How will my circumstances affect transferring? Health problems, including mental.

Transfer Students
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<p>Alright, a bit of a long post, but I’m honestly completely unsure on a number of issues. If anyone has had a similar experience with at least one of the issues, I’d appreciate some enlightenment.
Stats:
SAT: 1560 M+CR, 1600 if super scored.
ACT: 34
HS GPA: None, opted out of HS and self schooled following 9th grade (in effect 8th grade, I never went to school during my freshman year.)
HS EC: Lots of volunteer hours, not much else.
College EC: 3 research paper publications, including 2 in the flagship journal of my eventual field.<br>
College Major: Evolutionary Biology and Physical Anthropology (though I’ve debated switching to microbio to focus on viral evolution) and currently pursuing a minor in math.<br>
I’m not really concerned about my stats listed above, I don’t think there’s any school where they’d really hold me back. The problem comes with some college stuff; below are my GPAs by quarter, with an explanation of what happened.</p>

<p>Summer 2008: *3.3 * Have a letter of recommendation from prof explaining that he hated to give the poor grade, but my handwriting was illegible on the final exam and that without ODS official accommodations, there was nothing he could do. I received accommodation for motor Dysgraphia from the following quarter onward.</p>

<p>Autumn 2008: 4.0</p>

<p>Winter 2009: 3.9</p>

<p>Spring 2009: 2.3 I was misdiagnosed with a terminal, degenerative disease and told that I’d probably have 5 years left outside of a wheelchair, 10 before I’d be bedridden. I was (understandably) depressed, and let my grades suffer.</p>

<p>Summer 2009: 3.23 I found out about the misdiagnosis about 4 weeks into a 10 week quarter. I pulled 2 grades up to A’s, but one was too far gone to recover from. I could probably get a letter from this prof as well, he wrote me one to recommend promotion to accelerated classes after I explained the situation to him, and he observed the rebound.</p>

<p>Fall 2009: **1.0 **This quarter was just a nightmare. The symptoms previously interpreted as Multiple Sclerosis were properly diagnosed, and I started medication that made me feel ill whenever I moved. Further, I had a roommate who would stay up until 5 am nightly watching porn and playing video games, and that mixed with my severe insomnia (I was taking Ambien at the time with little improvement) led me to go as long as a week without sleeping at times. I started to show signs of severe mental instability, and began seeing a psychiatrist for clinical depression and possible schizoid features (schizoid personality disorder, schizophrenia, etc.) Over winter break I began taking an SNRI and a mild dosage atypical antipsychotic, and the frequency and intensity of my hallucinations have gone down dramatically; I’ve also been allowed a single room, starting winter quarter. </p>

<p>I have 2 questions regarding my college history here, and how it might affect admission to other schools.
1.) With proper medical documentation, will the school take my circumstances into account when viewing my gpa? Quarterly GPAs like a 2.3 are obviously unappealing in a transfer student, but I feel that given the circumstances, it’s understandable.<br>
2.) Will my poor mental health (especially the possibility of a psychotic disorder) greatly impact my possibility of admission? I have things under control now, they were just spiraling downward in the horrible environment, and made worse by being unmedicated.<br>
Schools I’m interested in that I think I’d otherwise have a chance at:
Reed College
Grinnell College
Cornell University
The University of Chicago (maybe; I need to see how much of the core I would have to take.)
Oberlin College
Safety:
College of Wooster (Ohio)
Extreme Reach:
MIT</p>

<p>Thank you for reading my excessively long post! If you have any input, I’d love to hear it.</p>

<p>Edit: fixed the wall of text, copy paste from word didn't save formatting.</p>

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<p>Hi, I was in school for 3 semesters and then took a medical leave for mental illness. I was away from school for a year but have successfully transferred for spring, getting into all my schools, including my number one choice.
I don’t see any reason why school’s won’t take into consideration the medical explanations for your grades. It would irresponsible not to, in my opinion. Most schools say they don’t discriminate for a number of reasons, including disability. I think you just have to explain to the school that you have things more under control now, which is what I did in all my interviews and in my application. With your medical records, teacher’s recommendations and you, as well, explaining what happened it’s clear that you have all that covered. The schools will probably want to keep tabs on how things are going.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Also, make sure you have a support system available to you where ever you end up, not for the school, but just for you. I purposefully applied to schools close to my treatment team.</p>

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<p>bump before bed</p>

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<p>bump : \ 10 characters</p>

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<p>I think you need to apply to schools that are very open-minded. I think you have justification for GPA, but I think you should talk about what makes you unique. How’s it changed you? What it felt like when you went through those things… and overall what you will bring to the college environment?</p>

<p>I think your GPA will hurt you if you don’t make yourself look like Wow, all she has been through and she will has drive and motivation. Also make sure to discuss you’ve learned you can’t have your grades suffer from personal issues etc… </p>

<p>I think you will get in somewhere.</p>

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<p>You may want to take your questions to the Parents Forum and/or to the Learning Differences and Challenges Forum. Someone at those forums has had experience with your situation and can advise.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>Alright, I’ll try that happymom.</p>

<p>I guess I’m really just concerned that in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting (and others,) schools will play it better safe than sorry when it comes to applicants with a history of mental health problems.</p>

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<p>Can you finish your degree at your current college? Because if so, consider your current college your locked-in safety and keep moving forward with your degree there in the meantime.</p>

<p>As for your questions about transfer, I think your biggest hurdle is that you have not established yourself as a viable student post-diagnosis. You do not appear on paper to have achieved a place of stability where you are being successfully treated <em>and</em>succeeding in school. </p>

<p>I am not an adcom, but what I would want to see from a student who has medical issues is a period of time where they are stable both medically and academically-- at least 2 quarters in a row, preferably a full year. What I would interpret from your ‘transcript’ is that your situation is still not stable, especially considering the Fall 2009 grades.</p>

<p>The good news is that if you can turn this around, post a few good quarters in a row, then the adcoms would see that you are medically and academically stable.</p>

<p>That is just one layman’s opinion. I am not an adcom. My advice to you would be to concentrate on your health first, then get a few successful quarters under your belt, and <em>then</em> try to transfer. If needed, taking some time off from your current school may also be an option so that you have time to really stabilize your medical situation.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

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<p>I agree with Annikasorrensen that you should reestablish a record of academic success before trying to transfer to very selective schools. Furthermore I would not recommend high-pressure colleges like Cornell, MIT, and the U of C to a person with mental health issues.</p>