2011-2012 LGBT thread! Forum

[jetissent]

Let's share LGBT related information. I've received LGBT targeted mailings from countless schools. We should have an active thread where we can discussion LGBT opportunities/inclusivity at various schools.

I'll start:
I've received LGBT targeted mailings from several schools including Yale, Columbia, chicago, Georgetown, and duke. I identified as gay on every app that posed the queation and I am interested in the effect (marginal or otherwise) that LGBT self-identified status has on applicants cycles.

I've heard wonderful things about queer acceptance at Umich , Duke, and obviously NYU, Berkeley, Penn, Stanford. Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. Does anyone else have schools they're particularly drawn to or hesitant about because of their LGBT status?

[addy11]

Let's share LGBT related information. I've received LGBT targeted mailings from countless schools. We should have an active thread where we can discussion LGBT opportunities/inclusivity at various schools.

I'll start:
I've received LGBT targeted mailings from several schools including Yale, Columbia, chicago, Georgetown, and duke. I identified as gay on every app that posed the queation and I am interested in the effect (marginal or otherwise) that LGBT self-identified status has on applicants cycles.

I've heard wonderful things about queer acceptance at Umich , Duke, and obviously NYU, Berkeley, Penn, Stanford. Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. Does anyone else have schools they're particularly drawn to or hesitant about because of their LGBT status?

You got something from Georgetown? Way to go. I wrote my PS about LGBT stuff and got in, so I think people should not be afraid of a Catholic institution looking down on LGBT status.

I received emails from Harvard, Chicago and Duke, that crazy packet from Yale, a really nice letter from Columbia and a call from Duke's OUTLaws after being admitted.

[RonnyDworkin]

UVA was also very active in their outreach to me. It was actually quite refreshing. I like the direction in which the school is moving.

[kl10qm]

I got LGBT specific mailings from Cardozo (which surprised me since it is an Orthodox school), Chicago, Harvard, Tulane, and UC-Hastings.

I was specifically drawn to Michigan (where I am going) because of what I have heard about the UofM as well as how progressive Ann Arbor is for LGBT issues. There OUTlaw group, by what I hear, is also pretty active. I'm also pretty excited about getting involved with Equality Michigan in working against some legislation and such that I have seen passed into law here in TN.

Also, when I went for my interview at Vanderbilt, I was able to talk with the admissions person candidly about LGBT issues in Nashville and Vandy in particular. I felt that she clearly emphasized that though Nashville is a southern city, it is also very progressive when it comes to LGBT rights. Its not as progressive as say, NYC, but it is getting there. Vandy also has very strong non-discrimination policies, that are specific for sexual orientation AS WELL AS gender identity - which in TN impressed me quite a bit. If I was to stay in Tennessee, it would have been Vandy that I would have wanted to go to if I was LGBT.

[kl10qm]

I got LGBT specific mailings from Cardozo (which surprised me since it is an Orthodox school), Chicago, Harvard, Tulane, and UC-Hastings.

I was specifically drawn to Michigan (where I am going) because of what I have heard about the UofM as well as how progressive Ann Arbor is for LGBT issues. There OUTlaw group, by what I hear, is also pretty active. I'm also pretty excited about getting involved with Equality Michigan in working against some legislation and such that I have seen passed into law here in TN.

Also, when I went for my interview at Vanderbilt, I was able to talk with the admissions person candidly about LGBT issues in Nashville and Vandy in particular. I felt that she clearly emphasized that though Nashville is a southern city, it is also very progressive when it comes to LGBT rights. Its not as progressive as say, NYC, but it is getting there. Vandy also has very strong non-discrimination policies, that are specific for sexual orientation AS WELL AS gender identity - which in TN impressed me quite a bit. If I was to stay in Tennessee, it would have been Vandy that I would have wanted to go to if I was LGBT.

[jetissent]

Let's share LGBT related information. I've received LGBT targeted mailings from countless schools. We should have an active thread where we can discussion LGBT opportunities/inclusivity at various schools.

