If I get waitlisted at Harvard or Stanford should I send an LGBT Diversity statement? Interested to hear what everyone thinks, because I would start writing it soon, just in case...

What about for other individuals who may have something diverse about them they did not initially include in there app? Could it help at all to write a short statement after WL?

Can't think it would hurt. I'd send it along with a LOCI, of course. Something like "still interested, etc. I've enclosed an additional DS to indicate some of what I can contribute to the HLS/SLS community."

As an aside, Stanford refused to play BYU for a long time in football because of some of the LDS Church's policies regarding minority participation in the priesthood (minorities are now fully eligible for the priesthood and have been since the 1970s). Once the Church put out a little statement on same-sex marriage (opposing it, of course), the legendary Stanford band responded in style.

At their halftime show, the band was dressed in 19th century prairie-style attire and a guy took the microphone and said: "We believe marriage is between a man and a woman. And a woman. And a woman. And a woman. And a woman." All the while, these "multiple wives" started filing up to him.

Absolutely classic.......

I think that Mitt Romney used this line. I thought it was a original for him. Guess not.

I cant help but think, If I were an adcom, and a waitlisted student sent in a LGBT type diversity statement, that "hey we cant make them proove it, are they straight and trying to get off the waitlist"? "why didnt they send it originally"?

And why didnt you send it originally?

^^I agree, why don't you send it in BEFORE you get waitlisted?

Pretending to be gay to get off a waitlist would be hilarious. I have a hard time believing that has ever been done.

I'd love to try it....

Maybe not say you're gay, but imply you're curious and see what happens .

LoLz.

That's horrible.

Eh, my reasons for wanting to try it stem mostly from the fact that I'm curious what impact, if any, it'd have.

I don't really like it being a soft factor. I don't think someone's sexuality should help them any more than I think it should hurt them.

I know that's somewhat naive, because of social prejudices, but still.

Is GLBT even considered a URM?

No - but the concept of using it as a soft factor to increases ones chances of admissions irks me.

Like, can you imagine writing in some distant future, "I'm a straight heterosexual male, applying to San Diego. Let me in?" It just seems stupid. Of course, I'm not saying it wouldn't help to declare LGBT (it might), or that people shouldn't use it (you have to use the advantages you have), I just don't like the system.

It places priorities in the wrong place.

Just my $0.02.

lsac actually has videos about this.

and i think most adcomms will agree. lgbtq diversity statements are primarily for people who not only identity but who have done work about lgbtq issues or have faced adversity or who can do more than simply write a statement about how gay marriage should be legal. two people i know didnt come out on their apps because they felt it would be inappropriate considering they never did any lgbtq work, and have said that they never really faced adversity, etc. however, even that can be turned into an essay about an accepting community you may have been part of.

if you didnt come out originally on your app, or didnt mention it beyond checking off the appropriate box then i would shy away from such a statement. it might possibly help you but at the same time sexuality/gender shouldnt be used to increase your chances of admission if you didnt believe it was important enough to mention the first time round. maybe im wrong, im sure someone will disagree with me.

also, to the question about lying to get off the waitlist...law schools arent dumb - they probably do get suspicious when they see something like this come in without any mention of it on the regular app.

Well law schools seem to care a lot about undoing the discrimination African Americans receive; why not do the same for GLBT? Minorities do not have to participate in ethnicgroup-specific organizations to receive benefits--Why should LGBT have to? My career ambitions do not really involve advocating for gay rights--at least in the near term. Nevertheless, I will still face discrimination.



http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/St ... 501&page=2

I only checked the GLBT box on LSAC. I didn't write a DS or mention it anywhere in my app. I suppose I experienced adversity, getting booted onto the street at 17 by my religious nutcake family, but that was so long ago, and I focused my PS on overcoming the crappy start I had, and not on why it happened. I'm not sure if I took the right approach. I suppose I can submit a DS if I get waitlisted.

This is a pretty sensitive issue and I hope I don't step on any toes, but here goes:

As LGBT, you have a choice about whether to reveal that (at least for LGB, anyway). Presumably, you won't face discrimination unless you reveal it. Now, if you don't reveal because of social stigma, that is certainly a form of discrimination that you face, but it won't hurt you in the legal community. The only way you can be discriminated against is if you choose to come out.

I don't think you can give an admissions benefit to somebody who only comes out on their application: they don't have to face any discrimination that might be there, but get the same benefit as someone who does. On the other hand, African-Americans don't have any choice: their skin gives them away, and would-be discriminators can easily do so. In sum, I don't think there's any good justification for giving LGBT applicants a boost unless they're out of the closet, and I think some sort of involvement with LGBT groups is an imperfect, but reasonable proxy for that.

i dont disagree...reread my post. i never said there was no discrimination or about your future career. my comments were about your original app, if it had nothing there to begin with - no diversity statement, no clubs, no coursework, absolutely nothing that relates to lgbtq - then i would be careful with writing a diversity statement simply to get off the waitlist. it looks kind of like a ploy. im not commenting on whether it is or isn't a ploy, just what it looks like. i also dont think lgbtq makes much of a difference unless you clearly indicate from the start - ex. dont put your gender because you identity as gender queer, or have significant club experience/work experience to show how you relate to your sexual/gender identity.

secondly, i dont think you can compare discrimination against ethnic/racial URMs and lgbtq, especially when it comes to education. at all. even discrimination in the work place is different and needs to be addressed in a different way.

Being closeted is an effect of discrimination against GLBT people. Is this so hard to understand?

No - and I don't agree with that either.

Just saying.

Why do you THINK people are closeted?

Being closeted may well be a form of discrimination, but it's not discrimination in the realm of legal study or employment, and thus no affirmative action is necessary in that area. It is not the job of law schools to offer random benefits to groups that have been harmed by social mores: it is the job of law schools to offer affirmative action to admit applicants whose circumstances make them likely targets of discrimination in the legal profession or legal education, and who are severely underrepresented.

Even if LGBT are underrepresented in the legal field, offering affirmative action to a closeted LGBT does NOTHING to change that. For all we know and for all any client or employer could know, this is just another straight guy.......

KN, you're asking for reparations in an unrelated field for discrimination that may or may not have been happening elsewhere. You might as well ask for an admissions boost for liberals who have to keep their mouths shut in rural Oklahoma.....we simply cannot offer affirmative action as a solution to every injustice, particularly when those injustices are not relevant to the field of study or the profession.

Huh? I'm not asking for reparations in the legal field.

you are an idiot.




i think checking off the box puts you kind of in the clea. im not questioning experiences as much as im saying it might look odd that this only comes out...so to speak...once you are on the waitlist.



.........

By checking the LGBT box on LSAC you are effectively coming out to every law school you apply to. Your contact information gets forwarded to the appropriate group on campus.

ari: You stepped on some toes. You have to understand staying in the closet is akin to staying in the back of the bus; it is second-class citizenship.

If your only purpose is to argue that having to remain closeted is an effect of unjust treatment by some in society, then I agree completely. If you're claiming that a closeted LGBT who only comes out on the application deserves a diversity boost in the application process, then I disagree, both because the discrimination is occurring in an entirely different realm and because that applicant's choice to remain closeted by definition removes any LGBT diversity that s/he would provide.

Your response seemed to indicate the latter.......

The reason I did not bring it up initially is because I felt outing myself in my PS would have affected the theme. Like KN, my PS revolved around some factors that were related to my sexuality, but did not necessitate being raised as the focal point. If I get waitlisted, I feel they are saying "we like you, but we just might not have room." I am curious if turning the spotlight on a diversity factor might help at that point. I really don;t know.