Mentioning mental disability in essays

College Essays
1

Hi! I’m a rising senior that’s [obviously] looking to apply to college after this year. I am a double three-year varsity letter, a a leadership team member for a recently founded club, and I have a part time summer job and some volunteer work. My high school also offers a blend of English and Social Studies - so unique and longstanding that many colleges do know about it, and it’s considered an honors course. My test scores are good [29 on ACT and taking it one more time] and I already have three teachers that have promised to write a letter of recomendation for me.

However, I intensely struggled with undiagnosed ADHD and depression until the summer before my senior year. I struggled in math, science, and language the most, and the last period of my sophomore year was awful - I managed to do well in my English/Social Studies class, but barely passed Spanish and got a D- in my geometry class. I did retake it in summer school, and got a B+ after getting on medication, and I honestly have rocked the last year. I even got straight A’s in the latter half of my junior year. I don’t get many accomodations other than extended time on my math finals, so the fact that I was able to pull out such a good ACT score after not qualifying for extended time felt wonderful.

I’m getting back on my feet after struggling for years, and it feels amazing. I’m rediscovering what it means to be happy, and it’s all thanks to my diagnosis.

Furthermore, I want to write about my struggle with ADHD, because it has been such a huge but unnoticed problem in my life. However, I’m worried that schools will think I’m trying to guilt them into admitting me (definitely not the case) or see me as ‘cookie-cutter’ because of it. I’m a straight white girl who grew up with occasional money problems whose parents are currently divorcing, but I also am lucky enough go to one of the best high schools in my state, which is in one of the richest suburbs of the country. My parents and grandfather both went to the school I would love to go to University of Michigan.

I don’t want to sound inauthentic, but my ADHD and depression have truly been the biggest struggles for me. I think that I could apply it to he failure prompt rather adequately, but I’ve read posts on here that say I shouldn’t mention it in my main essay and instead put it under additional information. Should I dedicate my essay to my struggles and overcoming of my disability, or should I pick another topic?

Thank you in advance, I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read this :slight_smile:

2

This is an incredibly touchy topic because of stigma attached to mental illness. I’d say go for it if you qualify for automatic admission, like top 10% auto-admit. But avoid using mental health topics in admissions to things such reach schools.

The last thing a school wants to do is admit someone with a high risk of suicide or the like (whether or not you actually are suicidal) and then their name gets slandered because the student follows through–they get blamed for not doing enough to help the student and then I think you see where things might go from there. If you want to explain what happened that caused you to get those less-than-stellar grades, stay general with just saying “health problems.”

3

I agree with cameraphone’s concerns with stigma. Further, students with disabilities are protected in admissions, as is the institution, by separating disability information so that it doesn’t intrude on the admissions decision. If you introduce disability in your letter, then you are setting yourself up for discussion and hypothesizing about the implications of your disability. Bad plan! If you need or want to appeal a denial, then write about the impact of your disability with orientation toward improved grades and whatever else you want to emphasize positively after diagnosis and treatment. Your time, energy and impact will be greater later. Best wishes for academic and personal success at college

4

The ADHD might be OK, but don’t mention depression under any circumstances, for the reason Cameraphone states.

5

I spoke to a college counselor once and she said many kids are writing about this. It certainly wouldn’t set you apart. She felt the same about recovery from sports injuries.