Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Mount Holyoke College
1

Hi!

I’m a rising senior who goes to an all girls private school. I’ve had on and off problems with illness (severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome, due in part to abdominal adhesion from a surgery I had as a child to remove a large tumor) since freshman year. During freshman year, I had to drop Honors Biology and take a reduced course load midway through the year because I was still recovering from an extremely bad bout (hospitalization, rapid weight loss, dehydration).

Then, during the summer before my junior year, my problems flared up again. I had to make the decision to cut AP US History from my schedule and took only one AP related to the major I’m interested in for college (English Language). Since I’m still having chronic abdominal pain every day, I’m not going to be able to take AP Government and will, again, have only one AP (English Literature). Here’s a more detailed picture of what my schedules have looked like:

Freshman Year
Honors Bio (1/2 year, withdraw medical on transcript)
Honors English
Honors World History
Honors Geometry
Spanish I
Study Hall

Sophomore Year
Algebra II
Chemistry
Honors English
Honors Western Civilization
Spanish II
Study Hall

Junior Year
Honors Biology
AP English Language and Composition
Pre-calculus
Independent Study in Cosmetic Chemistry (one semester, might do a second semester senior year)
Honors US History
Government (single semester course - really liked it, which is why I’m considering taking AP)
Chorus during one of the 6 class periods

Senior Year
Honors Creative Writing
AP English Literature and Composition
Religion course (required)
Calculus (first semester) and Statistics (second semester)
Physics
Chorus during one of the 6 class periods (instead of AP Government)
Technical Theater course
Possibly a second semester of that Independent Study

I’ve still participated in extra-curricular activities and kept a high GPA despite my absences/illness (3.9 unweighted, 4.6 weighted).

Extra-curricular Activities:
Officer in my International Thespian Society troupe since junior year (before we had a troupe, I was a member of the drama club)
Did makeup for my school’s drama productions (one other girl helped freshman year, was entirely on my own sophomore year, and for junior and senior year I’m the “crew head”)
Led a 3 1/2 hour seminar junior year to teach girls about the skin and how to take care of it
Member of chorus since freshman year (took Honors Chorus sophomore-senior year)
Member of Chamber Choir (another honors course - it’s a smaller singing group) since sophomore year
I’ll also be going to sing at Carnegie Hall with my choir in the spring of this year - is that something I can put on my app?
Community service at Food Bank (20 hours a year)
Spanish Honors Society
Participated in National History Day my sophomore and junior year (wrote a paper)

I’ve one two awards for my work in drama and chorus as well.

I still have time to change my schedule, so it would be great if you could weigh in on whether or not that third AP is important. Also, I didn’t take 3 years of language because the teacher was notorious for creating a stressful environment (he threw chalk at a girl once - would’ve been bad for my IBS, which can be induced by stress). I could see who is teaching Spanish 3 or could enroll in Latin.

My final question (sorry this is so long!) - will Mount Holyoke take into consideration my illness when evaluating my schedule’s rigor?

Thank you!!

2

I’m sure they will since it is mentioned in the transcript. A good idea would be to get your advisor to note about this when they fill out their advisor forms when you apply.

3

@simslover
I think you have a great chance. Your GPA and course load, despite your illness, proves that you are a great candidate for that college. I have an amazing chance.

Have you taken the SAT or the ACT?

4

Yes, I have! I was sick with a stomach bug (which, when you have IBS already, is not fun!) when I took it and hadn’t done any prep so I could see which areas I’d need to focus on with a tutor. I ended up with an 1890 (Writing: 660, Math: 560, Critical Reading: 670). I’m going to be preparing and learning all the math tips and tricks and taking it again in the fall. I’m hoping for a 2,000+. I think I can get it.

It’s good to know that they’ll probably take the IBS into consideration. I worry, because although I rarely come into contact with intolerant people who don’t believe that the disorder significantly impacts my quality of life, I read stories about other IBS patients dealing with those kind of people all the time. It’s hard for some people to understand that the level of pain that I experience can be different and more severe than the level of pain that someone else with more mild IBS experiences.

5

I think you have an excellent chance. My daughter, too, had to reduce her course load in high school due to illness. She dropped from full-IB to part IB and part CP classes. She had to drop a lot of classes junior year.

Mount Holyoke was her top choice, and she is happily attending there now. I hope that you will be able to interview with the representative for your region when they are in your area this fall. (Tip: go on the web site now, figure out who that person is, and set up the appointment well in advance!) That will be a great place to talk about this situation.

Good luck: MHC is such a terrific place!

6

Wow, thank you so much for coming across this thread and replying! I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s illness, but I’m glad that everything worked out for her. I’m much more hopeful about my own situation after hearing about hers.

7

I think you have a great chance at getting in. And I’m sorry to hear that people are intolerant/unaware of your illness. I, myself, have struggled with it for years, and now as an undergrad I find that more people are understanding of this issue. Hopefully, you will find this to be the same. Best of luck to you!