Including gender identity and sexuality topics in your college or higher education application essays is a complex decision that can significantly shape how admissions teams perceive an applicant.
While writing about these themes can offer insights into your resilience, empathy, perspectives, and unique personality traits, they can also present challenges, especially if not carefully tied to your academic and professional goals. This article explores the pros and cons to help you make an informed decision.
Pros of Writing About Gender Identity and Sexuality
1. Highlighting Personal Growth and Resilience
Navigating gender identity or sexual orientation can be a deeply personal and transformative journey. Sharing your experiences can demonstrate your maturity and self-awareness. If you’re a student who has struggled with acceptance, both self and social, you may find that sharing this information showcases your perseverance and the ways these experiences have equipped you to face future challenges.
Case Study Example: A male to female transgender applicant to UC Berkeley wrote about her coming out journey. Through her essay, she highlighted both the challenges and joys of finding acceptance within her community, illustrating the determination and empathy she developed along the way. By tying these experiences to her goals of advancing inclusivity through psychology, she effectively demonstrated how her gender identity had contributed to her commitment to social justice.
2. Building Connections with Like-minded Institutions Some institutions openly value diversity and appreciate applicants who are willing to contribute to a more inclusive campus environment. Schools that emphasize equity, social justice, and mental health awareness may view stories related to gender identity and sexuality as valuable to building a supportive community.
According to Lee Coffin, Dean of Admissions at Dartmouth, institutions value "the storytelling of identity when it's part of a student’s lived experience." If an applicant’s chosen school has indicated support for the LGBTQ+ community, sharing an experience related to gender identity or sexuality can help highlight alignment with the institution's values.
3. Showcasing Your Authenticity
Admissions teams value genuine voices in applications. Writing authentically about your gender or sexual identity—when it is deeply relevant—can make your application memorable to the reader. By connecting your personal experiences to core values like empathy and compassion and commitments to community service, you can reveal significant aspects of your character that GPAs alone cannot show.
Cons of Writing About Gender Identity and Sexuality
1. Potential for Perceived Tokenism
When not specifically tied in with areas related to academic and professional goals or contributions to the campus community, essays that solely focus on your gender or sexual identity can seem tokenistic. Admissions committees could view your essay as a superficial attempt to stand out, which can detract from your legitimate eligibility and credibility.
A Georgetown University admissions counselor cautioned applicants against "discussing identity in a way that feels inauthentic or designed to outsmart the process." If identity is only mentioned to gain a perceived admissions advantage, it can reduce your essay’s overall impact.
2. Risk of Bias or Unintended Reactions
In an ideal world, admissions teams are supposed to aim for impartiality. Yet essays addressing sensitive topics like sexuality and gender identity may inadvertently produce bias. Be prepared for the possibility of a negative outcome, especially if you focus your essay heavily on these aspects without tying them to your academic interests or goals. There’s a risk that application reviewers may see you as one-dimensional. Moreover, conservative institutions may find that your essay clashes with mainstream school culture.
3. Risk of Overshadowing Academic Goals
Admissions essays that highlight personal identity without linking it to academic or career goals can leave the impression that you lack focus. If your essay gets bogged down in the details of your personal struggles related to identity and addresses less about how those experiences shaped your educational or professional aspirations, admissions teams could find it difficult to assess how your application aligns with the school’s programs.
Take this example: A student applied to a competitive science program, but their essay primarily discussed their experiences coming out. Admissions feedback noted that while the essay showed resilience, it didn’t explain how the applicant’s identity tied into their ambitions in STEM, which weakened their application’s overall impact.
4. Post-Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action
Recent Supreme Court rulings have limited how admissions teams can consider race and, by extension, other aspects of identity. This means that merely mentioning gender identity or sexuality without connecting it to core character traits or contributions to campus could result in these details being overlooked in the holistic review process.
Balancing Authenticity with Strategy
If you choose to write about your gender or sexual identity, ensure the points align with your broader story.
Here are some strategic tips:
1. Tie your story to core values:
Connect your identity to neutral personal attributes such as resilience, empathy, or leadership. Show how your experiences with gender or sexual orientation shaped these qualities and prepared you for academic success.
2. Link your story to your goals: If your identity has influenced your career aspirations or academic interests, explain this connection. For instance, an applicant with a passion for working with youth might describe how their personal experiences drive their commitment to becoming a social worker in the LGBTQ+ youth community.
3. Be mindful of the institution’s culture First, remember that your primary goal is to get into the school of your choice. You might decide to hold off on discussing certain personal details of your gender or sexual identity until you have been accepted as a student. Consider whether the institution openly supports LGBTQ+ initiatives. 4. Avoid overemphasis:
Make sure your identity does not overshadow other important aspects of your profile. An impactful essay is one that creates a balanced, well-rounded portrait of your character and ambitions.
Deciding to include gender identity or sexuality in your college essay can add depth but should be approached thoughtfully. Consider whether the issue is essential to your story and whether it ties meaningfully to your academic goals and personal development. Each applicant is unique, and while some may benefit from raising these topics in admissions essays, others might achieve more impact by highlighting other attributes. By making an intentional choice, you’ll submit an essay that authentically represents you and have no regrets, regardless of the outcome.
Good luck!
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