LGBT Applicants

[deleted699772]

Hi everyone! This is my first post so I may have put it in the wrong forum. If I did I'm sorry and just tell me where I should put it. My question is that since I'm LGBT should I put this on my application or write about it in my essays? Do you think it would help or hurt? And also if you have any info on schools that welcome or look for LGBT students I'd love to hear about them I think it'd be great to go somewhere where people like me are actively recruited. Thanks

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[Mad Jack]

Does being LGBT significantly affect your life? Do you feel it has contributed to your desire to be a physician? Can you you're it into your narrative in a cohesive way? As with everything, it's not so much about who you are out what you've done, but how good you are at spinning it into a good story.

I don't know about the MD side, but on the DO side I can say that UNECOM is incredibly LGBT friendly.

 

[ThinkReallyFast]

No one can give you a definitive answer on whether being OUT as LGBT will be helpful or hurtful your application. It is not possible to know who is going to read your application and what their thoughts are going to be on an LGBT applicant. It is entirely possible to get a disapproving conservative reader at a liberal school, or a supportive liberal reader at a conservative school. I would speculate that being LGBT is only going to make your application stronger if you have a history that support your engagement and interest in improving LGBT healthcare disparities.

If you mention it in your application you need to be ready to openly discuss and support what you wrote during an interview. If you are not comfortable discussing your LGBT status during an interview, then I would advise against mentioning being LGBT. If you are open and do decide to mention it, there are many places to discuss being LGBT in your application. The Personal Statement (PS) is a good place only if being LGBT has helped to shape your interest in become a physician and answers your "why medicine?" Alternatively, if it is not necessarily contributing to why you want to be a physician, then yo can discuss it your adversity and diversity secondary responses. If being LGBT has been a huge impediment and it has severely impacted your academics, then you might also consider applying as disadvantaged and discussing it there.

 

[familyaerospace]

Unless it has impacted why medicine, don't discuss it. You will probably get more grief than it is worth. I say this as a four round transsexual applicant who wants to study LGBT health.

I do not consider this appropriate for disadvantaged applicant status (unless you were kicked out of the house before 18 and were homeless), instead it is better for adversary or maybe challenges. Be warned however, medical schools are conservative so you have to take an incredible care in where you are applying.

 

[Goro]

As an Adcom I don't think that it adds or hurts, unless you can spin it to some clinical activities that you've done, like, say, working with HIV+ patients, or on a crisis line for suicidal teens who are bullied for their gender/sexual orientation.

Definitely do NOT discuss it if you're thinking about LUCOM!

Most schools are gay-friendly. However, I strongly caution you to consider the regions that these schools are located in. While the school might be welcoming, the locale might not be.

Hi everyone! This is my first post so I may have put it in the wrong forum. If I did I'm sorry and just tell me where I should put it. My question is that since I'm LGBT should I put this on my application or write about it in my essays? Do you think it would help or hurt? And also if you have any info on schools that welcome or look for LGBT students I'd love to hear about them I think it'd be great to go somewhere where people like me are actively recruited. Thanks

 

[wholeheartedly]

There are quite a few threads already discussing this. The posters talk about their experiences a length so I'd suggest you check these out.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search/13100605/?q=Lgbt&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=10

I know family aerospace had a few pretty rough app cycles, but I would note that the trans community doesn't benefit from the same level of acceptance as the lgbt community does yet.

 

[occams_razor]

There are quite a few threads already discussing this. The posters talk about their experiences a length so I'd suggest you check these out.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search/13100605/?q=Lgbt&o=relevance&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=10

I know family aerospace had a few pretty rough app cycles, but I would note that the trans community doesn't benefit from the same level of acceptance as the lgbt community does yet.

this is very true and I in no way want to minimize family aerospace's negative experiences with discrimination as a trans applicant, but there are also some positive stories from applicants who have applied as openly trans. The SDN user who started this thread applied as an out transgender woman and had a successful cycle as a 1st time applicant - http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-lgbtq-applicant-thread.1013024/

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

My opinion is no. The most annoying people are those that go around announcing their sexuality or those parents that feel the need to tell you they are parents. If you've worked with LGBT groups or people, discuss that. It doesn't take a genius to put 2 and 2 together that you're gay. The only exception is something that's tied up in a very unique way to this.

