Mental Illness in College Admissions Essays

<p>What do you guys think on whether a student should discuss their mental illness in the personal essay? Is this a good topic, something worth explaining to the admissions committee, or you should you really try to hide your disability unless it's seriously hurt your grades or disciplinary record to the point where an explanation is practically required? If your application would seem fine without such a personal personal essay, is it a good idea to share such sensitive information? How do they ad-coms take it? Has anyone here actually done this very thing in their admissions essays? I really want to hear some people's opinions on this issue. Right now, I'm leaning towards discussing it in my essay, because I don't really have any other major life experience that I can think of, but there is no deficiency in my app related to my illness. Will admitting my disability make my application stronger, weaker, or much the same? I know people usually discuss struggles that they have faced and overcome in this essays, but how stigmatizing the reality of mental illness is I still do not know.</p>

<p>Come on, is this really still a controversial topic? Everything is so PC nowadays,
I have a hard time fearing that I'll be discriminated against, just on the basis of a mental illness. But what do you guys think about it? You really think it's such a terrible thing to mention? I'm sure a lot of people on CC have dealt with this issue before... maybe someone has some advice to give?</p>

<p>I wrote my essay on overcoming an ED. I got deferred from one school. I don't know about the others.</p>

<p>Do you think your essay, or your admitting to having an ED, affected you in anyway? I too, have an ED, but I didn't find it relevant to mention that, I only mentioned that I was bipolar II and had attempted suicide during the first week.</p>

<p>This past year there was a lengthy article about college students with mental illness and suicide on campuses. I can't recall the newspaper or magazine the piece was published in (sorry) but it would have been USA Today, Newsweek, Time, something like that. </p>

<p>What I do recall, is that colleges did say that they were dealing with more students having both mental and physical illnesses. Several colleges were criticized for not seeing students deterioration and for not intervening to prevent self-harm. One female described her situation (depression and a suicide attempt) and that her school had required her to take a year leave of absence to get better. The article also indicated that mental health services are not very available to college students and that some go off of their treatment plans while away from home (either because they decide to or because they haven't connected with a new provider in that area).</p>

<p>Here's a link to some similar pieces: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.mcmanweb.com/article-205.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mcmanweb.com/article-205.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/health/08Kids.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088?ner=rssnyt&en=0ed888f81e5aa10e&ex=1323234000&emc=rss%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/health/08Kids.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088?ner=rssnyt&en=0ed888f81e5aa10e&ex=1323234000&emc=rss&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/04/17/colleges_target_mental_health/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/04/17/colleges_target_mental_health/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So, what I'm saying here is that it IS a sensitive topic. Colleges might think twice if you focus on that part of you in an essay. It might not be conscious even. I just think you can find something else to talk about in an essay. You are not your illness, it is only but a part of you.</p>

<p>Don't do it.</p>

<p>Eponymous, I'm not 100% sure either way. The school was Brown, so I had a .00000000000000001 chance of getting in, anyway. I knew it was risky when I wrote it, but I had the administration at my school read the essay to clear it before I submitted it.
I should note that my essay was about being "recovered." I completely understand that I am not my disease. The essay focused on the power of defeating my disease, and how it influenced my intended college major of psychology. I suppose I probably should have kept this under the wraps, but I feel strongly impassioned that what I went through is nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, it's helped me focus on my education so I can better the lives of others.</p>

<p>I hope this helps somehow. Feel free to PM me.</p>

<p>The point of my essay is not really my illness. I should explain. The essay is about how, having grown up in a house where my mother is a psychotherapist and my father is a physician, I was raised to believe that mental illness is illness and seeking treatment for a mental illness should be no more shameful than seeking treatment for a physical illness. Growing up with these beliefs, I became very involved in mental health advocacy and took a lot of psychology classes, and I still dream of one day becoming a Psy.D.</p>

<p>None of this prepared me for what would happen when I found myself afflicted with a mental illness. I resisted seeking treatment for so long, whether I was ashamed, or felt stigmatized, or didn't really think I had a problem, I don't know. The point is that at the same time I was so passionately encouraging others to seek treatment, I ignored and fervently denied my own problems.</p>

<p>When I hit rock bottom, I attempted suicide. This was a sort of turning point for me. I realized I was no different from all the people I helped every day to realize their problems and seek treatment. Slowly, I confronted my fears and sought out treatment. And am now living a healthy, happy, successful life. This is a story about my transformation, from advocacy to hypocrisy, and then from denial to self-redemption. This is about my goals, my past, and the knowledge I have gained in the past few months. I think it is a good topic because it weaves together my extracurriculars with my aspirations for the future, and my past history with a transformative experience that led me to become a self-aware, mature, responsible adult. Therefore, this is exactly the kind of essay they want to read- except that it discloses the fact that in the past I have struggled with mental illness and suicide. Does that one issue doom the whole essay to failure, however noble its purpose may be?</p>

