<p>Our son was diagnosed with ADHD at the end of his junior year. After getting all A's and 4s/5s on AP tests, 32 on ACT, he got four Cs that semester in classes we KNOW he more than understood. He didn't do work he should have done, was distracted, his grades were low and finally diagnosed with ADHD. Now in his first semester of senior year and back on track thanks in part to medication, to therapy, biofeedback and lots of talking to himself (and our support). We want to explain the report card from last jr semester to admissions but are afraid that admissions officers will look at ADHD as either A) a made up condition/excuse to get out of doing work as some teachers seem to think or B) he will require too much attention or work on their part. We are not asking for the school to give anything in terms of time or other privileges; we just want to explain what happened. How do we handle this?? Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>You should definitely mention this on the application. I’m in pretty much the same situation, although my grades have been a bit more consistently low. The commonapp’s additional information section is the best place to bring this up. However, I’d stay away from mentioning how recent the diagnosis was in order to sound like an excuse. He could also discuss coping methods to put a bit of an optimistic spin on it.
When it’s written, give it to someone else to read over to make sure it doesn’t come off as an excuse in any way.</p>