I’m transferring colleges because of how much my chronic illness is negatively impacted by the weather where I first went to college (top 20 LAC, northeast). I loved my school, but I think I owe it to myself to get the most out of the college experience as possible instead of spending 2 or even 3 days a week in bed. Is anyone else in a similar position? Does anyone have advice about how much and in what detail I should discuss my illness in my application and in interviews? Do you think my illness would be looked down upon by admissions?
Assuming it is a verifiable illness and truly weather related, it seems like a no-brainer to transfer, and if you write about it clearly, adcoms would completely understand. Not that most adcoms bother to verify these kinds of things, but do be prepared, if asked, to verify with a letter from a doctor. Write about it in some supplemental area. Be precise, use medical terms confidently but don’t over-rely on them either (be conversational).
The only down side I can see is that it would be even more powerful if you moved to a place where weather is not a factor and succeed–either at CC or at a job–for a period of time to demonstrate it always was the weather. Without this transition time of demonstrated success, the two questions that might remain in an adcom’s mind are A) is it only the weather? meaning, maybe the weather is only a piece of it and a change of location not enough to guarantee the student will be healthy and able to succeed at the new college and B) perhaps there is a mental illness that is undiagnosed that is parading as a weather-related problem.
I can’t say if A or B are true or not, but I think a rational adcom would at least have those questions come up. That is why a transition period of you being 1) healthy in a new location and 2) succeeding at something (job, CC) would really be useful for “proof” of you having <em>identified</em> the problem and <em>solved</em> it.
Good luck.
Thanks for your input!! I think what you’ve said will help me write about my health issues in a way that will, I hope, alleviate some of the potential admissions concerns that you talked about.