I kind of want to write about an experience which helped me discover I was bi. But I was wondering would that lower my chances of getting in? Would officials read and think it’s just cheap? Do they get a lot of sexuality-related essays?
Thank you in advance.
Disclosing your sexuality would not help or hurt your application (as long as you are not applying to any ultra-conservative Christian colleges or something like that). Discovering one’s sexuality is not an uncommon theme – the important thing will be how you write it and what your story shows about you as a person (ex. personal growth, strength etc.). You want to use the essay to tell admissions officers something about you not found elsewhere in the application that will make them want to have you on campus. Try to outline the essay and see how it turns out.
I applied to 4 Catholic/Jesuit schools (Boston College, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, and Fordham) with an essay discussing how I felt ostracized by the Catholic Church for being gay and was accepted to all of them except for Santa Clara where I was waitlisted. As long as you handle the subject carefully and you carry yourself with pride, you will be okay.
They do get quite a few essays along those lines these days. Have you checked out the tips at the top of this forum?
I personally don’t think you should write about that at all. I’ve sat in rooms with college essay readers, and not only are stories about one’s identity (as in things we were born with or solely talking about our parent’s struggle or whatnot) have been overdone (immigrant stories that are generic) and are actually a bit awkward to read because its really personal. I suggest speaking about a passion, or an interesting experience. I wrote bout my childhood in a developing country and how it developed the way i learn and my creative mind (i was playing with trees and rocks!) I heard about a kid writing about him and his dad messing around with old computers. Write about something spectacular but not still down to earth. Best advice, it better to write about outside things that have molded your character than about your internal development as a person.
I don’t understand why sexuality has anything to do with your success in college or life in general. I’d find something more interesting to write about that shows what you are interested in doing from a professional or volunteer perspective. If your sexual orientation plays into that, it could be part of it, but otherwise, it’s just not something anybody would find interesting.
unless the story leads to a great “happy” ending no point writing about it…AOs will not find it very interesting as per comments above they get a lot of these…
This thread is yet another example of how much I’ve learned on cc. I think many lay people out there would still (wrongly) suppose an essay on one’s sexuality would be both daring and inique…the times, they have a’changed!
I agree with @elodyCOH. The point of this essay is not “true confessions.” It’s to give the college a reason to say yes to your application.
They don’t care about your sexuality. They’re interested in knowing what makes you a unique addition to their campus.
It all depends on how you spin it. If its along the lines of “I’m bisexual and I am/am not out” and is shallow, it would not be strong. However, if you analyze the impact your sexuality has had on your life and show critical thinking skills and the ability to produce independent thought, it can be strong.
^^ Wait, you just asked a similar question on another thread. So I’m going to go with the assumption that your experience with college application essays is somewhat limited.
Please, folks, as a general rule: Not all advice is created equal.
I would not do it unless there were a unique story/angle that shows something about yourself that no other story could reveal. At bottom, your sexuality is nothing more than who you are willing to have sex with. That is not an interesting factoid that can or should help you get into college. Again, the topic is not off limits per se, but it has real potential to be both boring and trite.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that sexuality is rather banal and overrated as a topic of discussion or essay topic. Human beings are vastly more complex than that. Do you really want to write about who you are attracted to and why? Imagine that you are heterosexual. Would you want to write about discovering this? It just sounds boring. Ad comms want to get a sense of your whole self, not just your sexual self.
Did your sexuality lead to combatting discrimination and changing a school’s policy? Did your sexuality bring you into contact with activist organizations and lead you to lobby your state government to change laws? Did you volunteer at a pride festival or parade and learn organizational skills? Did you run your school GLAAD and organize visibility days? Those are all good topics and not generic.
But “I am different from everyone in the world because I like girls/boys” does not really make you different from everyone else. There are a lot of out gay people in the world nowadays, it’s wonderful. “I am trans” does not make you interesting. “I am trans and I play the trombone and I love to build things and I love to stay up late to talk about quantum theory” - that’s a great essay.