College Representative Fail

Are you sure he was a visiting rep from the college?

Not flaming. He was flamboyant.

I guess I'd be curious what the other lines were to complete?

Iowamom23 posted:

I guess I'd be curious what the other lines were to complete?

Name, street. city, state, zip, email, phone and LGBTQ

mdschert posted:

Son has meeting at his HS with a visiting rep from a college he was interested in attending.  My son described him as a flaming gay guy wearing too much jewelry.  The info card he was given to complete had the usual contact info but also wanted to know if he was LGBTQ, it was one of 4 or 5 lines to complete.  So son now thinks the school is only recruiting the LGBTQ community and checked off his list.  Not that there is anything wrong with LGBTQ but why would a college want to be represented in that way?

I think that's a pretty big conclusion to which to jump.

If your son and you felt uncomfortable with this, he needs to go see his guidance counselor.

I know that we live in a different world, but oneszexual preferences are really no one elses business.

JMO

mdschert posted:

Iowamom23 posted:

I guess I'd be curious what the other lines were to complete?

Name, street. city, state, zip, email, phone and LGBTQ

Would have made more sense if they were asking other questions toward demographics--religious preferences, food issues or something like that. I agree orientation is no ones business particularly at a high school college visit. 

I'm not even sure that's legal. If he's not LBGTQ, run...

Matt13 posted:

mdschert posted:

Son has meeting at his HS with a visiting rep from a college he was interested in attending.  My son described him as a flaming gay guy wearing too much jewelry.  The info card he was given to complete had the usual contact info but also wanted to know if he was LGBTQ, it was one of 4 or 5 lines to complete.  So son now thinks the school is only recruiting the LGBTQ community and checked off his list.  Not that there is anything wrong with LGBTQ but why would a college want to be represented in that way?

I think that's a pretty big conclusion to which to jump.

I agree but we are talking about a 16 yr old.  I don't know if I can ever get him to consider the college again.  Are there other schools that want to know sexual preference from the get go?????  Why would this ever be part of an information gathering process?  

If it's a college you're really interested in I'd call or email the admissions office and ask them what is that about. A lot of colleges use people who are not admissions staff to do those info sessions at schools.  These surrogates can be grads, parents, students, etc. Maybe your guy was going rogue.

1.  Make sure your son wasn't joking with you.

2.  If you are certain he wasn't, tell him you are going to let his school's counselor know so that he/she can contact the college to let them know.  There is absolutely something MORE THAN ODD about that card.  If the college knew about the card and the question, I'm sure the counselor will ask why in the world would they be interested in high school students' sexual preferences?  I am guessing that this college rep is part of some kind of scam, or some hidden camera joke.

MomLW posted:

1.  Make sure your son wasn't joking with you.

2.  If you are certain he wasn't, tell him you are going to let his school's counselor know so that he/she can contact the college to let them know.  There is absolutely something MORE THAN ODD about that card.  If the college knew about the card and the question, I'm sure the counselor will ask why in the world would they be interested in high school students' sexual preferences?  I am guessing that this college rep is part of some kind of scam, or some hidden camera joke.

It is becoming the norm on many universities entrance questionnaire.

https://www.campuspride.org/tp...stions-as-an-option/

mdschert posted:

Son has meeting at his HS with a visiting rep from a college he was interested in attending.  My son described him as a flaming gay guy wearing too much jewelry.  The info card he was given to complete had the usual contact info but also wanted to know if he was LGBTQ, it was one of 4 or 5 lines to complete.  So son now thinks the school is only recruiting the LGBTQ community and checked off his list.  Not that there is anything wrong with LGBTQ but why would a college want to be represented in that way?

This sounds extraordinarily unlikely (unless your son's definition of flaming is way broader than mine), and I say that from the perspective of a son who visited/considered a number of extremely liberal schools. As someone else pointed out, schools often get local alums to do these things, and I suppose given the number of HS events that get covered, there's bound to be a dud or two, though.

