Illinois liberal arts school Elmhurst College has reported that fewer prospective students than expected identified themselves as LGBT.
The liberal arts school became the first in the country to ask students if they considered themselves to be part of the LGBT community, when it added an optional question it its application last year.
Just under five percent of applicants identified themselves as LGBT, while an estimated 80 to 95 percent answered the question.
Gary Rold, dean of admissions at Elmhurst, told Windy City Times that it is too soon to determine the exact percentage of applicants that identify as LGBT. Elmhurst accepts applications on rolling admission.
"We're still very much in the state of receiving applications," said Rold.
Rold said that nearly all applications will be in by mid-March., although most have already been received.
The number of LGBT applicants has been slightly lower than expected thus far.
"I'm a little surprised that it isn't higher," Rold said. "I thought we would actually have more."
Rold cites various statistics that estimate that between three to ten percent of college students are LGBT-identified.
But he does not think the five percent necessarily reflects on the number of LGBT applicants the school has. Rold said that Elmhurst college parents tend to be involved in students application processes. He speculates that many young applicants who are not out as LGBT to their families either skipped the question, marked that they preferred not to answer or simply stated that they did not identify as LGBT.
According to Rold, the fallout over the historic decision to ask prospective students about their sexual orientation/ gender identity has been small.
The question has sparked a community discussion on campus, he said.
Students who do identify as LGBT at Elmhurst are now eligible for the school's Enrichment Scholarship, offered to minority students. The scholarship slashes the tuition price tag by a third. Rold said that such large scholarships are very common at Elmhurst, and many LGBT-identified students may already qualify for discounted tuition for other reasons.
The application question is also being used to connect incoming LGBT students with resources, the college has said.
"I've gotten generally very good feedback from the admissions communities at other schools," said Rold, adding that between four and five other schools were consulting with Elmhurst on adding the question to their applications.
For young people especially, the question has been a non-issue, he said. "The 18 year olds don't seem to remark on it… it's just accepted, and acceptance is a cool thing."
