Applying to transfer to Wellesley... should i talk about struggle with depression in my essay?

College Essays
1

I’m a bright student. I always received good grades and did very well in my writing classes. My mom is an immigrant and barely spoke english when i was a child. She’s also partially deaf and blind, so i didn’t get much help from her. My dad worked all the time. I still managed to get good grades up until high school, so I’m very capable of achieving high academic success. I had depression for a long time but never treated it and it got bad my second year of high school. I stopped going to school and my grades dropped a lot. People at my school began treating me really badly and on top of my depression it was too overwhelming, so I stopped going. Eventually I had to be hospitalized. I went back my third year, made all As, and graduated a year early but my transcript still looks pretty bad. I got a 3.14 GPA.

I went to live in south america where my family is from after that. I was only 17, had little money, and lived with my abusive grandmother. This summer I came back to the US and began community college. I’m doing a lot better. I see a psychologist every week which is helping me immensely and have been getting very good grades. I’m stable, happy, and determined to get into a good college. If I receive all As and I believe I have a chance at getting into Wellesley.

I’m not sure if I should explain in my college application essay what happened to me. I never took my SAT or ACT and didn’t do a lot of extracurriculars other than some volunteering. Nonetheless I’m very passionate and dedicated. I want to express this in my college application essay. Should I also mention my experience with depression? I was thinking it could explain why I did poorly and that I’ve recovered and have become a much stronger, wiser person since then. I’m not so sure if a college like this would want students who have struggled with mental illness though.

What do you guys think? Thanks in advanced!

(I’m also applying to Smith and possibly Claremont McKenna. Wellesley is my first choice.)

2

From personal experience, I believe that the stigma against people with mental illness is still very real. Depression is something that people can manage, but there’s always the fear that a stressful event like transitioning to college will lead to a relapse. And some college’s don’t want to put themselves in the situation of having a student who is more likely have to take a leave of absence, or do poorly and drop out, or worse, do things that are self-destructive in secret.

3

I believe depending on this is like a Hail Mary Pass where you have to do it out of desperation because you have nothing else to offer up. It isn’t that they don’t want students who have struggled with this it is that they can’t possibly evaluate your fitness to attend, and they can’t count on your affirmations either. It is much stronger when this is clearly some distance from this with evidence of high functioning. I think it puts all your eggs in one basket. Since it seems so central to your story, you will have to give it a shot perhaps.

Transfer application are much more about what you have done than your potential. Certainly you must show what you have done to prepare for such level of colleges. So keep the focus on your preparation and accomplishments.

4

Thank you! I don’t really think it’s central to my story. i have a lot of other things i could write about but I do think this is something I struggled a lot with but in the end was able to beat and become a better person through. I figured since I made it through and got my life back together it could explain what i was going through while also showing how my determination and various passions helped me get through something difficult. I wasn’t sure if they would see the depression as a risk and i definitely don’t want to come off as if I’m trying to make excuses either! That last piece of advice is good too. This was very helpful.