<p>The OP said she had anxiety and depression and was over it. Many people have both. But, if she’s over it, good for her. Move forward.</p>
<p>The original poster may be in an unfortunate position in regard to transcript and record because there was insufficient help in the first place. </p>
<p>I hope the OP can move forward on practicalities and that the family situation can be addressed. The possibility that support might be helpful in the future is reasonable, since, again, apparently 50% of college students seek counseling. Times of transition are tough for everyone. </p>
<p>Mental health treatment, as mentioned, does not have to involve medication. A good clinician will evaluate for the effectiveness of talk therapy as a first line of treatment. Most persons receiving therapy do not take psychotropic medications. Medication can be avoided if the family physician is be used as a referral source. Family doctors are not trained in therapy technique or counseling and tend to lean heavily on medication as they want to be helpful (it is all they have in their toolkit aside from identifying physical factors that may be contributing).</p>
<p>The OP have been talking on and off about distraction, lethargy and sadness on these threads since 2011. I hope she will get the support she needs. She identified her mother as being diagnosed with bipolar illness in her earlier posts. Anyone dealing with a family member with a serious challenge such as bipolar illness can benefit from the support of a clinician trained in mental health issues. She sounds like a bright, capable young woman who could make good use of therapy.</p>
<p>Sorry, but if the cure is “talking” the problem is not mental illness. Not that talking might not be helpful in some situations. </p>
<p>Don’t forget, too, that the proper diagnosis from a mental health practitioner might be “you’re fine…go forth and prosper.” If so, all is good. Going to someone for an eval does not necessarily mean medication and/or intensive therapy. If may provide nothing more than reassurance and some advice on how to deal with normal stress and anxiety. </p>
<p>Telling someone who is worried about how to deal with mental illness on college aps to seek help from a mental health professional is not saying they’ve got a mental illness. It’s advising that mental health issues, like physical health issues, should be assessed and addressed by knowledgable professionals. This is especially relevant for the child of a parent with a diagnosed mental illness.</p>
<p>“Sorry, but if the cure is “talking” the problem is not mental illness.”</p>
<p>There are some mental illnesses, like panic disorder and phobias, where talking (specifically, cognitive-behavior therapy) has been empirically validated as a highly effective treatment, with or without medication as a component. These mental illnesses can be crippling. Talking to a trained professional implementing a science-based program of treatment has helped a lot of mentally ill people.</p>
<p>Well, now we are talking about a definition of terms on which people can disagree. And, the extent of the problem is not irrelevant. Personally, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have some kind of weird phobia.There’s the nice neighbor lady who refuses to drive on the freeway, for instance. Strangely, it scares her to death to see cars whooshing by for some reason. I guarantee you, she does not consider herself to be mentally ill or crippled. She did consider visiting a hypnotist but it’s not that big a deal, I guess. However. if she was a shaking housebound agarophobic that would be a different story. Still not sure what any of this has to do with the OP who wanted a definition for college apps, not a bunch of warnings about a potential relapse. </p>
<p>Hence the phrase “can be crippling” as opposed to “always crippling.” I’m using the definitions from the DSM. There are people with all kinds of diagnosable physical and mental conditions who don’t consider themselves ill. That’s fine. I choose to use the scientific definitions in public discussion. </p>
<p>Threads go in all kinds of directions that the OPs didn’t intend. I care a lot about this issue, so I always respond to discussions about it.</p>
<p>Yes, I realize that almost everyone can probably be diagnosed and treated for some type of “mental illness”. Hence the incredible escalation of medicated children in our country. I care a lot about it too and find it very disheartening.</p>
<p>There are a lot of reasons people are overmedicating kids, but the science is not one of them. The primary care providers prescribing these medications have probably never cracked a DSM in their lives, never mind kept up with current research on how to use them best.</p>
<p>Hi all, just wanted to thank each of you for all of the helpful responses and advice here. I just got clarification that repeating the courses I got Ds/Fs in doesn’t in fact replace the grade on the transcript, only in regards to my GPA. So my transcript would still show the prior grades, along with whatever new grade I earn if I do repeat the courses. Would it still be helpful to repeat the courses? I am on the edge again about this decision, because I feel that spending 3 hours a day doing course material I have already shown I’ve mastered will be a bit of a waste of time, and that there are other more intellectually stimulating classes I could be taking. The one pro of repeating the courses is that I could enter them as “In Progress” on the Common App, but I’d still have to enter the D for AP Biology that I am not able to repeat, and adcoms will still see my transcript. Should I still continue with repeating the courses? </p>
<p>So if we’re talking fall of next year as an application timeline, does that mean that the GPA used for consideration will still reflect the lower grades rather than the higher grades for the courses you’re retaking? </p>
<p>@EllieMom, because I won’t have completed the course until January, the new grade will not be reflected in my GPA until then. So I believe it will still reflect the lower grades. </p>
