<p>Hello a family member of mine has a serious mental illness (schziophrenia) and we're not sure if to include such information in the application. Will it hurt his chances of getting accepted into college? Will colleges rea;;y want someone with mental illness on their campus?</p>
<p>Did you watch the program about schizophrenia on 20/20 last Friday? If not, search it; it was very enlightening. In any case, I wonder why you need to include that. Does the school ask? Having to live with a family member who has that certainly does make your life different, but if you yourself aren’t affected then that’s not an issue.</p>
<p>It would be horrible if it did lower his chances…just make sure to demonstrate his responsibility in taking meds, and maybe even mention John Nash.</p>
<p>Edit: If anything, try pming some of the college representatives that post here. They usually post within their college subforums, so you can find them there.</p>
<p>could make for a great admissions essay…</p>
<p>and yeah a beautiful mind is the first thing that i think of in this kind of situation, john nash is a great cultural reference for you.</p>
<p>but i agree, pm some of the more qualified posters here, see if its appropriate.</p>
<p>Yes, it could lower his chances of getting into private colleges. Since public colleges select students mainly based on students’ stats and state of residence, his mental illness probably won’t affect admissions chances to those. Colleges’ on-site counseling centers aren’t equipped to help most people with chronic mental health problems, and college admissions officers also know that particularly the first year of college is very stressful, so adcoms may fear that there won’t be services for students with serious mental health problems.</p>
<p>More important is making sure that your family member works with her/his therapist ot make appropriate college selections such as making sure that there are appropriate treatment facilities and therapists in the area where s/he chooses to attend college.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll PM these people… but not the university he’s really interested in i don’t want to tip them off lol.</p>