I recently finished my PhD at fancy research university. Between my own cohort, those who started after me, and those who were already there when I arrived, I know about about a decade’s worth of students in the program. Of these, the overwhelming majority, perhaps 90%, are thin.

In my undergraduate classes, there were students of all shapes and sizes. Some had the aptitude and drive to pursue graduate study and some didn’t, but it was abundantly clear this had nothing to do with weight. And yet there seemed to be an unofficial BMI cutoff for grad school.

My program didn’t do interviews, so I can’t fault the admissions committees for out-and-out fatphobia. What the situation points to, I think, is something more insidious: at the undergraduate level, only thin students are a) getting the encouragement and mentoring to apply to top-notch grad programs and b) receiving the kind of letters of recommendation that are necessary to secure admission in a competitive field.



(FWIW, I entered the program as one of those rare fat students, and promptly developed an eating disorder. Thin privilege is the amazing uptick in professional attention, support, and encouragement I received once I lost weight– with just one exception, nobody asked how or why. I’m terrified if I ever gain it back I’ll put my academic career in jeopardy.)