I’m a junior and in October I got diagnosed with ADHD and started meds. My freshman GPA was a 3.6, I had a lot of trouble though and had to work super hard for it. Sophomore year with more even work I got two C+s and 2 B-s, my GPA for those two years is a 3.3, now I’m about to have mostly As (a B+ in AP French and AP Lang). I can’t get my GPA up to where I’d like it, I just don’t have the time. Is it worth mentioning? Or will it reflect poorly on me, like I’m making excuses? Would it even matter to mention?
My daughter did two things to address her ADHD for applications. First, she made sure that her counselor knew about the condition. That way you can have a seasoned adult making excuses for you if they think it will help. Second, she included a brief reference to ADHD in her personal essay. However, she attempted to “show” rather than “tell.” I think an essay using ADHD as an excuse might be kind of boring to read since you are so much more than your GPA and ADHD. But, if you can reference it in such a way to let the adcoms connect the dots, it might be to your advantage. It is a fine line to walk.
By the way, if you can get extra time accommodations at school, you can get extra time for taking the SAT as well. She did not do this because we did not know it was an option!