<p>In college applications is it okay to write about how you've dealt with your mental illness and how its affected your grades and stuff? Is it important to show stability in your writing? I'm talking about things like depression, schizophrenia, anxiety e.t.c. Does it look bad and should be avoided, because you'll look like the next Charles Manson or school shooter?</p>
<p>I think it’s a really good topic to avoid.</p>
<p>Really, its just akward? Can it be rephrased as a medical issue instead of mental illness?</p>
<p>I would avoid writing about this issue because simply because their are so many things that a person can write about. You may not want to be defined as the kid who overcame or is dealing with a mental health condition.</p>
<p>I am so sorry that you’ve had these challenges. But take a minute and look at this from the point of view of a person who has 100 college applications on his/her desk for the morning’s work. If the mental health essay applicant isn’t very, very careful, the reader could conjure up images of the horrifically ill man who shot and killed so many Virginia Tech students. It would be sooo easy to pass up that applicant and move on to the student who writes movingly about . . .puppies, . . . helping in Haiti . . . mastering Russian . . . almost anything will sound safer than mental illness. </p>
<p>It may not be fair. But I think it could be there. The world’s understanding about mental illness is changing – but it may not have changed as far and as completely as you would like. If you have an essay or story inside about your struggles that is bursting to get out, then, by all means, write it up – (for publication in a national magazine? for real money?) – do it where you can convince hundreds or thousands to open their minds. </p>
<p>Don’t do it for an audience of one or two admissions officers – who can keep their minds closed, torpedo your application and never let you know why.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Olymom thanks for the advice, that makes sense. But how shall I explain a dip in grades?</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a stigma - at the very least it enters your app. into question, could really help or really hurt and you’ll never know which one until after you’ve made the leap. I know it doesn’t seem fair, esp. for someone who has managed to rise to the occasion and get good grades/scores despite their issues… you’re dying for the app. committee to know that you’ve had to work harder and better to get there.
Given how much of a crapshoot admissions are these days, you just can’t take the risk.
DS had what looks like a “slow start” freshman year which can be directly attributed to going off meds he had been on for years, it was time to try on his own and he made it work, but face it, the drugs would have made things easier. It is what it is though, and explaining it we felt would have raised more questions about his ability than answers.
Not to be blase about it, but everyone has their thing, could be mental illness, family problems, illness or death in the family - there’s millions of reasons for grades to suffer and rebound suddenly. I imagine the adcoms read thousands of them and maybe they care much less about the reason than we do.
If this costs you your #1 school, so be it - but then I don’t believe in the “one perfect fit” scenario. No one college is going to hold you back from rising to your highest potential.
The people you trust and love most know what you’ve had to overcome - that will have to suffice.</p>
<p>wannabe90. I work with individuals who are afflicted with mental illness. Unfortunately there is a lot of stigma against them. I would advise if asked about the dip in grades that you should explain that you were dealing with a health issue. They are not permitted to ask further about it. Leave it at that.
