I took a three year break after graduating hs mostly due to depression, general lack of apathy towards existence. I rarely left the house mostly due to my body (I was 365 at my max) and just hatred of being human, if that makes sense. However, since then I 've lost half my body weight and have a new lease on life. I’ve excelled at my local community college(30 credits 4.0gpa at the moment) and am currently applying to some of the best schools in the country. Anyway, I’m questioning whether or not I should lie about what I did during those three years off. It doesn’t have to be an extravagant lie. I just want to tweak my application a bit. I’m worried it’ll look horrendous that I didn’t do anything during my three year “vacation”, especially compared to other non_traditional students who seem to have done some amazing things during their time off. And folks, when I say I didn’t do anything, I mean I did not do a single productive thing. Anyway, what do you guys think I should? Should I tell the truth, tweak my app. a little so it won’t look so bad, or blantly lie on my app. risking possible future expulsion from whichever school I end attending? Or maybe I shouldn’t mention it at all?
First of all, I truly wish you all the best.
Second of all, if you are asked on apps about what you did for three years, you could just speak of what you were going through a wee bit. There is no real shame in what you have went through at all. To go from CC to University does not entail one writing their life story for ad coms, man. It will all be okay.
I would definitely tell the truth about what you did in your time off, and, more importantly, tell what you learned from it. Gap years are somewhat common, three gap years aren’t. They may ask for more information or references for whatever you said you were doing in your time off, and there you could run in to trouble. Most of all, it’s hard to lie convincingly. If you can write persuasively about your troubles, how you responded to them, and what you learned, it could be really compelling.
If you ask me it doesn’t sound like that time off was a complete waste. You bettered yourself, in that you lost half of your body weight! That is a big accomplishment for a lot of people. And it sounds to me that you were debating a lot of things inside of your own head. You were battling depression, and it sounds like you have come out on top! This is also a big deal. You may want to be careful when telling people about your depression because there are social stigma against mental issues(I’m an army vet, I have seen ugly examples of the stigma). But the fact that you are now seeking higher education is a display of victory. I do not encourage you to lie, however. What you need to show is that you have been through some dark times and that you have pulled yourself through by the strength of your own will.
I wish you luck, OrsonSwells.
I think you could use this to your advantage in a way. Don’t go overboard with it, but explain how you have grown from it, and how you learned from the experience.