LGBT admit outreach expands to early decision

The Lambda Alliance, Penn’s umbrella organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, will be working with the Admissions Office to expand its outreach to LGBT students admitted under early decision this fall.

The increase in outreach comes after Lambda contacted self-identified LGBT and allied students last spring when they were admitted under regular decision. Approximately 60 admitted students were contacted by Lambda members, most of whom decided to enroll at Penn, according to Wharton and Engineering junior and Lambda Alliance Chairman Tyler Ernst.

“We’re going to start earlier to include early admissions,” said Bob Schoenberg, director of Penn’s LGBT Center.

Last spring, Penn’s outreach program garnered national attention as people debated what the criteria for “flagging” an applicant as LGBT were.

“The instructions to readers will be much more explicit” this time around, Schoenberg said.

Last year, admissions officers identified between 200 and 300 LGBT and allied applicants through their high school activities and admissions essays, according to Schoenberg.

He anticipates an even greater number of LGBT and allied applicants this year as “word about the program has spread wildly.”

Changes to the Common Application this year will also allow students to explicitly identify their involvement in LGBT groups for the first time.

College freshman Micah Kaats, who was raised by a gay parent and was president of his high school’s gay-straight alliance, was flagged by the Admissions Office as an ally of the LGBT community.

“My main essay was about how even though I was a straight kid, I grew up with a closet of my own,” said Kaats, who was contacted by Ernst shortly after his acceptance.

“I never thought that I could get an e-mail from someone from a gay-straight alliance,” Kaats said. “I thought it was really cool and it was one of the reasons that drew me to Penn.”

Aside from working with the Admissions Office, Penn’s LGBT community will also continue to reach out to admitted students through Facebook.

College junior Victor Galli, who monitored a Facebook discussion thread for admitted LGBT students, said online efforts are a “necessary supplement” for students who come from environments where they cannot be open about their sexuality.

According to Galli, while the Admissions Office’s work helps Penn reach out to incoming students who self-identify as LGBT, it is a “systematic discrimination” against people who come from backgrounds where they cannot openly participate in LGBT activities in high school.

Galli said that compared to previous years, there have been around four to five times the number of people coming out at the beginning of the school year.

“We are starting to see more diversity,” he added. “There are more transgendered students and people of color.”

College freshman Nancy Davidson* said she did not self-identify as LGBT in her application as she comes from a “very conservative” community in Florida.

“Coming to Penn has been a whole new experience, one that I never really thought was possible,” she said. “The acceptance from the LGBT community and the Penn community is awesome.”

*This name has been changed because as of the date of publication, the College freshman quoted had not told her family that she identifies as LGBT.

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