Hi,
I know this is going to sound bad, but because I know that colleges are big on diversity, I was wondering if is beneficial to say you’re gay on applications. I dont have it in any essays currently, but if it would be helpful then I would find a place to include it. I talk more about my morals and values in my essays, so I havnt found a way to include it nor did I know if it would be beneficial or hurtful to my application. Im applying to universities such as Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, USC, etc.
Thanks!
It would not be helpful (or hurtful unless you are applying to an ultra-religious college such as Liberty U) to say you are gay – quite frankly these days it is not that unusual. So if you want to mention that you are gay and it works into your essay easily that is fine, but there is no reason to force it in thinking it will give you a “boost” in the admissions process.
Ok thank you so much! Ya ive heard from other people that it would give you a leg up in highly competitive schools but I just wanted to check.
I just thought the more diversity you show the better, as I am a Caucasian male
Anyone else have suggestions?
Neither helpful nor harmful. A gratuitous mention is a waste of precious application space.
When I read the title of your post my reflexive reaction was ‘please, no, not another student who wants to write about their sexuality’! No, there is no boost to being gay, and no, colleges don’t see it as adding ‘diversity’. You would be surprised just how uninterested in student’s sexuality adcomms really are (barring schools such as Liberty, BYU, etc).
Fwiw, imo it would take some doing for an essay on “morals and values” to grab my attention if I was the acdomm reader assigned. Doable, of course- but not an easy one to make interesting, never mind compelling. As @allyphoe said, your application space is a valuable real estate, and you want to get the most out of it. You want the reader - who will spend maybe as little as 7 minutes reading your whole application- to say ‘oh yes, this is one we really want’.
Trust me when I tell you that these colleges have no shortage of LGBTQIA applicants. It will not give you a leg up.
Additionally, and IMO, a person who feels that being gay is central to his/her identity and important enough to tell colleges about it would not have created a duplicate account to ask this question. That explains the “banned” banner now placed on your avatar.But since the question might be helpful to others, I’m keeping the thread open.
Nobody cares any longer if someone is LGBTQ and honestly very few ever did care what people do behind closed doors.
@skyy0211 - I think people who are reacting negatively to your post are put-off by its explicit cynicism, which is a tip-off that AOs will be equally put-off by any attempt to “use” your sexuality to improve your admissions chances. So I agree with everything that is posted above, although I understand you are no different from most of the students on CC who are equally worried about getting into their favorite colleges, and are seeking advantage wherever they can find it.
That said, if you have an experience that shows that you took a meaningful, brave, leadership, position around the issue of LGBTQIA rights, that will matter to AOs. Best of luck.
My kid incorporated his identity into his essay, but in context with the intellectual pathways that opened up because of it.
He used it as an into to why his fascination and identification with (Famous Gay Figure) lead him to (Intellectual Passion).
If your sexuality or gender identity is the only thing interesting about you it won’t be enough. But if it’s an insight into other interesting things then I think that it’s useful to include. The professional AOs on this board will probably correct me, but that’s my opinion.
Some apparently do, whether it is not wanting to make a wedding cake for L/G people or wanting to tell T people what bathroom to use or wanting to define T people out of existence.
Then why were *Loving v. Virginia , * Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges needed?
It is an overused gimmick–
@Center - Let’s be civil. The OP has already been criticized above for writing his question in a thoughtless, callow, way. But other queer students may open this thread, hoping for some guidance about how to write to colleges about their experiences as LGBTQIA students (see @ninakatarina’s helpful post above), and we shouldn’t make it harder for them to ask for advice on CC, as @skieurope thoughtfully said above.