<p>No, Coureur - the OP says that she WANTS to talk about it. That is the whole point of this thread. Overcoming it has become important to who she is. OP is worried about not allowing her the chance to use her voice.</p>
<p>Both my kids have issues/concerns that are ongoing that they wrote about.
Both were admitted to all their schools.</p>
<p>Our reasoning on being upfront was because it was ongoing & they would need support.
We wanted to know what schools were not prepared to offer support.
Since they were accepted to all, that indicates all the schools were prepared initially to provide support, but that does vary by school & even year to year.</p>
<p>She should go ahead and draft the essay. (Use Common App prompts from last year if the new ones are not out - they don’t change that much). Then she should draft some others with different themes. There’s plenty of time to decide essay strategy. For now she should just take advantage of summer break to try a few different ideas.</p>
<p>As a rule, it is not recommended to write about things that have a good chance of being negatively perceived. As others here have said, you have no idea who is reading the essays and how that person will look at the situation. Regardless of what colleges say about the care they take in reading the essays, the truth of the matter is that there is not time to give every essay a lot of atttention, and in a case like this, the thing that can come out of this is that the applicant had an eating disorder. </p>
<p>If the student really feels this is an important part of her application, I would suggest that she include the essay in some of applications, and not in others, and maybe add a few more schools to the mix. I will say that my son was panned by his GCs (and I agreed) about an essay he wrote, and he actually got some comments on it from some admissions folks, and it was instrumental in getting him into a top school. So much for the formulas, as the essay did fall into a category that I would never advise anyone to submit such an essay in an a college app. </p>
<p>I also want to add, that a great friend of mine has a daughter now in her mid thirties who had/s an eating disorder. After much agonizing and going back and forth, the parents decided they could not risk having her go away to college. And she had some highly selective schools accept her. It was not a happy time when she was told she had to commute. But it might have saved her life. There is a high relapse rate in eating disorders, especially when it has gone as far as hers did, and she did relapse a number of times. Now she is married, and seems to be stable, went to an ivy league school for graduate school and is doing very well. But she also will admit that she likely will always have the disorder and has to be aware of it and work to keep it at bay, and it’s been 10 years since her last relapse. </p>
<p>Yes, colleges do have mental health centers and are well aware of all of the issues that young adults can have, but it’s one thing being aware of that and another to welcome the problems. Depending on the severity of an issue, schools can request that you take/stay on leave until you can satisfy their requirements of being in control. I would say that many people would want to reduce the risks of such problems by culling those that have a known history. But then again, a reader of the applications, the admissions person could have the exact same problem or be someone who does like to see those who have overcome adversity, and it could be an asset. I don’t think the chances are on the positive side, but, yes, it can happen, and I’ve been wrong on these things. So, I say mix it up and see how it goes.</p>
<p>I’m just going to throw out, as another reason I don’t like this essay topic, that it seems too “me-focused.” I think the best essays are the ones where students are talking about something outside themselves, but in doing so reveal something very specific and personal about how they see the world. I read a lot of student college admissions essays, and the ones where students are directly talking about themselves, even if what they’re saying is truthful and earnest, are a tougher slog to read through, especially after you’ve read quite a few in a day. </p>
<p>This may be an inflammatory thing to say… but it’s just how such essays strike my ear when I read them. I don’t doubt there are some excellent ones (I’ve read a few) and that students who write them often get accepted to their first choice schools – but I prefer to see students stretch out and take on other topics.</p>
<p>I think an earlier poster had an excellent idea – to write the essay, but also write another one on a different topic, and then let them lie for a while and go back them later and see which emerges as stronger or more interesting or what with fresh re-write could really pop out. My kids both wrote multiple essays and both ended up submitting one that they didn’t at first think was their best topic.</p>
<p>My D wrote a college essay for her high school english class about her parents divorce. When I read it I was horrified because it did not paint a very pretty picture - and unless you actually knew my D you would easily get the wrong impression. </p>
<p>I told her what I thought of it and she agreed. She did not try to recaste the essay - likely because that was what she really wanted to say and couldn’t find a way around it. She went on to write an awesome - simply delightful essay about another potentially sensitive subject that I thought was great (obviously). She was admitted to 6 of the 8 schools she applied, waitlisted at one. </p>
<p>It is really all in the delivery. Finding a way to say what needs to be said in an entertaining, detached, and even joyful manner. I love the idea of writing about a couple different topics and choosing the one that feels right.</p>
<p>I think there could be a downside, and if it were my child, I would advise her not to write her essay on this topic. While I do think it’s a huge achievement to beat this disease, you don’t know who the readers of the essay will be and what their experience/prejudices about eating disorders may be. I would say this about any mental illness. That said, if she feels strongly about writing about beating her eating disorder (and it was at least a couple years ago), I wouldn’t argue too hard against it. It’s part of who she is, and if a school has a problem with it, maybe that’s not the place for her (although it’s not really the school, but a person or persons on the admissions staff). Congratulations to your daughter; I know girls who have battled this disease and it takes a lot of strength to get through it.</p>
<p>Perhaps it could be appropriate for a “challenge that you’ve overcome” essay. I recall that MIT had a prompt like that… it was the hardest one for DS. (He punted with a humorous avoidance answer).</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments.</p>