 

[ThinkReallyFast]

this is very true and I in no way want to minimize family aerospace's negative experiences with discrimination as a trans applicant, but there are also some positive stories from applicants who have applied as openly trans. The SDN user who started this thread applied as an out transgender woman and had a successful cycle as a 1st time applicant - http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-lgbtq-applicant-thread.1013024/

+1

I have definitely heard a few positive stories from out applicants, including trans applicants. Not all are visible on SDN. If you have involvement in the LGBT community and can relate that to medicine, you have something unique and valuable to offer your peers/the school. Also, as AlbinoHawk mentioned, show this with your actions and experience.

I recommend reaching out to those at the schools are you are interested in. I have reached out to students doing LGBT research, LGBT clubs, and professors with a LGBT focus at the school I am applying. I have gotten very helpful and candid information.

 

[Ellie Arroway]

Heyyyyyyyy

I don't know why I'm on here because I have step 1 in 3 days, but I concur with above posts - it makes sense in the app if it has given you some kind of perspective on the world that you think is valuable for a doctor to have, or has figured into your ECs and your path to medicine. Really, anything that goes in your app should serve to strengthen the notion that you being a physician totally makes sense.

I knew applying might be an uphill battle for me, so I adopted a "be so good they can't ignore you" mindset and nearly burned myself out before I even got to med school. It's a balance, be careful. And remember to apply to a range of schools to CYA.

 

[MySpirit]

Unless it has impacted why medicine, don't discuss it. You will probably get more grief than it is worth. I say this as a four round transsexual applicant who wants to study LGBT health.

I do not consider this appropriate for disadvantaged applicant status (unless you were kicked out of the house before 18 and were homeless), instead it is better for adversary or maybe challenges. Be warned however, medical schools are conservative so you have to take an incredible care in where you are applying.

I think there is no reason to put this in. It really doesn't have anything to do with why anyone wants to become a doctor.

 

[ThinkReallyFast]

I think there is no reason to put this in. It really doesn't have anything to do with why anyone wants to become a doctor.

I would encourage you to do a little research about the issues LGBT encounter in healthcare. Consider the following:

• A LGBT patient is cut of socially from their family and friends after coming out as trans, they attempt suicide. While in the ER following the suicide attempt they hear the ER staff referring to them as a "freak," "it," and "better off dead."
• A LGBT trans patient is trying to get access to hormone replacement therapy. Their primary care physician refuses to provide the hormones and refuses to provide the patient a referral to another provider. They are in a location with limited options and/or have insurance that prevents them from changing providers.
• A young LGBT female trans patient visits a specialist for bowel problems, the male physician starts groping her chests. The physician explains that "he is curious how trans breast development differs."

These are just a few reasons. I am confident others could come and share more experiences of how being LGBT has motivated them to become a doctor and improve the cultural competence of the profession.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I think there is no reason to put this in. It really doesn't have anything to do with why anyone wants to become a doctor.

Actually it can have a lot to do with why someone wants to become a doctor. In addition to scenarios noted above, you could have a situation where a gay kid sees his gay friend commit suicide so he joins a suicide crisis center and volunteers on the phone line. He develops an interest in the field of psychiatry as a result of those experiences.

Or an lgbt student volunteers at an HIV clinic and develops an interest in becoming an ID doc.

Or an lgbt student understands the issues lgbt members have in getting adequate healthcare and wants to be a generalist who serves that population.

You don't even need to plan on serving the lgbt community, sometimes it's just knowing the feeling of being different and overlooked or looked down on and wanting to provide medical care to others with compassion and dignity regardless of who they are. It can give you experience being the underdog, which is where a lot of your patients are going to come from.

 

[familyaerospace]

I think there is no reason to put this in. It really doesn't have anything to do with why anyone wants to become a doctor.

Hate to break this to you, but if it were not for one of my fellow transgendered people dying due to lack of medical care (no one would treat her throat cancer or even examine her) and then another mtf friend nearly dying due to discrimination, I would not have detoured from my aerospace research to work my butt off to overcome a medical phobia to get into medical school. I developed a medical phobia when I was pregnant and transitioning. The first part answered "why medicine" and the second part answered "why now" as I was a non-trad.

And now I am going to be working at an LGBT clinic hopefully preventing the problems Traci and Michelle and myself all had.

 

[MySpirit]

I read the the thread and I stand corrected. This is very significant and interesting work. I agree that changes do need to be made.

 

[ConsultantMD]

I was out in some secondaries and interviews. It came up organically as it was not a key part of my application. I think overall it was positively received.