title. just want to know if it’s an automatic red flag or not. i have a solid reason but if it’s as much as a no-no as say mental health problems i’ll avoid mentioning it.
this is about a recurring illness that hospitalised me.
Yes, it’s ok to write about if it’s important to who you are.
If you are going to talk about it because it impacted your grades, put that in the additional info section. It’s best that your HS GC also mention its impact on your grades if they are writing a rec for you.
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What is the upside? Are you hoping the admissions office will ‘excuse’ a low grade or test score? I don’t think that’s likely. If you have a health problem that limits your athletic participation or time in clubs, it may be relevant.
But ask yourself what the upside of talking about it in an application is, and would your application be just as strong without disclosing the medical issue.
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Sure, you can write about yourself.
But a school can say, here’s an excuse maker…or here’s another resource we need that we don’t have enough of.
So that’s the flipside.
If you overcame something and are beyond it, it might be inspirational. But if you have or had something that sounds like an excuse, it could be crushing.
I’m sure you have lots of great things to write about - personally, I’d avoid that one.
But it could work…I don’t think anyone would, for example, discount a cancer survivor - whereas someone who got a bad grad because of covid or an undiagnosed learning disability - probably not going to garner sympathy…but may garner, I don’t want that person to become my problem.
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I would advise to think about how significant it is to your application. My daughter had a friend who got cancer sophomore year in high school and spent most of the year in the hospital. She had her school work brought to her and tried to keep up there. She did ok but not as good as before and obviously had no ECs that year. She had been a varsity athlete but wasn’t able to compete at all junior year either as she was still recovering and regaining her strength. By senior year she was back on the varsity team. While I never saw this girl’s application I would be very surprised if her health issues were not mentioned. I know she did well with admissions.
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I think that, to summarize - it’s OK, or sometimes even beneficial (rarely), to mention health problems in these cases:
A. They have been overcome, and are unlikely to be an issue in the future. However, they should not be mentioned in the context of “why my grades dropped”. That is something that the counselor can mention. In context of “why my participation in my favorite EC dropped” would be OK, so long as it’s not “why I did manage to win the so-and-so award”.
B. If it’s something that is a being fully managed and is manageable. For example, being hard of hearing or having mobility issues.
One must bear in mind that there are two issues from the college’s perspective: 1, they don’t really care what an applicant may have achieved, only what they have achieved, and 2, they are worried about liability and extra costs.
Oh, and finally, applicants should NOT use these health issues as part of a “How I Persevered and Overcame Obstacles” essay theme. That theme should be avoided entirely.
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context: i missed 40 days of sch when i a) had rescheduled competitions for swimming due to COVID-19 in another state b) got pneumonia when i came back and was hospitalised for it.
the grades for the 11th mid terms that followed are terrible, really bad and are the only significant academic blemish on my entire record.
my counselor’s… I’m intl. and my sch doesn’t really do abroad admissions. i’m not sure what she would include but i’ve emailed her about it.
i’ve had chest issues - asthmatic tendency but i’m managing it.
So you missed school for swim meets? Unless you’re a recruited swimmer, I would not go there.
If 11th grade was bad, then it was bad. You can’t excuse your way out of it - in my opinion.
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Again, what is the upside to mentioning it?
Your counselors can mention that you had covid and missed a lot of school. A teacher could mention that you were an A student but had a hard time catching up after getting covid but that you DID catch up as is shown by your senior grades. Quick mention by others, not by you.
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Your writing can be difficult to understand, I hope that is simply due to lack of focus/attention to detail when posting here.
Does your transcript show mid-term grades, or are you saying the midterm grades were so bad they resulted in poor grades for the marking period?
It is ok for you to mention in the additional info section that you had covid and were hospitalized for pneumonia in first semester junior year. This put you behind in classes and negatively affected your grades. But you were able to catch up and do well second semester.
That’s it, no longer than that. No mention of asthma. No mention of swimming. No mention of missing school for swimming.
I also would strongly prefer your counselor write something like this (if you need a counselor LoR for any of your schools). To help that person, show them what you have written.
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I agree with @Mwfan1921 .
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yes, my transcript shows my mid term grades. my final grades were also pulled down by them to a significant degree - they would have been far, far higher if not.
i’m a national medallist in swimming and i was representing my state for the national games. the times were shifted around because of COVID so it ended up happening during a time where classes were more intensive.
i’m trying to communicate this to my counselor but honestly, i’ve not had much contact with her - and teachers are shuffling around the responsibility of uploading (i’m the one of the only ones applying abroad from my grade). i only knew that my school even had a counselor a few weeks back. my LORs are weak (or will be weak, apart from the additional one) because none of my teachers have a lot of experience writing an LoR (and i had limited options). they do have good comments or attempts at good comments (nothing bad) but it just comes off as generic. i’m not really sure what can be done. hopefully they read the LoR’s in context of the school i attend?
