<p>I'm planning on applying to some pretty selective colleges next year, but I had some slight grade trouble in freshman and sophomore years (like 3.75 to 3.8 GPA) due to an eating disorder. If my grades come up a lot, will a college be willing to look past my less than perfect GPA due to my diagnosed mental illness? Or would it be bad to disclose this information to a college?
Also would overcoming this disorder be a super cliched topic for my admissions essay? Thank you!</p>
<p>I’m involved in a few good ECs and have a 28 ACT that will most likely come up in the next year and a half, if that helps. I would just like to know if colleges need to know this information or not.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a good idea to disclose this. But I could be wrong.</p>
<p>I thought about writing an essay about my obssessive compulsive disorder, which had been very severe during my early highschool years and caused me to waste a lot of studying time doing ocd related stuff. But then i thought, what if they think that I still have it? I certainly wouldn’t be a top candidate for college if they thought that I was still wasting time washing my hands and checking the doorknob. So I refrained from disclosing any mental illness that I had and suggest you do the same.</p>
<p>I’d disagree with DrGoogle. Mental illness is a valid excuse for less than perfect grades. Assuming you’ve taken care of it/are better now and it reflects in your grades, I think disclosing it would be beneficial. If your GC knows about it then it may be best for him/her to be the one talking about it in the letter. If not, then there’s a spot on the common for explanations and you could put it there.</p>
<p>@devrybound</p>
<p>yes, if the illness was still present/not treated/not under control then disclosing wouldn’t be beneficial. But overcoming a mental illness is a huge achievement. And it’s a valid excuse for poor performance. I’d disclose it. Whether or not you write an essay on it is up to you. It could be totally cliche “I overcame a bad thing in my life” type essay, or it could be great. It’s not the topic of the essay but the essay itself that’s important. Any topic can be interesting and any topic can be dull and repetitive.</p>
<p>I’ve heard don’t write about excuses whether or not it’s valid and don’t write about Death, Divorce, Depression and Disease. I’m not sure where mental illness falls in.</p>
<p>Certainly you don’t want an essay to be a sob story. You don’t want an essay to be about excuses (whether invalid or valid) but you can take a serious challenge that you overcame in your life and turn it into a great essay. </p>
<p>I think OP should certainly inform the colleges about the reason for his GPA drop through the GCs letter or on the designated section of the common app. If OP thinks that there’s a strong essay with the topic then sure, if not then not. </p>
<p>As a note, I wrote about how a devastating event changed my life and made me depressed among other things. I wrote about how in the long run I’m glad this event happened. If I could go back to how my life was before, I wouldn’t. I got a note in my acceptance about how they liked this essay. It’s just one example and not a rule of course, but I think as long as it’s not a “look at how sad it is that this happened to me” kind of essay then it’s okay to write about depressing topics.</p>
<p>Might be worth talking to a counselor, if you have a good rapport with them.</p>
<p>I wrote about my mental illness in my essay, as it related to specifically working to learn how to cope and thrive with my illness. It went through a lot of edits with my counselor and a teacher. I imagine it was an issue for some of the schools that rejected me. On the other hand, the school that I intend to go to sent me a handwritten card saying that my application was a delight to read. I’ve also had other admissions counselors from other schools specifically contact me about being impressed by my essay. </p>
<p>It’s a risk. For me, I’m happy going to a school that genuinely wants me with the full knowledge that I DO have an illness and it HAS been a struggle to learn how to cope. For me, I think a school that accepts me as someone with mental illness is a far better fit than any school that would balk from me. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t be a snap decision. Really talk about it with people you trust who know what they’re saying, and understand that there might be schools who won’t like it.</p>
<p>Lots of previous threads on this topic. Do a search on CC.</p>
<p>Do you know of anyone who has not gotten into college based on mental health status?</p>
<p>No school is going to say ‘you weren’t admitted because of your mental health status.’ They don’t give reasons for rejections. Schools are rightfully concerned about bringing a vulnerable student on campus so you want to handle this carefully. Check the discussion on prior threads with others who have had to wrestle with how much to share and when.</p>
<p>There is still a lot of stigma attached to mental illness. I would be wary and fearful of prejudice from adcoms.</p>