so I’m not gonna elaborate too much, but how much of a mistake would it be to mention something mental illness related to college admissions? how exactly do you think they would view this, assuming it’s more for explanation than anything else? i hear showing any mental instability scares adcoms as much as a criminal record, but can you see any way that this is not total application suicide?
You are better off leaving this issue out of the application, if possible. It would have to be included if there was a lengthy absence from school, or something to explain in the high school record. Even then, you’ll want to talk with your high school counselor about the wording and the amount of disclosure.
thanks for responding!
and i’ll ask my gc about it. do you think it’s better to have a gc make a note, rather try to explain it myself through an essay or “additional comments” section?
if, say, i got a c, and i really only get a’s (obviously not anymore), do you think it’s worth mentioning? by a c, i really mean that i got all c’s in physics. and it affected by ECs.
I think you want to focus your essay and additional comments on your strengths.<br>
Your counselor can include a vague explanation about personal challenges having an impact during a rough year for you, and attest to the fact that you have now put your struggles behind you.
Personally I’d say not to mention it. Or, if you have to, then don’t emphasize it very much. I think it scares off admissions people. In my common app essay last year, I talked about overcoming a social phobia, which isn’t even really a mental illness but is kind of similarly “showing weakness”, and I got waitlisted at every school except my safety. It’s like the selective places were saying, “Your academics are nice, but you’re not the type of perfect student we’re looking for.”
jeez, that scares me!
so, at this point, i’m not going to personally address it. maybe i’ll ask my gc to vaguely say something and mention how i’m now better.
but now i am scared.
but i also don’t want adcoms to think that i’m lazy due to my junior year grades.
I agree with your decision not to personally mention the mental illness. But trying to scare you wasn’t really my intention, so sorry about that.
Some background about my “waitlisted at every school” statement: I only applied to 4 schools total. One was my safety, a state school, and I got into it. I’m currently at the honors program there and it’s pretty nice. The other three schools I applied to were Washington University (St. Louis), Vanderbilt, and University of Chicago. Yes they did waitlist me, but they were all pretty selective, lol. Plus I probably had other shortcomings besides the essay on social phobia, like not playing sports and stuff even though I did other activities.
in your essay, did you mention getting better?
wait, yeah, you said that you talked about overcoming your phobia.