t administer it.</p>
<p>And interviewers don’t head into an interview expecting gay mannerisms. To sufficiently demonstrate your sexual orientation would require some effort, and I would think it would be a bad thing to show your interviewer that you’re desperate for anythiing that might tip the scales in your favor.</p>
<p>I think you should only mention it if it’s an aspect of some EC/activism thing you’ve done. For example, if your president of the Gay/Straight Alliance at your school you’d probably mention it.</p>
<p>But to just put “hey, I’m gay” randomly and with no supporting details or apparent reason would seem very odd.</p>
<p>also, a few of my gay friends don’t act in a stereotypically gay manner. They just act like themselves. They don’t dress differently from my straight friends or have higher voices (two of them sing the bass part in choir) or listen to different music or anything different than their straight counterparts, other than being attracted to males.</p>
<p>LGBT folk are generally overrepresented at top schools if anything.</p>
<p>Randomly mentioning it will probably just get you eyerolls from the adcoms. You think no one’s tried this before? I sincerely doubt you’re the first. You could make it the subject of your essay–I know a kid who did just that–but it’s a cliched topic. There are a lot of potential pitfalls, and it’s a careful balance to avoid them all. [shrug] It’s your choice.</p>
<p>“I know some schools (like UPenn) are starting to factor homosexuals into affirmative action.”</p>
<p>I haven’t seen any evidence of this. I have seen that some schools like Penn are trying to connect accepted gay students with current students who are gay so the accepted students can learn that the college is a comfortable environment for gays. The colleges don’t want to lose excellent prospective students because the students feel that the campus environment wouldn’t be welcoming to them.</p>
<p>That’s not the same as a college’s wanting to increase the proportion of gays in its student body.</p>
<p>I mentioned it in my application only because I did stuff with the community, like, I’m the president of my school’s GSA and got it reinstated and such. I think that if you think it is something that is really a pert of you, go for it.</p>
<p>Emphasis again on what Northstarmom said: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE that UPenn is actively making preferences to gay-lesbian identified students in the decision process – it’s an effort by them to court those accepted students who say they’re gay with extra effort – not as a means to decide whom to accept.</p>
<p>One shouldn’t infer that this is affirmative action for LGBT students.</p>
<p>Finally: the conventionally accepted definition of a “hook” is an attribute that a college MUST HAVE. Sexual preference isn’t one of them – so gay/straight is inconsequential as there’s no shortage of either group in the applicant pool</p>
<p>Although being gay isn’t a hook, and just mentioning it in passing probably won’t help or hurt, I would argue that being ‘out’ in some communities requires exceptional courage. If your community/family/church is one in which being ‘out’ has required you to demonstrate characteristics that schools are seeking-like leadership, independence, grace under pressure-then you should talk about it. If you are coming from a community where being gay is pretty much like having blue eyes, I think it’s probably does not provide any useful insight to who you are.</p>
<p>M’s Mom and Rosabelle are right. The schools that care about diversity and ECs are impressed by gay students who the types of things that M’s Mom and rosabelle described. Just being gay, however, won’t make your stand out for those type of schools.</p>
<p>I grew up gay in a Muslim country, around very conservative people and I wrote about it as my main essay. It wasn’t to showboat or anything, I really wanted to write about it and I thought it’d be an interesting fact.</p>
<p>And while I wasn’t admitted, I was waitlisted at three top LACs and I’m pretty sure it was that essay that kept me from being rejected. </p>
<p>Its not so much a hook as something you had to overcome if you grew up facing discrimination etc., and colleges like that, I think, when they see you succeeded despite facing some difficulties in life. So I think being gay in unsupportive communities is pretty much equal to stuff like having your parents go through a divorce or something in terms of college admissions.</p>
<p>Only mention it if it has had some impact on your life or changed your life somehow. Someone like gapyear had it much rougher than someone like myself who grew up in a very liberal, open household. I don’t think I mentioned it at all on any of my apps because honestly it was not a big deal. However, one of my friends grew up in a very conservative, Catholic household and had to hide his sexual orientation until he came to college. Every time he accidentally showed a glimmer of his true self, his uncle would beat him. He had every right to mention it in his apps because it literally changed the course of his life. </p>