Here is some other unsolicited advice. Part of the area that I cover includes two very well known and highly selective colleges. I have seen many students in the hospital who have had serious depressive incidents or psychotic breaks. Please be certain to pick a college with good mental health services or access in the community to them. Find a school that will be nurturing to you. Make certain that your medications are stable before you go away to school. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>There’s plenty of ways to have a little fig leaf in one’s life. You can say that "yada semester/year was very challenging for me and my grades show this. Fortunately, I conquered those challenges and now I am interested in . . . "</p>
<p>I hope you will also get advice from parents and school staff and your physician. If you have major stuff going on still, then maybe it does need to be out on the plate in some fashion so that you do get a situation that fits and can work for you. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that admissions officers are looking at where you are going as much as where you have been. For instance, a student who struggles in grade 9 but turns a corner in grades 10 and 11 looks like someone who has gained maturity and skills (hopefully you have!). A student that did well for several semesters and recently tanks sounds like a kid with senioritis and not such a great admission bet. So, your strategy is to put the spotlight on where you are going next in your life — world’s greatest puppet master? Novel Writer? Fabulous HS volleyball coach? Let your passions shine through in your application.</p>
<p>I agree with those that suggested mentioning “health issues” as the problem. If you decide that is what’s best, be sure and visit with the school GC and make sure his or her language will match what your app will say. For those who know more, does this fall under the health privacy shield and the GC can’t mention mental issues without the student’s and/or their parent’s OK?</p>
<p>Another question to ask , maybe in this forum, is : How do you find a campus that is supportive for those with a history of depression (or whatever it was)?</p>
<p>If one has or has had a serious mental health problem, I suggest working closely with one’s therapist so as to apply to colleges that are close to excellent mental health treatment.</p>
<p>In some cases, this may mean applying to colleges fairly close to home so one can easily continue seeing one’s regular therapist. In other cases, this may mean applying to colleges in places like Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., NY, Chicago, San Francisco, or Los Angeles where there is an abundance of excellent mental health practitioners.</p>
<p>I don’t think that most college counseling centers are equipped to help students with serious mental health problems.</p>
<p>I agree with the excellent advice that has been posted above. I would go a bit further, suggesting that BEFORE you start school, you go & establish a relationship with a counselor that you like so that you can use him/her regularly and especially during periods of stress that will inevitably come up freshman year.</p>
<p>My kids have chronic health issues and that was something we did for each of them before they started school. We hand-carried their pertinent medical records as well, so they were available to the doc as needed. It gave us all a feeling of well-being knowing that they had established some rapport with docs near campus that could meet their medical needs as they arose. We all also met with the head of the Office of Disabilities on campus and talked with him about our kids needs and appropriate accommodations.</p>
<p>I agree that it makes sense to find a good provider near campus (not rely on college counseling centers–those centers are mainly for run-of-the-mill college issues rather than serious on-going mental health issues).</p>
<p>My wife and I do volunteer work on behalf of those with mental illness. I congratulate you on being able to raise the issue, but suggest you follow Holliesue’s excellent advice.</p>
<p>It is nothing for you to be ashamed of, yet I would nonetheless suggest not raising it in this context, but inquiring separately into what services are available. You might also wish to stay reasonably close to home, especially if you wish to continue to consult with the same therapist.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I have thought about this thread a bit – and it occurs to me that any health condition is a tricky essay topic. It doesn’t matter whether it’s bunions or brain cancer – there’s too much a chance that either 1) the admissions officer has read the I-overcame-struggle story too many times before or 2) there’s an ehewww factor that could pop up and be a problem. </p>
<p>My mother used to observe that compliments come from others – not oneself. So one can hope a teacher or coach writes about one’s perserverance and courage in the letter of recommendation. </p>
<p>I do know one of my DS’s schools did ask the applicant to describe a situation where he/she had overcome a challenge. Note the structure of the question though. It is asking for a happy ending. Not all medical situations have that. </p>
<p>I’d say any medical condition should be “essayed” with, at the very least, much review from friends and parents and teachers so that the topic is handled well.</p>
<p>I agree that it is important to have some good feedback from your guidance counselor and others you trust when you write about something as sensitive as a chronic health condition. Our kids both mentioned it in their apps but did get feedback from others about it (they didn’t ask us).</p>
<p>It IS a sensitive subject and deserves artful handling. That really can make a huge difference in how the reader views the subject. I’m assuming both my kids did OK at handling their ongoing chronic health condition (tho neither let me or H read their essays), since both were accepted at the schools they wanted to attend.</p>
<p>S didn’t talk about his bipolar disorder in his essay, but he really couldn’t avoid it when he had to explain the two suspensions in ninth grade. He briefly described the circumstances of each suspension and said that as a result he was given a “chill pass” to leave class and see the school psychologist whenever he felt he was starting to lose control. He never had another suspension, and didn’t need to use the “chill pass” after his sophomore year.</p>
<p>He was accepted at all four schools he applied to, all matches. He didn’t want to risk his stability dealing with the stress of a reach school.</p>