<p>Hi, I am a 17 year old senior from New Jersey. And I haven't been to school since October.</p>
<p>I had unfortunate mental illness and I had to be in a mental hospital for about 1 and a half months. In fact I was in 2 mental hospitals, one for 2 weeks and the other for almost 4 weeks. Now I am in a partial therapy program where I am given outpatient care 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. I've been here since January 5. Therefore I haven't been to school since October. My parents are relocating me to another state so that I can "redo" May and June of junior year. Then, in 2011, I will redo senior year. That allows me to take the AP exams for the APs I was in while I was in school. However I am really worried how this will affect my chances in admissions. My dream schools are Stanford and Yale and I'm applying to Princeton as well. My school record is perfect except for this one blemish. Is this explainable to Stanford and Yale adcoms? Is it even possible for me to make 'mental illness' sound like a positive thing? This isn't ADD... I can't blame genetics. What do I do?</p>
<p>^How motivational. But, should i really talk about it even if it’s depression mixed with psychosis and bipolar tendencies? =/ I used to think talking about your depression in apps was a 100% no no. It would be too easy for adcoms to judge me…</p>
<p>Use the search function. There have been many threads on this. Bottom line, no, never talk about mental illness. And BTW, genetics plays a major role in many mental illnesses. And please get some professional help to decide how to handle this, teenagers on a website mean well but don’t know what they’re talking about.</p>
<p>Mental illnesses are always a touchy subject in apps. Avoid it if possible – schools never want to be liable should anything happen while you matriculate. However, if you must explain your circumstances, which you might, you should be very careful about how you word it.</p>
<p>I just thought of something. This is going to look kinda weird on my transcript. It’s going to be this:
@ New Jersey: Freshman Year, Sophomore Year, Junior year
@ Texas: - Junior Quarter (April-June), Senior Semester</p>
<p>I agree, genetics do play a large role in mental illness. I would leave it out if I were you, because unfortunately mental illness scares society. I suppose you could say you could keep it vague and say you were “sick” or “hospitalized” if you really need to. However, I don’t know what the repercussions of doing so would be.</p>
<p>Avoid the topic. It’s a touchy subject, especially because it could crop up again during your time as a student, which might affect your decision. Which means the only reason to explain it would be to account for grade discrepancies, but, as there’s only one, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Your counselor may have some experience with it and be able to help you phrase this experience in the best possible manner, since it sounds like it will need to be brought up to clear up the academic record. If s/he can’t, I don’t think application help will come cheaply.</p>
<p>If it turns out you don’t need to bring it up and your academics are fine, leave it out.</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations on working so hard on recovery with your illness. That is not easy to do. I wish you well, you have had a very difficult time. However, this challenge is likely to be long term. That is, it may not be as simple as redoing schoolwork. Do your doctors honestly think that it’s healthy for you to be on this stressful track with so much pressure on yourself with AP’s etc.? You may need to slow down–a lot, for a while, and then build back up to a more rigorous schedule. The outpatient care you are receiving is likely to help you a lot, but it’s not like you can do therapy all day long for a few weeks and then, presto, all is well. You need time, your psyche and brain and body need time. You are probably on medications that are important, and that have side effects, one of which is the need to sleep a lot. You may have to take these for months or years or forever. You may find that you physically cannot study the number of hours that you used to. The pressure of attending an Ivy could well be the last straw to push you right back over the edge, into psychosis, bipolar mania or severe depression. It happens to lots of kids in college. I’m not saying to forget your dreams. I am suggesting that you slow down and get healthy first. I hope it’s not your parents pushing you to rush back into the fray. If so, they are very mistaken. That would be like expecting a person to run a marathon 5 minutes after the cast is removed from a broken leg. Take your time, and after you are truly well for at least a year you and your psych doctor and therapist can make a plan of action that allows you to go to school and stay well at the same time. That might mean part-time college for the first semester or year or two, then build up to full time. It’s not as easy as you think, but you sound like a positive, determined young lady, and no doubt you have a fine future ahead of you. Get educated about your diagnosis, that will help you a lot. In fact, your life depends on it. College essays should be the last thing on your mind at this time. I wish you the very best. </p>
<p>By the way, I once had a student, a master’s candidate in a fine, well-known university, who had spent a large chunk of time in a mental hospital as a teenager. Possibly the smartest, most creative and productive individual I have ever met. This person is now very successful, with a well-paid career.</p>
<p>I can’t say much on mental illness, but as for the school changes for a quarter? Not weird at all. I had the same timing issues, and no colleges asked me about it.</p>
<p>stanfordPANDA15 – I agree with sopranomom92.</p>
<p>It sounds like you had a very severe episode. I’m sorry about that, life can be so hard sometimes. I know you want it to be in the past but problems like these can come back. Being well needs to be more a priority now than going to Stanford or one of your other dream schools. Make sure you’re well first before you jump into that kind of stressful environment.</p>
<p>And no, you should not disclose your mental illness to any admissions committees. It will only work against you. Once they admit a student the student’s well being becomes their responsibility. They want you to be well too and they might not see their environment as being conducive to that.</p>