Is it too risky to talk about being gay?

College Essays
1

<p>I'm writing my personal statement for UC Berkeley's second prompt and I'm not quite sure what to write about.</p>

<p>I was thinking about writing something about being gay, it's something I know I could write pretty well about.. lots of passion and all that, but I'm wondering if I would receive some kind of discrimination because of it. </p>

<p>So right now I feel as if I'm choosing between:
1)A superior essay about being gay
2) An inferior essay that's not as risky</p>

<p>What should I do?</p>

2

<p>don't do it...everyone on here is going to tell you it'll be fine, but it won't. It's simply not worth the risk.</p>

3

<p>How do they feel about essays that explain lapses in your transcript?</p>

4

<p>definitely more beneficial than an 'I am gay, life has been so hard' essay!</p>

5

<p>I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything about my life being hard whatsoever. </p>

<p>That's fairly rude to imply that my life is a sob story, or that I would try to make it out as one, just because of my sexual orientation.</p>

6

<p>don't listen to what any of these guys are telling you. Sure its a pretty weird area to dabble in, considering how sensitive of an issue it is right now, especially in California. But if your experience has uniquely made you who you are today, write about it. Good luck, and i'd love to read it when you are done, send me a PM if you'd like.</p>

7

<p>Being gay isn't going to make any difference to Berkeley. The issue is writing a good essay.</p>

8

<p>Yeah, don't listen to some of these people. 1) Berkely is rather open-minded, so the topic will be fine. </p>

<p>I would say go for it if your essay can convey that you respect and ultimately would like to add to Berkley's diversity.</p>

9

<p>Don't use your essay to explain lapses in your transcript. If that is necessary, let your GC handle it or submit a supplemental statement. </p>

<p>Make your essay personal, detailed, honest and revealing about you, not about your transcript.</p>

10

<p>personally, I'm mentioning in several apps that I'm gay (especially in those 'why I want to attend this school' type of essays when I talk about the GLBTQ community). I look at it like, if they won't take me because of something like that, I don't want to go there anyway.</p>

11

<p>I have this book about how to write essays that will get you into the Ivy League. The book takes actual essays that real kids wrote, and ranks them with comment on why the good ones are good and why the bad ones sucked. The one that they thought was BEST was about a gay guy and the issues he dealt with, both good and bad, and how he was involved in the community by fighting for gay rights. His essay got him into Harvard. With that said, it's more about writing eloquently than about what you write about. I'm a brutal editor, PM it to me if you wish ;) Good luck!!</p>

12

<p>I agree with MissJoy...if they reject you for your essay topic, then you probably won't want to go there.</p>

13

<p>dramakitty i read the exact same book and was thinking the exact same thing!!! yes, writing about being gay can be good if you can write about it well. the person who got into harvard was an amazing writer, his details and descriptions were outstanding.</p>

14

<p>I am gonna write that I am gay. I wouldn't wanna go to places where there's a lot of homophobic people I heard that UC Berkley is a pretty liberal place, so I don't think that being gay's gonna hurt you By the way, what's the name of the college app book that has essay with topic about being gay in it? I would like to read that essay or just buy the book If you can write a strong essay, just keep up with the "gay" topic Why write bad essays on topics that you would not want to write about? I think the admission officers would want to see a person who really tries to reveal him/herself</p>