Common App ‘legal sex’ question creates ‘confusion’ for women’s college

Changes to a standard college application form regarding a student’s “legal sex” is causing “confusion” at a women’s college.

Common App, which more than 1,000 higher education institutions use for admissions according to its website, recently has made changes to questions about students’ “sex and gender.” These include the option to choose “X for another legal sex” on the application for the 2023-24 school year.

Emma Steele, a spokesperson for the organization, told The College Fix in a recent email that the changes were made “to better reflect the more than one million students who use Common App each year.”

But at women-only Sweet Briar College in Virginia, leaders say the application changes — including “multiple gender options” — have caused “confusion” about whom the institution admits.

“The confusion this creates for applicants seeking admission to a women’s college like Sweet Briar, necessitated a review of the College’s admission policy by the Board and administration of the College,” Sweet Briar said in a statement provided to The Fix by spokesperson Clélie Steckel.

Prompted by the Common App changes, “Sweet Briar College affirmed that it will continue its 123-year commitment to only admit women,” the college stated.

“Since political and other influences now call the meaning of the term ‘woman’ into question, the College affirmed that it understands the term in its historic and traditional way consistent with the intentions of our founder,” it stated.

Just three colleges in the U.S. still admit women only: Sweet Briar College, the College of Saint Mary in Nebraska, and Saint Mary’s College in Indiana, The College Fix reported earlier this year. Many women’s colleges have adopted admissions policies that allow biological male students who identify as female.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/common-app-legal-sex-question-creates-confusion-for-womens-college/