I'll start:
I've received LGBT targeted mailings from several schools including Yale, Columbia, chicago, Georgetown, and duke. I identified as gay on every app that posed the queation and I am interested in the effect (marginal or otherwise) that LGBT self-identified status has on applicants cycles.

I've heard wonderful things about queer acceptance at Umich , Duke, and obviously NYU, Berkeley, Penn, Stanford. Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. Does anyone else have schools they're particularly drawn to or hesitant about because of their LGBT status?

You got something from Georgetown? Way to go. I wrote my PS about LGBT stuff and got in, so I think people should not be afraid of a Catholic institution looking down on LGBT status.

I received emails from Harvard, Chicago and Duke, that crazy packet from Yale, a really nice letter from Columbia and a call from Duke's OUTLaws after being admitted.

Sorry that was misleading--I didn't get a special mailing from gtown rather the handwritten note on my acceptance letter commented positively on the LGBT issues I talked about in my PS. I have actually been rather impressed with the efforts some schools have made to recruit gay students. The call from Duke's Outlaw group and the email from Michigan's were both pleasant surprises. Though I suppose they recognize the inherent appeal that schools in NYC and Boston have for LGBT students.

Admittedly, I am significantly more anxious to hear back from NYU than UMich or UVA even though I believe I could be happy any of the three.

[addy11]

Let's share LGBT related information. I've received LGBT targeted mailings from countless schools. We should have an active thread where we can discussion LGBT opportunities/inclusivity at various schools.

I'll start:
I've received LGBT targeted mailings from several schools including Yale, Columbia, chicago, Georgetown, and duke. I identified as gay on every app that posed the queation and I am interested in the effect (marginal or otherwise) that LGBT self-identified status has on applicants cycles.

I've heard wonderful things about queer acceptance at Umich , Duke, and obviously NYU, Berkeley, Penn, Stanford. Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. Does anyone else have schools they're particularly drawn to or hesitant about because of their LGBT status?

You got something from Georgetown? Way to go. I wrote my PS about LGBT stuff and got in, so I think people should not be afraid of a Catholic institution looking down on LGBT status.

I received emails from Harvard, Chicago and Duke, that crazy packet from Yale, a really nice letter from Columbia and a call from Duke's OUTLaws after being admitted.

Sorry that was misleading--I didn't get a special mailing from gtown rather the handwritten note on my acceptance letter commented positively on the LGBT issues I talked about in my PS. I have actually been rather impressed with the efforts some schools have made to recruit gay students. The call from Duke's Outlaw group and the email from Michigan's were both pleasant surprises. Though I suppose they recognize the inherent appeal that schools in NYC and Boston have for LGBT students.

Admittedly, I am significantly more anxious to hear back from NYU than UMich or UVA even though I believe I could be happy any of the three.

I'm shocked by how little I've heard from the schools everyone knows is LGBT friendly.

Complete radio silence from NYU and Penn. Also I went to a t14 undergrad (not t14 undergrad, but the undergrad part of a t14 law school), and they never reached out to me, the bastards.

[addy11]

Also, is anyone interested in going into law specifically to serve the LGBT community?

I'm wondering about the best program to go into for LGBT advocacy (obviously very broadly defined), based on curriculum/extracurricular/community/faculty.

What do you all think of CLS's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law (http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_prog ... rsexuality), vs. NYU's LGBT Rights Clinic (https://law.nyu.edu/academics/clinics/s ... /index.htm) vs. UCLA's Williams Institute (http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/) vs. faculties known for their LGBT legal scholars (Chicago with Nussbaum and Case and Stone; Penn with Eyer and Wolff), vs. generally good schools alleged to be LGBT friendly, but without the conspicuous examples mentioned above (i.e., Yale, Harvard, Stanford).

I would appreciate current students' inputs as well, if they're lurking.

