A major defining experience for me throughout high school has been my struggle with mental illness, including several eating disorders. For my Common App essay I’d like to discuss how I’ve overcome my challenges and learned how to work through the hard times, but I’m not sure if this would be a bad thing to talk about.
I would not. Any hint of mental illness makes colleges wary. You may think it is behind you, but adults know how fragile progress can be and that only a year or two into recovery isn’t long. They worry that students will get to campus and relapse.
Think about it this way:
- Is that the number one thing you most want colleges to know about you and associate you with when they discuss your application for admission?
- Is it an essay that makes them say, “Yes! I want this student on campus!”
Essays are not for therapy or revealing your innermost secrets. They don’t really mean the prompts that literally – in fact, the colleges did not write the prompts, the Common App staff did. Most human beings are multi-faceted. I am sure you have other interesting personality traits and experiences you can draw on.
Variations of this question come up 20+ times every year. intparent’s reply is pretty much the consensus.
Wish we could pin something on it to avoid retyping!
Thank you so much! I was really struggling with whether overcoming anorexia, etc. would turn them off and I had a sneaking suspicion it would, but I just needed a confirmation because it could have gone both ways.
I’m going to add something you did not ask for. A history of struggling with a mental health disorder, particularly one as lethal as anorexia suggests that you should be particularly careful about where you end up attending school. Anorexia can have an insidious onset and it can easily be hidden so you can’t count on others around you to notice if you are in trouble. Further, while you may know the triggers for you thus far, you don’t know the stressors that accompany attending college. My advice would be to avoid the “get into the best name school you can” advice. Rather, I’d suggest you think carefully about how you will ensure yourself that you have as much support as possible when you are most stressed and that you choose a school that is low on the stress and competition dimension.
Do not “go to the best school you can get into”. Select a nurturing school known to have a cooperative student body!