<p>@5minutes Then I think I’d agree with you…I don’t see what benefit it really gives you to repeat coursework you’ve mastered just to get a higher grade that won’t be considered anyway. (Caveat: I’m not an expert, so I’m just using logic. And, as we all know, logic doesn’t always work when we’re talking about college admissions.)</p>
<p>Has anyone here heard of the Academic Index that top-tier schools use to evaluate applicants? I inserted my current GPA along with standardized test scores (converted ACT to SAT), and the chart stated I was “very competitive academic status”. Does this mean I still have a shot? How do holistic admissions work anyway? With the huge volume of applications that each school receives, how do they narrow down to a couple thousand students?</p>
<p>One question that seems relevant here: you said that the Fs were first semester, and that you continued in the same subjects second semester and got As. It sounds like your school perhaps calculates GPA by the semester, or at least provides semester grades on your transcript. But if you got an F first semester and an A second semester, I would think that colleges - who do their own GPA calculations - would calculate the grade as a “C.” </p>
<p>In that case, I would probably not retaken UNLESS you can get the original grades replaced on a transcript. For the purposes of safety schools, it doesn’t sound like a couple of "C"s will take down your GPA enough that you would be rejected from your state flagship (unless you live in a place like Virginia or Michigan, in which case all bets are off, but those states have other good public schools). For the purposes of elite schools, they red flag is going to be there in any case; either they’ll accept the explanation or not. Doing well in different AP courses this semester will be just if not more useful, IMO, as retaking courses you’ve already demonstrated proficiency in. The only way I would retake would be if I’m wrong here and your only grades for junior year history and English are "F"s, in which case you might even run into issues of having not fulfilled basic requirements. It doesn’t, however, sound like that is the case. </p>
<p>One option you might consider, if it is feasible, is a gap year. One thing that is working against you here is that first semester junior year wasn’t all that long ago, and for the purposes of admissions, you’re really only going to have one semester after to make up for it. That makes it harder to know whether or not that one semester is really going to prove to be a total anomaly, or if it is indicative of a chronic problem that may continue to flare up. If you could apply with another year of your typical high achievement, that might go a long way toward putting your one bad semester in perspective. You could also, of course, see what happens in admissions this year and then decide to do a gap year if you don’t like the results. </p>
<p>I have a few questions about your transcript/GPA. I am asking just so we can get a realistic picture of reasonable options for the application season.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What is your overall GPA (including the F’s)? Are the B and C from the community college last summer evident on your transcript? These grades will be averaged in when the college does their recalculation of your GPA. Some might advise that you simply not report the community college on your application. However, if you complete a FAFSA it will get linked to you via your social security. I did not realize this until my son had transcripts sent from the National Student Clearing House. There sat a listing for a community college and he semester enrolled where he took one course the summer following his sophomore year in HS. He had never reported this grade (a C) and the course never appeared on his HS transcript. You may want to carefully check into this if you have thoughts of not reporting. I always recommend honesty. If you choose to report, this will be another thing to address in your applications.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you need scholarships or aid to attend? If you apply only to top schools, you may be accepted but not given free money (they may choose to gap you with loans since you would not be a top applicant).</p></li>
<li><p>Would you consider colleges with better odds of admission? You have listed some challenging LACs that routinely turn away top students. Are you low income or an underrepresented minority? If yes, you stand a better chance with the top schools. There are some great LACs that often look past blemishes on applicant transcripts. Several that come to mind: Earlham College, Hendrix College, Saint Olaf, Reed. Check out the Colleges That Change Lives site. These are top notch schools academically and, being a sharp student, you would have lots of good research, independent study, mentoring opportunities, etc. These schools are also more likely to give you good scholarship money as you would be a more competitive applicant. Apply to the top schools you identified but make sure you apply to some fine schools that are more willing to look beyond a bad summer and fall. If grad school is in your plan, you could go anywhere in most fields coming out of the schoosl I mentioned.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>@hornet, my overall GPA dropped from a 4.5 to a 3.8 (weighted, unweighted is 3.4). The community college grades show up on my transcript I believe, but they are not factored into my GPA. Thankfully, I am not in need of aid (my dad has been saving since I was young). I am definitely also looking to colleges with kinder rates, the colleges/LACs I listed were dream schools I had in mind, before my slip up. Thank you for the college recs, I will definitely look into those as well. I don’t have any racial/financial hooks, I’m not URM and I don’t think my family isn’t considered low income–my father works overseas and makes around 70k a year, and my mom doesn’t work. Do you think having strong teacher/counselor recs will be able to offset the damage from my Ds/Fs on my application? I feel like every other aspect of my application is decent, except for my grades from that semester. </p>