[jetissent]

Also, is anyone interested in going into law specifically to serve the LGBT community?

I'm wondering about the best program to go into for LGBT advocacy (obviously very broadly defined), based on curriculum/extracurricular/community/faculty.

What do you all think of CLS's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law (http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_prog ... rsexuality), vs. NYU's LGBT Rights Clinic (https://law.nyu.edu/academics/clinics/s ... /index.htm) vs. UCLA's Williams Institute (http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/) vs. faculties known for their LGBT legal scholars (Chicago with Nussbaum and Case and Stone; Penn with Eyer and Wolff), vs. generally good schools alleged to be LGBT friendly, but without the conspicuous examples mentioned above (i.e., Yale, Harvard, Stanford).

I would appreciate current students' inputs as well, if they're lurking.

+1 to this. I am particularly interested in Columbia and NYU because I know they have rather strong LGBT legal programs and I have a friend on the Gender and Sexuality law review at CLS and she had very positive recommendations. In addition, I feel like NYC has the best access to national advocacy groups.

[addy11]

Also, is anyone interested in going into law specifically to serve the LGBT community?

I'm wondering about the best program to go into for LGBT advocacy (obviously very broadly defined), based on curriculum/extracurricular/community/faculty.

What do you all think of CLS's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law (http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_prog ... rsexuality), vs. NYU's LGBT Rights Clinic (https://law.nyu.edu/academics/clinics/s ... /index.htm) vs. UCLA's Williams Institute (http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/) vs. faculties known for their LGBT legal scholars (Chicago with Nussbaum and Case and Stone; Penn with Eyer and Wolff), vs. generally good schools alleged to be LGBT friendly, but without the conspicuous examples mentioned above (i.e., Yale, Harvard, Stanford).

I would appreciate current students' inputs as well, if they're lurking.

+1 to this. I am particularly interested in Columbia and NYU because I know they have rather strong LGBT legal programs and I have a friend on the Gender and Sexuality law review at CLS and she had very positive recommendations. In addition, I feel like NYC has the best access to national advocacy groups.

Totally. I'm just worried because I work with a ton of NYU people (in legal aid), many of whom are LGBT, and they say that the PI and LGBT communities are so much stronger at NYU than at CLS (I would say the ratio of NYU grads to CLS grads at the non-profits I've worked at is like 8:1). Still, I've always romanticized Columbia and am really impressed by their G&S Center (the Mauritanian refugee case was awesome... I really think that asylum is one of the most important LGBT issues).

[Lily Pad]

Also, is anyone interested in going into law specifically to serve the LGBT community?

I'm wondering about the best program to go into for LGBT advocacy (obviously very broadly defined), based on curriculum/extracurricular/community/faculty.

What do you all think of CLS's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law (http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_prog ... rsexuality), vs. NYU's LGBT Rights Clinic (https://law.nyu.edu/academics/clinics/s ... /index.htm) vs. UCLA's Williams Institute (http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/) vs. faculties known for their LGBT legal scholars (Chicago with Nussbaum and Case and Stone; Penn with Eyer and Wolff), vs. generally good schools alleged to be LGBT friendly, but without the conspicuous examples mentioned above (i.e., Yale, Harvard, Stanford).

I would appreciate current students' inputs as well, if they're lurking.

I'm definitely interested in going into LGBT advocacy. I used to work at an LGBT advocacy org, and the lawyers I worked with came from a variety of schools that didn't necessarily have the flagship LGBT programs - I know there were grads from Yale, Georgetown, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, and a few others that I can't remember off the top of my head. They all pretty much told me that going to the best school that lets you in was a pretty important thing to do if you wanted to go into LGBT legal work.

[lrslayer]

i tend to think that schools aren't really "recruiting" LGBT so much as people's particular stats. this would explain why some people hear from the schools OUT programs (ETC.) while others do not. its just another one of many angles that schools take in recruiting people that will help their means. so, i guess what i'm saying is that i dont think schools care one way or the other if you're LGBT.

