CommonApp essayAnswered
Is it a good idea to write in my CommonApp essay about my experience of being transgender person and LGBT activist (i have meaningful ec's about it) in a homophobic country? It's the biggest struggle that I've ever encountered in my life and my greatest accomplishments are related to this topic.
Earn karma by helping others:
2 answers
Of course it is!
You already answered your question. Your essay should be about your greatest accomplishments or things that you greatly care about. What else if not this topic?
If you worry about the uniqueness of this topic - you're safe. As soon as you tell your own, personal story, nobody can repeate it. It your your unique and unimitable experience. And if this experience include such a stunning thing as fighting homophobia - you have a have every chance to create a brilliant essay.
Wait for your essay in the Peer Essay Review section!
Good for you.
Now is a good time to research colleges and make sure you pick one that will be an ally and support you during your college years. You don't want to go to a college that suffers from a lack of diversity, inclusivity, and equity. I would steer away from any college that is affiliated with religion like U.NotreDame, Georgetown, Boston College, Fordham, TCU, Brigham Young, or any large university in the South which prioritizes Greek life and Sports.
So a few things you can do when picking a college is the following:
1.) Make sure they have an established a large number of clubs and student organizations. (for instance if their LGBTQ club is 50 years old, that's a good thing).
2.) Make sure the curriculum supports gender and identity coursework. Ideally, you want to go to a school that offers a degree in LGBTQ studies whether or not you are personally interested in pursuing that.
3.) See if there are professors and admin executives that are part of the LGBTQ community. (I was surprised that the Top US private boarding school where billionaires send their kids to prep for college is has a Queer BIPOC head of school who lives on campus with his husband and children). So times are changing.
4.) And look for evidence that accomplished and successful queerfolk alumni continue to stay engaged in their school and support them.
Here are some useful guidelines.
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=lgbtq-friendly
Good luck with your college admissions journey.
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!
Thank you so much for your answer. I wasn't confident in this topic but now I'm absolutely writing about it:)