<p>is it a good idea to mention that you were the president of GSA on the application. My friends advised me not to as Harvard's ADMISSION PEOPLE (not the students) still supposedly tend to be conservative.</p>
<p>I am not concerned about homophobia on campus because Harvard seems to be pretty liberal, and it is in Cambridge, and Boston has one of the best gay life in the country...so partying ain't a problem :)</p>
<p>also, is using a fee waiver a bad idea for your application.</p>
<p>Yes, put it on. I think they'll look highly on that; shows leadership, and it's a unique position that probably isn't common among people applying to Harvard. And plenty gay students get into Harvard, I wouldn't worry about that.</p>
<p>I believe that Harvard is need-blind and that waiving your fee won't affect your admissions, but I'll defer to the more knowledgeable people on that.</p>
<p>I put it on my application and wrote one of my essays about coming out and was accepted.</p>
<p>Also, if you've got a fee waiver, use it!</p>
<p>Put it on. Why not?</p>
<p>...is it just me or is there a sudden explosion of "gay topics" in these forums?</p>
<p>yes corranged haha</p>
<p>LOL, I wrote an essay about comming out and getting kicked out... got deferred. Again, shows you that these people are just strange and picky.</p>
<p>Well, I don't think anyone said that being gay is the Harvard auto-admit factor :p</p>
<p>It would be awesome, though. I mean, just think about the party factor.</p>
<p>screw you anonyomous and your ass-raming faggit club...what a queer for GSA you're a tool!</p>
<p>Harvard is a liberal institution and virtually all of its adcoms are Harvard graduations, who tend to be liberal and also have great interest in creating a freshman class that is extremely diverse in all meanings of the word "diverse."</p>
<p>WOHOO!</p>
<p>RAINBOW POWER.</p>
<p>xo. tri</p>
<p>guys, thank you so much for the replies</p>
<p>i don't plan on joining GLBT things or even be out on campus, also there is no mention of my sexuality anywhere else...so I wasn't sure if just dropping GSA president there was a good idea. However, it seems to be unanimous that putting it can help and not hurt :)</p>
<p>on the other hand, do interviewers get our application? I do not feel comfortable/confident discussing my sexuality with someone face to face (i am still totally in the closet), and it would be very awkward for me if the interviewer saw my list of ECs from the app and decided to talk about my sexuality and what not</p>
<p>guys you have assuaged so many of my fears, thanks a lot!!!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
even be out on campus
[/quote]
I sincerely hope that you change your mind on this one. College is an ideal time to come out, and if you become involved in an lgbt organization you will have an automatic support system. Anyway, if you do not plan to be out in college, then when?</p>
<p>Anyway, I do not think that interviewers are given applications. It is very likely, though, that your interviewer will ask you about your activities. You can say that you are the president of the GSA without disclosing your sexual orientation. I doubt that someone interviewing a 17 year old would ask directly: "Are you gay?" You can omit it, though, if it would make you feel more comfortable. Being closeted sucks. I am so happy I left that club. :)</p>
<p>haha.
No your interviewer won't really know anything about your application cept your name and contact info.
My interviewer never outright asked me if I was gay (I would be appalled if one did), but it was pretty obvious by some of the things we discussed and my ECs. It was not uncomfortable by any means. I hope you have a similar experience with your interviewer.</p>
<p>"i don't plan on joining GLBT things or even be out on campus,"</p>
<p>I agree with corranged. If one selects a liberal college like Harvard, it is the ideal place to come out. Heck, the chaplain at Harvard, Peter Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, even is gay. See: <a href="http://www.cyberpsych.org/homophobia/noframes/gomes.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.cyberpsych.org/homophobia/noframes/gomes.htm</a></p>
<p>A Harvard grad who is a former Cambridge mayor, Kenneth Reeves, also is gay and out, and was out when he ran for mayor. His partner of more than 30 years has been his former college roommate. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/brotheroutsider/reeves.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/brotheroutsider/reeves.html</a></p>
<p>By being out and joining gay organizations (among other types of organizations), you'll make lifelong friends, who know and love the real you. They will be wonderful supports for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>To show how liberal Harvard is, my class had two males who, years after graduation, became females. They not only wrote about their experiences in our class reports that are sent out every 5 years, but also at least one also served on a panel when we had our 25th reunion. I think that the panel's subject was "midlife crises." Those transexual classmates were welcomed just as everyone else was.</p>
<p>In considering other colleges to apply to, also consider Wesleyan, which is very gay friendly and also has some faculty members who are gay and out.</p>
<p>Check out this article, which has more about Kenneth Reeves and the gay atmosphere in Cambridge:<a href="http://www.pridesource.com/print.shtml?article=6434%5B/url%5D">http://www.pridesource.com/print.shtml?article=6434</a></p>
<p>As of 2004, there were 2 openly gay members of the Cambridge city council.</p>
<p>Since I'm gay and from MA, I am familiar with Kenneth Reeves, but I did not know his partner was his old college roommate! That is quite a wonderful tidbit of information.</p>
<p>Harvard does seem to be more progressive with regards to queer issues than other high-caliber schools. Also, thank you for sharing that anecdote about your transexual classmates. As an occassional crossdresser, I am continually impressed and encouraged with the way Harvard deals with transgender issues. </p>
<p>Anonymous, here is the website of Harvard's queer organization, if you want to take a look: <a href="http://hcs.harvard.edu/%7Equeer/%5B/url%5D">http://hcs.harvard.edu/~queer/</a></p>