[addy11]

i tend to think that schools aren't really "recruiting" LGBT so much as people's particular stats. this would explain why some people hear from the schools OUT programs (ETC.) while others do not. its just another one of many angles that schools take in recruiting people that will help their means. so, i guess what i'm saying is that i dont think schools care one way or the other if you're LGBT.

I would imagine some of the top, leader-producing schools (HYS, CCN, Berkeley) want a quota of LGBT people each year. I would imagine LGBT people tack pretty closely to non-LGBT people in terms of GPA and LSAT distributions, but I think schools try to keep an eye on it to make sure they have their thresh hold achieved. It promotes discussion, satisfies the LGBT people and alumni they've already admitted, promotes awareness of LGBT issues and experiences through proximity, etc.

[chasgoose]

Also, is anyone interested in going into law specifically to serve the LGBT community?

I'm wondering about the best program to go into for LGBT advocacy (obviously very broadly defined), based on curriculum/extracurricular/community/faculty.

What do you all think of CLS's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law (http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_prog ... rsexuality), vs. NYU's LGBT Rights Clinic (https://law.nyu.edu/academics/clinics/s ... /index.htm) vs. UCLA's Williams Institute (http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/) vs. faculties known for their LGBT legal scholars (Chicago with Nussbaum and Case and Stone; Penn with Eyer and Wolff), vs. generally good schools alleged to be LGBT friendly, but without the conspicuous examples mentioned above (i.e., Yale, Harvard, Stanford).

I would appreciate current students' inputs as well, if they're lurking.

+1 to this. I am particularly interested in Columbia and NYU because I know they have rather strong LGBT legal programs and I have a friend on the Gender and Sexuality law review at CLS and she had very positive recommendations. In addition, I feel like NYC has the best access to national advocacy groups.

Totally. I'm just worried because I work with a ton of NYU people (in legal aid), many of whom are LGBT, and they say that the PI and LGBT communities are so much stronger at NYU than at CLS (I would say the ratio of NYU grads to CLS grads at the non-profits I've worked at is like 8:1). Still, I've always romanticized Columbia and am really impressed by their G&S Center (the Mauritanian refugee case was awesome... I really think that asylum is one of the most important LGBT issues).

The difference isn't quite that drastic, but NYU does have a much larger LGBT student population than CLS. When I visited both ASW's someone at the CLS group actually semi-jokingly told me I should go to NYU. Also, NYU seems to get more targeted LGBT recruiting for firms than CLS for that reason. It's not a big enough reason to choose one over the other if that's where your choice ends up (it wasn't for me), but it is something to consider.

[jetissent]

In at NYU today so hopefully come January I'll have the chance to weight both schools and take my pick--but absolutely thrilled with the NYU admit until then!

I wonder how in depth their ASW will be vis a vis advocacy opportunities etc. I feel like TLS's has given me a bias that NYU is inherently stronger for PI but I wonder how dramatic the difference really is.

[AriGoldButNicer]

In at NYU today so hopefully come January I'll have the chance to weight both schools and take my pick--but absolutely thrilled with the NYU admit until then!

I wonder how in depth their ASW will be vis a vis advocacy opportunities etc. I feel like TLS's has given me a bias that NYU is inherently stronger for PI but I wonder how dramatic the difference really is.

NYU is great, but judging by your TLS profile, you should be able to do better. It seems like it's cooler than Columbia, because of the village but upper Manhattan isn't so bad. It's a lot less crowded, and probably a better place to study.

[moonman157]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys receiving this information after you've applied, and have you specified that you're LGBT? I'm not applying until next year, so I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of the application. Is there a spot for you to list your sexual orientation, or do you have to include that in your PS? And if you received pro-LGBT material from these schools before you applied, how did they know that you're LGBT/interested in their schools? Sorry to divert the topic a bit, I'm just wondering. Thanks!

