In the advanced calculus that is the elite college admissions process, students already weigh variables like race, home state and legacy status when trying to determine their chances at getting into their dream schools.
But now there may be a new application X-factor to grapple with - sexual orientation.
Because experts say people now tend to come out at earlier ages, openly gay students make up an increasingly visible percentage of the college applicant pool. And admissions officials are left to wonder what- - if anything - they should do in response.
At Penn, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender applicants are welcome, but it's their academics and extracurricular activities that gain them acceptance, said Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson. Applicants who choose to disclose that they are gay are treated no differently than other applicants, he said.
But should they be?
Earlier this month, Inside Higher Ed, a higher education news Web site, incorrectly reported that Vermont's Middlebury College would this year begin offering an affirmative action advantage to gay applicants.
Middlebury Dean of Admissions Robert Clagett commented on the article in an attempt to set the record straight - the school is contemplating no such program. But by then, the debate had already begun.
Bob Schoenberg, the director of Penn's LGBT Center, said it would be important to distinguish whether a gay affirmative-action program would attempt to compensate for past discrimination or simply take the form of a more aggressive recruitment program to encourage more gay applicants.
Schoenberg said he would be in favor of the latter, which would offer no special consideration to LGBT applicants but would acknowledge a commitment to diversity.
Alexis Ruby-Howe, a College senior and co-chairwoman of the Penn Queer Student Alliance, agreed, adding that recruitment efforts are more important than offering gays an admissions advantage.
Ruby-Howe said a box on Penn's application that students could check to identify themselves as gay would help make Penn's gay community more cohesive.
Admissions experts say that being gay might offer some competitive edge in the admissions process, but only in certain cases.
"Colleges reputed as preppie havens are on the lookout for punks, and artsy schools may welcome chem majors," Sally Rubenstone - a counselor at College Confidential, an admissions Web site - wrote in an e-mail interview. "Thus, being openly gay will be a plus at those places noted for their heterogeneity."
However, Rubenstone added that participation in groups like gay-straight alliances is so common now that it can no longer be considered a "hook" in the admissions process.
According to Rubenstone, if an applicant wants to stand out for being gay, he or she would have to demonstrate the commitment and depth that would be necessary in any college application.
"Five hundred words that simply proclaim, 'I'm gay,' won't be very meaningful. But if the essay chronicles a decision to address a school assembly, to come out to a wary grandparent, to establish a drop-in center for other gay teens . then it might be a strong essay indeed," Rubenstone said.
College consultant Michele Hernandez - author of A is for Admission -- agreed.
Being gay "wouldn't be treated any differently than any other causes close to your heart," Hernandez said.