Yes, colleges will read your entire app, including LoRs, in the context of the school you attend.
Do any of the colleges you are applying to require a counselor LoR? If not, that LoR and adding in a blurb about your hospitalization and impact on grades is a moot point.
If they do write an LoR and don’t put anything in there about your hospitalization, at least you will have the few sentences you wrote about it in the additional info section. That’s the best you will be able to do, and that is an appropriate use of that section.
Lastly, please ensure your application essays have proper punctuation and English spelling/grammar.
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If you are a nationally ranked swimmer, are you a recruited athlete? If so, ask the coaches for help in what to include and what to exclude on the apps.
Did you take up swimming to help with asthma? That would make a good essay, how you used swimming to help your health condition.
No AO is going to read an application and say "Oh, if only covid hadn’t switched the international swimming competitions around this student would have taken the exams at a different time and gotten much better grades. " They aren’t going to infer better grades or give you credit for them when they weren’t earned. The teachers didn’t give you higher grades because of the circumstances and the AOs aren’t going to either. It is what it is.
There are plenty of colleges with swim teams that will admit you with the grades you have. Concentrate on those.
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Your post originally asked about citing medical issues. When the previous posters commented that your counselors should address those kinds of comments, then you changed your tactics and added, well my letters of recommendation aren’t going to be good because I can’t reach my counselor/ I am the only one applying abroad so they won’t know.
All of this sounds like “my dog ate my homework” excuses. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE experienced Covid-related detriments; some people got sick.
Many, many thousands of student athletes couldn’t participate in their sports or anything at their schools and communities during Covid.
If you are not one of the top students at your school, and the counselors don’t give you the time of day, and you’re making excuses for your LORs, what does that say about what’s left of your application?
If you’re an international student who hopes to be admitted to a US university, you have to be come across strong in everything. Why should a university admit you when you are faulting the world around you? You’re not presenting yourself in the best light which is what the US universities want.
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If you’re a swimming recruit, you shouldn’t need to write about this illness thing.
If you’re not a swimming recruit, you shouldn’t write about the missing school thing.
I think a totally different essay topic would be better for you.
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this isn’t for an essay. i have my essay written and it’s alright. i’m just trying to figure out if it should go in the additional info section.
the barrier with the counselor isn’t because of me not being a top student. my school’s just unused to the process of applying abroad.
i have high grades and standardized test scores. my LORs do cite excellent work and engagement in class, but i’m afraid that wouldn’t compare to those written by teachers who have experience writing LORs. i’m one of the best students in my class and in the grade.
the low grades aren’t for the subjects i’m interested in as fields. and they’re just for one exam. but they’re very low when compared to my other grades and i had missed a month of school prior to these exams. it’s not reflective of who i am as a student, and i self-studied these same portions for the end of terms which i managed fairly well.
all i’m really asking is whether mentioning illness is a no-no like mentioning mental health is. the process for applications abroad is very different here, and nobody (most of my teachers included) knew who or even what a school counselor was. i did my digging and found her, although she’s as in the dark about the application process as i am. i’m also new to the school and know very little about the faculty. perhaps i could have figured it out earlier, but i’m doing my best with the resources that i have.
i really didn’t come here for criticism on the entirety of my application. i’d appreciate if people didn’t feel the need to do that.
thank you for your help.
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You’re one of the best students in your class and grade. You have high scores. What is making you feel like you are not a top student? In the college application process, students are judged within the context of their school. So I’m not sure you have anything you need to explain. I think the advice here is to not bring up the illness. Don’t take that advice as criticism of your application. Take it as a set of outside observers telling you that the explanation runs the risk of sounding like excuse-making, and that you may be being too critical of your own academic record. Let your top-of-your-school grades speak for themselves.
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It’s very mature of you to ask this question on this site. I agree some responses are harsh but I think well intended.
In the US, a bad grade on one month of exams during the year would not pull down your overall average that much. My D has received 70s on an individual exams and still managed a 90 or above in every class regardless of a bad grade. The Transcript should only have the end of year average grade, not every grade.
You are a nationally ranked swimmer. The AO will see the time and dedication it takes to achieve that goal and the pressure it puts on your academics. Put down the number of hours a week you swim on your application. The AO looks at the whole application holistically, not just one month of exams. Good luck in your process.
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I also agree with @Mwfan1921 - you can add that you were hospitalized for a semester which impacted your grades for that semester but that you, and your grades. I also wouldn’t say anything else.