That said, there are a lot of schools that take LGBTQ issues seriously, and it wouldn't particularly surprise me if they were interested in making it known that they were a community where it might be easier to fit in if you were LGBTQ. That might include some broad question on a survey/interest form.

mdschert posted:

Matt13 posted:

mdschert posted:

Son has meeting at his HS with a visiting rep from a college he was interested in attending.  My son described him as a flaming gay guy wearing too much jewelry.  The info card he was given to complete had the usual contact info but also wanted to know if he was LGBTQ, it was one of 4 or 5 lines to complete.  So son now thinks the school is only recruiting the LGBTQ community and checked off his list.  Not that there is anything wrong with LGBTQ but why would a college want to be represented in that way?

I think that's a pretty big conclusion to which to jump.

I agree but we are talking about a 16 yr old.  I don't know if I can ever get him to consider the college again.  Are there other schools that want to know sexual preference from the get go?????  Why would this ever be part of an information gathering process?  

I guess I am not the most open minded person but I don't know that would consider him dismissing this school as a bad thing.

just MY opinion.

There is a new politically correct push out there.  Here is an excerpt from a recent article:

"On the Universal College Application, which can be sent to 44 colleges, the question asking for an applicant’s “sex” will be updated to ask for “legal sex,” with the options being “male” or “female.” Applicants will also have the option of answering an additional question on gender identity, with the options being “male,” “female,” or “self-identify,” for which an open text field will be provided."

Full article: http://www.takepart.com/articl...r-identity-questions

If there was a box for Male or Female and then the box asking about if he identified with LGBTQ this may have been the reason. 

Here is another article detailing a list of schools who specifically ask the question (MIT and Purdue are on this list, so it isn't just small colleges doing this):

https://www.campuspride.org/tp...stions-as-an-option/

Well the whole issue of whether this is an appropriate question is it's own discussion.  I have my views but I'm not going to share them because it may lead to the derailing of this post.  

What I do have to offer is to check with the HS counselor and contact the college about whether this is how they do things.  There's nothing wrong with asking for clarification as to why they ask.  It may be harmless or it may go against your personal beliefs.  But without clarification you might be crossing off a great place.

Let me give this one example and it's embarrassing for my current school.  When I first got here we had a senior who felt he was the greatest football player on earth but he wouldn't listen to anybody.  He missed out on playing at the next level because he was an idiot.  Two or three years after he graduated there was a story on the local news that he was going to area high schools acting as a representative of the East Carolina University football program.  He would go to high schools and ask for kids to be pulled out of class and talk to them about playing football for ECU.  He finally went to a school where the head coach played at ECU and he called up there (it's about two hours from my area) to ask about this guy.  That's how they found out he was fake.  He had ECU polo shirt and paraphernalia and talked a good game.  There are some idiots out there in this world.  Maybe this guy is one of them and maybe he's not.  I say call and find out.

What was his angle?

Given his definition of the rep as "flaming" and his worry that they are targeting LGBTQ students for admission, maybe this (or any other) college isn't for him.

CaCO3Girl posted:

There is a new politically correct push out there.  Here is an excerpt from a recent article:

"On the Universal College Application, which can be sent to 44 colleges, the question asking for an applicant’s “sex” will be updated to ask for “legal sex,” with the options being “male” or “female.” Applicants will also have the option of answering an additional question on gender identity, with the options being “male,” “female,” or “self-identify,” for which an open text field will be provided."

Full article: http://www.takepart.com/articl...r-identity-questions

If there was a box for Male or Female and then the box asking about if he identified with LGBTQ this may have been the reason. 

Here is another article detailing a list of schools who specifically ask the question (MIT and Purdue are on this list, so it isn't just small colleges doing this):

https://www.campuspride.org/tp...stions-as-an-option/

 

Thanks CaCO3Girl, a college listed in the second article was the one represented at my son's school.  Seems awkward to me for a college to ask about sex of an inquiring student.  Well it back fired with my son, he wants nothing to do with the college now.  I wonder if it turns away more potential students than intended to bring in?   They must do this to look hip and progressive from marketing standpoint.  Last I studied the LGBTQ community represents only 3% of the population, seems ridiculous to risk losing potential students.