<p>I am going to be applying for college next year and I have crohn's disease.</p>
<p>I want to know if you guys think this can help in my admission.
and if i should write about it in my essay.</p>
<p>It has been a significant part of my life and has really impacted my education due to absences and inability to focus in class due to my anemia and sometimes pain from inflamation.</p>
<p>Yet, i do continue to take all IB classes and have a high gpa. I did not take the ACT yet but am studying for it. I am not involved in too many ec's though. I just swim, am in NHS, and am in my schools Principle Student Advisorwy Commitee.</p>
<p>Any tips? How do you think i can do when applying to college? Will this benefit or hurt me? Experience?</p>
<p>Your disease does not define you but is a part of you.
You write how you have shown perseverance through continued academic excellence and resiliency of spirit despite absences from school because of crohn’s.<br>
Accentuate the positive not the negative.
Don’t emphasize how you don’t have many ECs but instead write how swimming made you feel strong and empowered despite occasional bouts of crohn’s that debilitated you for periods of time and your committees have made you feel a part of student body, allowed you to display leadership and look to issues important to the entire school.
Personal essays should always help you.</p>
<p>You can write about it if you want to. But you can also handle it by having your school guidance counselor mention it as well, and keep your essays focused on other aspects of you and your voice. Don’t think you have to include it in your essay for the admissions committee to know about it. You can also put a brief, matter of fact paragraph about it in your Additional Information section if you don’t want to write your essay about it.</p>
<p>I had cancer my freshman year and it affected my grades significantly
I just turned in my common app essay where I spoke about my battle
first of all you need to be very careful not to make it sound like an excuse, or for pity
my essay was 99% positive. the only negative sentence was when I found out I was diagnosed. other than that I talked about how it shaped me and I kept a positive attitude and now want to devote my life to cancer research and helping patients
best of luck to you</p>