<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm from Germany and graduated from high school in 2010. Then I started studying mathematics at the university in my hometown, but after a year decided to drop out of university because I suffered from severe mental health problems and was not really motivated anymore and my performance was, although not too bad, not satisfying either. I'm currently doing an internship and will then do voluntary community service abroad for a few months, mainly to get back on track again.</p>
<p>I've now applied to Yale, Penn, Columbia, Williams and Amherst and think I have quite a good shot at getting into one of them.</p>
<p>However, I screwed up my college year. I still have to send my transcript to the unis I've applied to. Now I'm asking myself whether I should attach to my transcript a note explaining why I performed rather badly. While that might shed a different light on my performance because of extenuating circumstances, I doubt that colleges (especially the top ones!) are eager to admit someone with a history of mental health problems (leadership etc...).</p>
<p>I'd be very grateful for advice on this - should I include an accompanying explanation or not?
My college year could really screw up my whole application...:/</p>
<p>Well what do you mean by you have a good chance to get in? Internationals often times have a tough time getting into US schools and on top of that, isn’t GPA one of THE MOST important factors when transferring? What else important can they judge your merit on.</p>
<p>And I really can’t say if your mental condition will make a real difference to an Ivy. They get ton’s of applicants a year from those who never took off for any reason past struggle and strife, there are so many qualified people that I just don’t think an “excuse” as they might put it, would allow someone to be put into the school.</p>
<p>I differ with drac313 in one respect. </p>
<p>A psychiatric illness or mood disorder is not an “excuse” (implying laziness or making excuses.) It’s an illness. </p>
<p>also–I attended an Ivy and can testify that many of those qualified and accepted students were dealing with depression, bipolar syndrome, etc. </p>
<p>If you are indeed able to attach a note to your transcript (i don’t know that everyone can do that), you could write something short like “withdrew from classes temporarily, due to mood disorder, which has been successfully treated.” (adjust the wording to fit your own case of course.)</p>
<p>I do agree with drac313 that you should be cautious about your chances. you’d need a very strong record, illness or no illness, to feel anything close to assured of getting into the schools you mentioned. Aren’t the odds even longer for international students? good luck, though.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice from both of you.</p>
<p>I know my chances are not that high for each of the colleges I mentioned, even if my application is very good. Especially as an international applying for financial aid. It’s just the case that, whatever my chances might be, I want to optimize them. However, I’m quite wary of mentioning this mental health thing because Ivies might not be so interested in admitting someone whose leadership prospects seem to be inhibited by this.</p>
<p>I guess I’m just going to attach a note only explaining why some courses are incomplete on my transcript (I had already planned to take a study break)…</p>