Should I tell my guidance counselor the reason for my academic decline?

Applying to College
1

<p>In my sophomore and junior years of high school, I suffered from depression and an eating disorder. Drastically changing from 1 honors course in my freshman to a year of all honors courses in sophomore year, I felt immense pressure from my classes, and my body-image issues especially consumed me. As a result, my grades weren't spectacular, and my GPA took a hit. My lowest grade was a C+ in Honors Chemistry, but grades were generally scattered between the range of A's and B's.</p>

<p>I've gotten better recently and I've learned to be a bit more appreciative of myself, but I'm just worried because my guidance counselor asked me (as general procedure, I think) if I had any reasons for not being able to perform academically as well as I could have. I originally said no, but I've been having second thoughts, and I was just wondering if my issues are something that I should tell her about. I imagine that she'll be writing a recommendation letter to my ED choice (Barnard), but is this something that would justify my shortcomings, or even benefit me? Or would telling her be too risky, and detrimental to my acceptance?</p>

2

<p>I think telling your counselor would be a good idea, but it honestly depends how close you guys are. I think though that your counselor would be able to decide whether or not to include your situation in the recommendation letter. Justification for poor grades is better than no justification at all because the college will just think that you were lazy when really that was not the case. Make sure you keep your grades on an upward trend now that you are getting better.</p>