[Cupidity]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys receiving this information after you've applied, and have you specified that you're LGBT? I'm not applying until next year, so I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of the application. Is there a spot for you to list your sexual orientation, or do you have to include that in your PS? And if you received pro-LGBT material from these schools before you applied, how did they know that you're LGBT/interested in their schools? Sorry to divert the topic a bit, I'm just wondering. Thanks!

There is an option on the LSAC to identify that some schools rely on which would allow them to know prior to application, others have a separate check-box on their application.

[addy11]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys receiving this information after you've applied, and have you specified that you're LGBT? I'm not applying until next year, so I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of the application. Is there a spot for you to list your sexual orientation, or do you have to include that in your PS? And if you received pro-LGBT material from these schools before you applied, how did they know that you're LGBT/interested in their schools? Sorry to divert the topic a bit, I'm just wondering. Thanks!

Before and after. There is a spot on your LSAC profile for identifying as LGBT. It's very obvious when you're initially filling out your profile. Also some schools (Cornell definitely... I think USC, Berkeley and Penn, too) ask on their applications.

I wouldn't read too much into whether or not a school contacts you with it. I received nothing from 4/5 schools I've been accepted to already (including supposedly super LGBT friendly NYU and Berkeley), but have received stuff from Harvard, Columbia, Yale (Yale's packet was... crazy), Chicago, etc.

[moonman157]

Sorry again for a really basic question about the process, but do you create your LSAC profile after you take the LSAT? Sorry, I'm sort of neurotic about law school stuff lol.

[jetissent]

Sorry again for a really basic question about the process, but do you create your LSAC profile after you take the LSAT? Sorry, I'm sort of neurotic about law school stuff lol.

No worries! I made it before hand--when I registered for the LSAT. But, it's worth noting that most schools won't contact you until you have an LSAT on file. And maybe a transcript--I'm not sure about that one because they had my transcripts before my LSAT.

[mieri]

I got several mailings before my transcript was on file, but not until after I'd taken my LSAT. (Did LSAT first, then sent my transcripts.)

I'm a little concerned because I sent in a DS on being a lesbian to a Jesuit school. I'm thinking that it might be a concern, even if they have an LGBT group. But then again, I wouldn't want to go to a school that gets upset because of who I am, so... ;;;;;

[jetissent]

I got several mailings before my transcript was on file, but not until after I'd taken my LSAT. (Did LSAT first, then sent my transcripts.)

I'm a little concerned because I sent in a DS on being a lesbian to a Jesuit school. I'm thinking that it might be a concern, even if they have an LGBT group. But then again, I wouldn't want to go to a school that gets upset because of who I am, so... ;;;;;

I outed myself in my personal statement and wrote quite a bit of it about doing graduate work in history of gay rights and got into Gtown. They even wrote a little note about about it on my admit letter so I know its only one example of a Jesuit school that didn't care but hopefully most won't.

[addy11]

I got several mailings before my transcript was on file, but not until after I'd taken my LSAT. (Did LSAT first, then sent my transcripts.)

I'm a little concerned because I sent in a DS on being a lesbian to a Jesuit school. I'm thinking that it might be a concern, even if they have an LGBT group. But then again, I wouldn't want to go to a school that gets upset because of who I am, so... ;;;;;

Seconded on Georgetown.

I work with several attorneys who went to Notre Dame, Fordham and BC. The consensus is that LGBT status/interest will not be an issue (definitely not at Fordham or BC... possibly at ND) for admission, and if Notre Dame's courting of me is any indicator, I can corroborate the assumption.

Other considerations (student body, family housing, funding for LGBT related projects, etc.) should enter into your consideration after you're admitted, though.

[Cupidity]

BC and Fordham had super liberal student bodies, and there is no need to be concerned with either because of your sexual orientation. I had one LGBT friend go to Notre Dame and the word that he used to describe the atmosphere there was, "tolerated," infer from that what you will.