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Gay going to colledge

Discussion in 'Coming Out Advice' started by metoo, Oct 16, 2012.

  1. metoo

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    If you come out in High School, could it effect your colledge education? For example, will teachers be less likely to write you a recomendation? or do colledges care you are gay? or do most colledges not know that you are gay until you have already enrolled?
     
  2. Chip

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    Many colleges actively recruit LGBT people for diversity. These days, unless you're going to a conservative religious school, I've never heard of it being considered a downside. And same with high school... unless you run into bigoted teachers, I would doubt that any teacher would be less likely to write you a recommendation because you're gay and out.
     
  3. Amicus

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    Unless the teacher has some ax to grind against gay people, your sexual orientation almost certainly will not affect their willingness to write you a letter. :thumbsup:

    Even if you are out in high school, it's highly unlikely that the colleges you apply to will know about your homosexuality unless you tell them so on your application. There's no Secret Counsel of Sexual Doom who hands admissions officers a list of people who have come out since the last admissions cycle :icon_wink As Chip said, if you do indicate that you're LGBT on your application, that might even help you since many schools try to actively promote diversity.

    Colleges typically like to track the demographics of their students, so they'll probably ask you about your sexual orientation on a survey once you've enrolled, but answering that will be at your discretion.
     
  4. NickD

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    Yeah, colleges are by and large pretty open minded, and high schools officially are supportive. It really comes down to the people, teachers, and advisers you interact with. And they better be LGBT sympathetic if they are in that sort of position. Socially, I just don't know. I repressed anything sexual about myself all through college (something I deeply regret).
     
  5. withoutApaddle

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    I don't think it is a checkbox on the application like white/black/hispanic. They're not going to know unless you tell them. And you don't have any reason to tell them. You don't need to tell the guy pumping gas into your car that you're gay either. It really isn't a factor.
     
  6. Caudex

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    There was a trans kid at my school who got into Stanford largely because of that, but that's a big thing. If you go up to a college rep for your interview and say, "Hey, I'm gay, so, you know, let me in?" they're not going to be really impressed.
     
  7. Gravity

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    To be honest, I don't know that a lot of college applications require letters from high school teachers, so that really shouldn't be an issue - and even if they do, as said above, most teachers will probably be just fine with it (it would certainly be unprofessional as heck for a teacher to dig at a student for their sexuality in a letter like that - and you would probably be able to spot the rare teacher who would do that from a mile away). If you're worried, try asking the teacher where they went to school - you could justify it by saying you want to make sure they went to a school similar to the one you're applying to, and if they answer with a school that makes you feel risky, then just don't ask for the letter.

    Colleges do encourage lgbt applicants, but unfortunately there's no way to really quantify it - the only thing you could do is self-identify in an essay, and as anybody could *say* that, there's no real way to make it count in the process. If you've worked on some lgbt-related project (a volunteer position, some community outreach, or group leadership), that would be best.

    And finally, yes, there are some religious schools that will actively discourage lgbt students from applying or advocating on campus. This will most often only be an active problem if you're getting a scholarship from the school though - there have been cases of students losing funding once their orientation became known to the wrong people. But for the most part, if you're following other rules, and you're paying your tuition ($_$), most schools won't push it (though you still won't have the campus groups and support that you would have at a public school).

    Hope this helps!
     
  8. spirithawk

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    Actually, this question is becoming more and more prevalent on college applications in various forms. My lastest community college application had a question along the lines of "(Optional) Do you identify as a member of the LGBT community?"
     
  9. metoo

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    Thanks, this really helped. Just another reason to come out in high school. There probably is no disadvantage, in fact there may be a small advantage. Thank you, a lot.
     
  10. metoo

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    Good news from my Chemestry teacher.

    Ok, so we were talking about double repalcement reactions, and she said that you couldn't put two anions together or two cations together. Then she said the easiest way to remember this was if the anions were guys and the cations were girls then the guys had to go with the girls, and there couldn't be two girls or two boys together.

    Then she added, at least for this, I don't care what you do out side of school.

    This made me think that she was OK with LGBT people, although she is very conservative. Since she is one of my favorite teachers, this is good news.
     
  11. AAASAS

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    They don't care if you are gay, but they care if you can read and write English properly. Even then if you have enough money it's all good.

    They are businesses that operate on a money generating platform(at least in the USA).

    I don't know about Southern States, but the North should generally be o.k. Just make sure you drop that D! And CAPITALIZE!
     
  12. metoo

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    Thanks, yeah it seems like in high school the other kids will influence you the most if you do come out. Not the teachers or the colledges.