Let’s say your diagnosed with a disease, a family member dies, etc etc. do College Admissions officers want you to explain that to them in the box? Why?
Yes, if there are extenuating circumstances that help explain lower grades than usual, it’s a good idea.
In my daughter’s case, we explained that she had a hard time after her older brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and she had to call 911 when he was struggling. It helped explain her lower GPA in 11th grade. We went on to say, however, how she had addressed her situation and is doing well now. She will start college in the fall with a good bit of financial aid.
I talked about chronic illness in the additional comments section and about epilepsy in my essay. One of my colleges praised me for “my determination in light of the illness” (or something to that effect) in my acceptance letter. I did pretty well in the college process - I was accepted into a couple CTCLs, honors colleges, and received plenty of merit/financial aid (even a full ride!).
@Snowybuny @MaineLonghorn I was diagnosed with a syndrome that’s mainly affects mental health, but not many people know that I have it. For example, my guidance counselor doesn’t know, so would they call my school to check if I actually had the syndrome? Another thing is, what if a death in the family took me out of school, but I"m afraid an admissions officer would read that and be like “that’s not her immediate family”… I don’t want to have my situations judged, if that makes sense. I guess my question is, what would the admissions officer NOT want to read in the special circumstances box?
Why haven’t you discussed this with your GC? These are very disruptive factors in your life and you absolutely should talk to your GC. The GC has more credibility than the student and can either write about this in the rec, or verify that it is correct info. Re the death in the family, I think that depends on circumstances. Is this someone who helped raise you, or who you were extremely close to, or provided financially for your family? If not, be wary of appearing as though you are unable to handle any kind of disruption or difficulty in your life. Everyone does experience the death of a loved one at some point, but obviously the death of a parent, sibling, or someone as I described above is more traumatic I imagine. Talk to your GC.
The death in the family I would only mention if it unavoidably impacted your life and schoolwork in a way other than just being absent from classes due to travel. Sorry to phrase it harshly, but its true you don’t want your situation judged negatively, and missing many days of school was a choice you and your family made.
@flatKansas even though I think that it impacted me and my family a lot, I’m probably not going to write about it. I agree with you because I think it meant more to me then I could effectively convey.
@Lindagaf the syndrome I have is pretty common, I think 1 in 20 females have it, and even though it has impacted me and my mental health, I don’t know how much they will care.
There are cultures where the death of a not so close relative does mean the whole family travels. And it can mean more than a few days missed.
But see how ML and Snowbuny noted regrouping or staying determined, despite the challenges? That matters. Adcoms want to see you got past, not just here’s why my grades are low. They want to think you can do well at their colleges.
“Special Circumstances” is on the CSS Profile, not an adcom’s file. You mean Addl Info, part of the Common App.