"Psych/Mental Issues" in College Applications

Applying to College
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Here’s something that ought to be sticky and discussed here given the growing percentage of people with mental health issues.

As detailed in depth by the NY Times, applicants with psychiatric and mental issues, as well as the related - ptsd, rape, etc - should continue to “play the admissions essays game” smartly.

This means the readers don’t want to see your long list of treatments, struggles with self-harm, etc, but rather your “ability to overcome” difficulties in your life.

Sadly, the college admissions system still has no objective way to evaluate your issues in any sensible way that reflects your “ability to succeed” in college, which is one of the primary goals they have in having you write meaningless essays. (One can see Einstein etc rolling in their graves had their future performances be reflective of their ability to get into top colleges.)

The hints suggested include providing a succinct reason for any prior poor school performance, perhaps one that’s a bit vague should it be gory, and instead, focus on your struggle to overcome in your strive to succeed.

Naturally, once you’re on campus, quite a few have improved mental health support nowadays, so feel free to break down when overwhelmed and utilize those services.

(E.g. At Berkeley, mental health works with professors to give you longer deadlines, relaxed schedules, breaks to recover, etc. Friend utilized such over years as they broke down here and there into slobbering, teary messes. But do note, the grading won’t change, so their 2.x GPA was reflective of what they could actually achieve on a good day.)

Finally, everyone with issues should relax!
There’s more than one way to a great paying job (the modern primary focus of college vs the old days of knowledge and enlightenment)!

One Important point to keep in mind when talking about college admissions is “Do I need to go to college?” Let me be clear that many who don’t go to college WILL have successful paths available to them.

Even Google is offering certificate programs that can be completed at your own pace within a year that will lead to six figure jobs in IT, ones that even can be done from home even if you’re a sobbing mess, so don’t think that just because you can’t complete an admissions package or face endless, scheduled assignments and finals that you can’t live well with a great paying job.

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@Adorabledc your article has a paywall.

There have been a few threads here recently where students or parents have asked about how or if to mention mental health issues on college applications.

Perhaps someone can gift us this article?

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Try this. Let me know if it doesn’t work:

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@tamagotchi thank you for gifting this article to us. I’m bookmarking this thread to include as a response when this query comes up…and it has a lot recently.

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Another link.

Usually clearing browser cookies can work in letting you read one article on news sites.

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This article makes me pretty uncomfortable. If the author just told her own story, that would be fine. But instead she exploits vulnerable teens who lack the maturity (and mental health stability) to set healthy boundaries. For example, they profile a high school senior who is currently in the middle of applying, telling her story in a lot of detail that does not reflect well on her (for example when she criticizes her medical team for hospitalizing her, saying it was only normal teen angst, revealing her to have very poor insight.) Another student with apparent pseudoseizures/conversion disorder. These are students, that as a clinician, I would recommend take a year off to devote to treatment to get their mental health under control, just as I would if I had a patient with diabetes with an A1c of 11, or an active cancer.

Suicidality in the last year? Active cutting or other self harm? Active eating disorder symptoms? Substance use disorder? ALL of these should be brought into remission before going away to college. As parents it is ok to put your foot down!

ETA: I just reread the article, and see that the student with conversion disorder/pseudoseizures did indeed take a year off, and attends what sounds to be a more local school (rather than the far away elite she had hoped for). But this is implied to be a bad outcome, not a good one.

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Yeah, there’s a thread in there that really irks me:

“Many teenagers with psychological disorders end up at lower-quality schools than they could have attended otherwise, affecting their career options and earning potential. And since elite universities produce a disproportionate number of politicians and managers, society loses out by having fewer people in power who deeply understand mental illness and how it intersects with almost every major issue.”

This is such flawed thinking on so many levels.

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Withdrawing from college is usually pretty costly the student. A person with known mental health illnesses may not be able to buy tuition insurance.

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Taking a year off may not be “possible” in the student’s own “viewpoint of the world” as they exist in.

For example, the Berkeley student I helped get in and tutored. They were “crazy” well before college, during college, and even today at work. Circling the drain thoughts are something she’s constantly battling, often daily, despite therapy, doctors, and treatment. (Dozens and dozens of traditional and non-traditional doctors and treatments.)

Yes, for some, taking a year off can “reset” their minds, put them in a good place, and be appropriate.

But for this particular student, it would have simply dropped her awkwardly out of school and job hunting, taking away a good chance at getting into Berkeley as well as a top consulting company.

Instead, she’s worked through her darkest moments, found ways to cope, new treatments that help better alleviating dark thoughts, and… Lived.

…

The article only has time for a small slice to be presented, so while it’s easy to assume one size fits all, no one treatment or plan fits all.

What is positive is how much time they did spend reporting on this topic - something you rarely find covered in such length in other news sites.

Hopefully, it gives those with issues the first step towards finding their own solutions.