Gay for Ivy League Education?

In the hopes of setting themselves apart from the sea of similarly qualified applicants, students seeking admission to Ivy League schools and similarly high-caliber institutions are increasingly electing to identify themselves as LGBT on applications.

According to a recent article inDetails, elite universities are now actively courting LGBT students in their admissions process, often soliciting applications through outreach programs like the University of Pennsylvania's Multicultural Scholars' Weekend.

Most universities are quick to deny that these outreach programs constitute a form of affirmative action, but few will deny that information on orientation and gender identity figures into a holistic selection process.

"I think a student's orientation would also need to feed into something either like a really strong sense of self-awareness or a willingness to organize politically and socially and form a support group or start a gay-straight alliance," private college consultant Irena Smith told Details. "I think admissions officers are more savvy than to just say, 'Here's an LGBT kid -- we don't have enough of those.'"