Would saying I'm transgender be a hook for HYPS?

transapplicant
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 20:14:31 +0000

The original poster of this thread’s attitude towards transgender people is very harmful. As a transgender college applicant, I’ve listed myself as transgender on all my apps, not because it provides any “hook”, but because my applications must list my “legal” gender and I have to additionally clarify that I’m transgender so they know who I actually am.

However, this also poses a risk for me, because what if the person who reads my app decides to reject me on the basis of being transgender even if I’m otherwise qualified? Yes, some schools have non-discrimination policies that cover gender identity and expression, but since college applications are so “holistic” they can easily pass it off as rejecting me for any other reason.

“I’m sure that without this affirmative action, very few transgender people would actually be smart enough to get into a HYPS school.” …You really need to step back and take a look at what you’re saying. I’ll give you one example: Ben A. Barres is a transgender man who got his BS at MIT, his MD at Dartmouth, and his PhD at Harvard, and he’s currently the Chair of the Neurobiology department at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. How’s that for not “actually smart enough”? He is not an anomaly. There are plenty of accomplished and educated transgender people. Many of them don’t feel they can share their transgender status with the public because of the discrimination that they face.

Look, if a college wouldn’t accept you when you don’t say you’re transgender, saying that you are isn’t going to make them accept you or give your application a “boost”. Even if it would, I don’t think they’re looking for the kind of people who would exploit the disadvantaged position of transgender people in society for their own benefit.