During my Freshman and part of my Sophomore year my grades suffered due to depression. Since then, I have been a straight-A student and been involved in various clubs and other extracurricular activities. I was wondering if it was worth addressing my mental illness as a way to put context on my grades at the beginning of high school. I was planning on also making sure they know that this issue is in the past and I now know how to recognize and deal with the problem.
Thanks.
For context, my average improved around 8 points from freshman to junior year.
The conventional wisdom is to avoid discussing mental illness in a college application as it can be a red flag for admissions officers. But it is your application and your decision.
@happy1 Thanks for the reply. I was planning on putting it in the additional info section, saying that I struggled with it early in high school and it had adverse affect on my grades. However, I overcame the issue and have not had to deal with it in over 2 years. That’s a very short summary, but that’s the main point. Planning on asking my counselor on Monday.
This type of information is generally better off coming from your guidance counselor directly. This way is is seen as verified information and there is no chance that it woudl sound like an applicant making an excuse. I would ask the guidance counselor to word it vaguely – ex. you had a medical issue which you overcame.
Since you have posted in the UC forum, there is no counselor recommendation that will be sent to the UC’s, so if you have not submitted your application yet, I would consider not mentioning it at all in the additional information section. You might want address it vaguely in one of your personal insight essays by stating you had some health issues 9-10th grades and now are doing fine.
@Gumbymom@intparent I’m aware no counselor recommendations will be sent to UC schools. I’m meeting with my counselor on Monday to discuss it. Thanks for your help.