<p>P.S. IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO READ THIS ESSAY, TO JUDGE FOR THEMSELVES JUST HOW RISKY IT MAY BE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.</p>

<p>Your essay sounds great... but I think that the school's would become more weary of accepting you. I don't think I would use it, which is really too bad.</p>

<p>MBP, aww, but I really do want to use it! Would you like to read it? I can send it to you.</p>

<p>I agree with MBP. I have no doubt but that it's very meaningful for you and it's an excellent essay. That said, imagine I'm an AdComm and I've got two kids' apps before me -- same grades, scores, virtually identical ECs and so forth. One of them confesses to having been suicidal but says she's fine now. The other wrote her essay on -- oh, tutoring in the inner city, or how she felt when her dog died, or how much she respects her mother.</p>

<p>AdComms, like the rest of us, are risk-averse.</p>

<p>Why give yourself a disadvantage going into the game??</p>

<p>And you wouldn't have asked in the first place if you yourself didn't have some concerns.</p>

<p>I'll read it. I truly hope you change my mind. :)</p>

<p>I'm not really sure what to say to that. People write essays about overcoming challenges and about their passions in life and about how they've matured greatly and things like that. Maybe it usually comes in the form of tutoring inner-city kids or dealing with your father's cancer, but I never had any of those experiences. The only way I can really explain the challenges I've overcome and my passions in life and how I've really matured and evolved is to explain the truth about my mental illness. If you'd like to read the essay, just ask me, maybe you'll get a better sense of what I was trying to accomplish with it- a lot more than "woe is me! I'm handicapped! help me please" In fact, I am very careful to shy away from these statements. I know that everything you're saying has a good deal of truth to it, but I really just don't feel the same way. When I applied to college for the first time, I was so careful not to say anything personal at all, and I just wrote a philosophical rant on the nature of language. I know that explaining my personal issues is a touchy subject, but wouldn't an adcom rather see a student being truly honest and personal and really showing growth and transformation than just read a completely impersonal, noninformative academic paper? What does everyone else write about? And yeah, I honestly don't think a college would choose one kid over another because one of them had attempted suicide.</p>

<p>Eponymous, if you feel that strongly, then you really should go for it. If you feel that strongly, then it is undoubtedly a very strong essay. Good luck.</p>

<p>VeryHappy, would you like to read it? I feel it is a very strong topic, and I hope to God it is well-written. However, if you'd like to judge that for yourself, I'd be happy to show it to you.</p>

<p>No. I'm sure it is well-written. Your initial question was regarding the topic itself. I don't want to judge or edit the essay. Obviously you really really want to use it, and obviously you're very proud of it. I am sure your passion comes through. And that's the best kind of essay you can use.</p>

<p>Thank you, that was my point all along. I'm still unsure as to whether it is the right thing to do, but I am sure it is far more passionate than if I wrote about experiences I did not have (which several posters did in fact recommend to me) or strayed away from writing anything personal at all. I feel that demonstrating passion, strength, commitment, and growth counts for a lot more than pretending to have no mental issues whatsoever. I trust that the admissions committee will agree, but I have been known to be overly trusting. I will have to make a decision on this and it will probably depend on what I feel, what my advisor feels, what my parents feel, and what the college itself feels (or claims to feel). That said, you have no idea how much I appreciated hearing all of your arguments against (although it would have been nice if a few more people held the opposing view) disclosing this extremely sensitive information.</p>

<p>i'm still not sure.
however, your essay very clearly tells who you are. If you're accepted, the college will have no doubt about what they're getting.</p>

<p>I like how you very clearly state what you want in life. You've affirmed your purpose, and all you have to do now is get into a different college and go on with your life battling the stigma.</p>

<p>It'd just be a very big risk for the college.
What's your backup plan if you're rejected?</p>

<p>[edit] otoh, you made a bigger deal out of the attempted suicide than I had thought you would from what you said.
still, in no way is it depressing. You didn't ask for anybody to feel sorry for you.</p>

<p>i guess i'm going to side with using the essay.</p>

<p>MBP, thanks! I really appreciate your response. And yeah, looking back on the essay, maybe the suicide was too big of a focus, too central. Honestly, I could write the same essay without even mentioning it. Would admitting to a mental illness but no previous suicide attempt versus mentioning the suicide make a huge difference to people? I appreciate that you pointed that out.</p>