I have recently found that there is no place to mention my disability on the Common App. I believe that my disability helps show who I am. Is there any way I can acknowledge my disability on the application, aside from the essay portion? Thank you!
The only way is via the Additional Info essay, or in conjunction with your HS counselor recommendation.
While your disability may indeed influence your life, your choices and your decisions, they do not define who you are and as such, the Common App folk purposefully omit it from the general info section of the application.
No… “Additional Info” is a place to mention it, but it is NOT a place for an extra essay. You can put a couple of sentences there if you want. Do not write an extra essay. Or you can ask your guidance counselor to mention it in their recommendation, and skip it entirely in yours.
I am going to be honest, I think disclosing a disability can backfire. Academic disabilities can make them wonder if you can really do the work at the school. A physical disability is less likely to backfire, IMHO, unless it has really hampered your academics a lot (again, the college admissions office then wonders if you will be able to succeed in their environment). They want to admit students who will stay at the college, be successful, and graduate. If your essay worries them in that regard, it can hurt your application. You can research their disability services before applying, and openly discuss it after you’ve been accepted but before deciding to attend. Some students do disclose. It probably doesn’t always work against them, but sometimes it does.
When you are thinking about your Common App and supplemental essays for a school, consider carefully that most students have many ways they can answer the questions. Most students are multidimensional, and there are multiple ways they can approach the questions. You want to make them want you on campus, so think about an essay topic that intrigues them and makes them feel like they got to know you. A literal answer to the questions isn’t always most helpful.
It’s up to each individual to decide what defines them. If race and gender, which the Common App does ask about, can be defining traits, then there’s no reason disability cannot or should not be as well. There’s nothing wrong with disability being part of a person’s identity.
The optional additional info question is a good place to address this.
The counselor recommendation can mention it too, but not necessarily; it might also balance out the info you present for the AO’s to see that while your disability is an essential part of who you are, it isn’t necessarily one of the most important things about you from the point of view of your guidance counselor and others. This could definitely go either way depending on the circumstances and what nuance you want to communicate.
Of course, we have no idea what sort of disability. You may feel it “helps show who I am,” but this is your college app and they would like to see how you’ve succeeded despite a challenge. And if you have, then as intparent says, perhaps other parts of you are equally worth presenting. Remember, “Show, not just tell.”
Thank you for the responses. My disability is speech related, which makes it hard for me to communicate. It is nothing mental, that keeps me from doing well in school. I’ve found that in the past, my fear of speaking has recently taught me confidence. Given that, does anyone still think that it would be bad to mention?
@college1654 This might be fine. Remember, the point isn’t what limits you, but how you make the best, despite. How you turned this to confidence could work. Remember, “Show, not just tell.” It can mean giving examples. Not just, “And now I’m surer of myself,” but eg, how you do reach out or take on new challenges and do some good. Try it.
yeah…think about “the King’s Speech”.
Don’t say “I had a stutter and then got therapy and now am more confident”
but show it
"The producer pointed his fingers at me indicating I could start talking on the radio broadcast. I wasn’t sure what was worse…having to declare Britain was at War or speaking in front of the entire country. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have definitely said speaking. "