<p>I'm currently a junior, and this past year has been an absolute horror in terms of everything. I have always been a hard-working, straight A student with a rigorous courseload. However, in May of sophomore year, I began feeling lethargic, which I simply treated as burnout after a year of 5 AP classes and exams. During this time, my mom's bipolar disorder/anxiety worsened significantly, but she refused to see anyone about it and I just dealt with it. Over the summer, I continued to work, this time on SAT prep classes and community college courses, and by the time junior year rolled around, I was pretty much drained. I kept working however, until I decided to talk to my counselor one day because I legitimately felt like I couldn't keep it up any longer. </p>
<p>My counselor "diagnosed" me with depression/anxiety, but I never got a chance to see a psychiatrist due to my mom's condition. My dad works across the globe and only visits semiannually, so that was out of the question as well. I told me counselor I would try and battle it out until my condition got better, but as the year went on, it got increasingly worse. I ended up with 3 Fs and 1 D on my transcript that semester, out of a straight A sophomore year. I am in a much better condition now, after a meeting with my mom and counselor, but am now beginning to worry about the impact these grades will have on my college apps next year.</p>
<p>Basically, how do adcoms look at mental illness? Does this even count as an extenuating circumstance? I am very close with my counselor (thankfully) and I think she would be able to help explain my grade drop, but I am still unsure of how that would portray me as. This semester, I currently have straight As again, and I am back to my "normal" self. I've heard of the caution adcoms exhibit in situations with mental illness and such, and understandably so. My dream school is MIT, but I really don't think that is realistic at this point. Any advice on this situation would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I’m sorry to hear about this state of affairs. So there are no arrangements for you to visit your doctor at all? First, you have no actual known mental illness or diagnosis per se. Just some symptoms that appear consistent to your GC. There could be any number of things wrong including depression. You need to get to the doctor for a check up and discuss this.</p>
<p>I don’t know why you would be taking a schedule like that sophomore year, it is really unnecessary. And I assume Jr year was the same. You must realize that something has to give before D’s and F’s. It is better not to take community college classes and not take APs if you can’t get A and Bs. You are okay to graduate with 3 failed classes or are you considering repeating a semester or year? Those grades are going to be a problem and in a key year like Jr year. Why aren’t you discussing these issues with your GC? If you can get in somewhere and then do well and transfer, that may be your best bet.</p>
<p>So without and diagnosis and treatment you are not really left with a medical excuse, and without some distance from it I wouldn’t like to use it anyway. I think you are going to have to rely on home problems as the reason and have the GC address it in the recommendation. You might also do better to take a gap year and apply because that will let your Sr grades for spring be included, along with any activity you do during the gap year.</p>
<p>There are numerous issues that I have with your circumstances. First, I am sorry. Your school should have never let a sophomore take 5 AP classes - that is absolutely inexcusable. But secondly, the fact that your GC (with no psychological training) diagnosed you but did not refer you to a licensed medical practitioner means that you have no medical excuse. You have no legitimate diagnosis, no medical documentation. And the fact that despite your GC thinking that you had what seems like severe depression, did not work to get you accredited counseling is another ball dropped. If you were suffering from depression, you deserved to get help. I am assuming that somehow you are having to make up these three failed classes?? Your GC needs to work with you to figure out how you can make up these classes (maybe taking a gap year would be best). Good luck.</p>
<p>@BrownParent, during the meeting with my mom and GC, my counselor advised my mom to take me to a psychiatrist/therapist, and referred us to several therapists for depression/anxiety, but my mom never took me. Regarding the AP classes, I have always been very capable of doing well in AP classes, as I took 2 my freshman year, and 5 my sophomore, and received straight As throughout. It was after my mental health basically sent me crashing down, that I began to do very poorly. I am good to graduate on time, I am just stressed about my college application situation and how to explain everything to them. </p>
<p>@Momof2back2back, I addressed a lot of your concerns in my ^ reply. I met with my GC multiple times throughout the year, and she referred me to various therapists but my mother never took me. I have enough credits to graduate, so I do not need to make up the classes, but I am still worried as to how colleges will view this.</p>