I have mentioned this on other threads, but I figured it might be worthwhile for this to be a thread by itself.
DD has ADHD. It wasn’t until the middle of 10th grade that she was able to find / tolerate some effective meds for it. (Improved performance may also be due to maturation - who knows.)
9th grade she pretty much got straight B’s.
10th grade she had a 3.5 unweighted / 3.7 weighted
11 grade she had a 3.8 UW, 4.3 wtd (with honors math / physics, AP USH / AP CS)
She’s done very well on her standardized tests. 1500 superscored (new) SAT. Will take ACT in September, hopefully will get a 33 or 34.
She wants to major in CS. Target school is RIT. Reach school is RPI. Reachy-reach would be Olin, maybe WUSTL.
Does anyone have any pros/cons about including an “additional info” essay talking about her ADHD?
When I’ve talked to adcoms about it, they’ve said “absolutely, we love to know why her grades trended upwards”.
@theshadow We did have a discussion on this on either the 2017 thread or the 3.0-3.4 GPA 2017 thread a few weeks back. I’d have to go look, although it is hard to find these things.
The advice I got for D12 (who just graduated college) is to explain things not in a the regular essay, but in the additional info essay. Basic rule is to only write about something if it can be spun in a positive way. “I have LD/ADHD/other but I did this or that to overcome it.” D12 did write an additional essay for the Common App that was included. She did get in about 1/2 of her schools. I was just told that explaining struggles can be useful. Just don’t write it as an excuse.
I’ll jump in even though our situation is different. D is autistic and her main essay is about the huge challenges she overcame. After attending a special needs preschool she got into a mainstream charter K-8 school by the skin of her teeth (the school wanted to see if they could meet the needs of kids like her and I’m about 99% sure her pre-school teacher intervened – she had strong connections with the school principal). Anyway, she has a pretty compelling story of moving from the 16th % academically to now taking a 4 year HS engineering curriculum plus AP and honors classes (not in every subject though!) Our thought is that if a school rejects her because she’s autistic then **** them because she wouldn’t want to attend such a place anyway!
I think ADHD is different since it’s not as big a part of who you are as a person. With your D’s upward trend, rigorous classes, and high scores, I don’t think she necessarily needs to give a specific reason for why she went from B student to A student. OTOH I don’t think ADHD is considered a big deal these days and I’d be very surprised if revealing it would have a bad effect either. You could have her write up the “additional info” essay. If it comes out sounding like a possible positive then include it; otherwise there’s no reason too. That’s my 2 cents.
RIT is a strong target for my D as well (going into EE, but looking at a double with or minor in CS). We both loved the school when we visited. They actually have a support program for autistic kids. It’s #2 on her list, ahead of 2 of her 3 reaches. :-??
This is best addressed by the guidance counselor. The counselor should be aware of her history and is more credible than the student. I think a student should address this only when a guidance counselor can’t or won’t do so. It can seem as though a student is making excuses.
My S chose to mention that he overcame learning issues briefly in his essay, but it was not the focus of his essay. You should talk to the guidance counselor if you want him/her to address your D’s learning disability in his/her letter as they cannot do so without your permission.
It sounds to me like she has a solid GPA anyway. I’m pretty similar; I have ADD and I got all As and Bs, and graduated with a 3.6. There was a slight upward trend, but there was really nothing so bad that it deserved an explanation. I don’t think it’s worth bringing it up.
I agree that this is something that you may want a counselor rec to address, as long as you’re confident that it will have a positive (not neutral) spin on the steps your DD took in overcoming the adversity.
Writing an additional information essay can be tricky.
Most adcom’s would prefer to see that box empty, if possible,
as by nature it’s explaining away mitigating circumstances.
If your daughter has stats for the school that can stand on their own merit,
then you may not need to explain anything.
If you think that her stats are on the lower end of a schools’ admitted students, and think that more info would be helpful, then try to be as brief as possible. In just a few sentences: recognize the issue>specifics of remediation or steps taken to correct>tangible current outcomes and thoughts toward future outcomes.
Thanks for the replies. Talking to her GC about it makes a lot of sense. She’s at a small school, so everyone knows everyone. There are no secrets. (She has a 504-plan-equivalent.) In the GC’s brag sheet request (to everyone), she asked if she was allowed to discuss any LD that you might have. DD replied to the effect of “it’s a part of me, of course you can talk about it”. But it remains to be seen what the GC will talk about. And GC can also give advice about whether she thinks DD should write that “additional info” essay.
My personal thought is that schools that would downgrade her / reject her for it are likely not good fits for her anyway, and for schools that say “ah, that makes sense”, it will help her app. But I’m happy to defer to the GC.