<p>Concerns about campus safety and a desire to admit "good community members" create a dilemma for students who wrestled with depression. CC's Sally Rubenstone is quoted.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Should I Mention Depression on My College Application?
Colleges scrutinize applications from troubled students more closely
By Eddy Ram</p>
<p>I find the idea that students would be excluded from college because of mental illness to be disturbing. There are many bright and wonderful people with depression and other forms of mental illness. I wonder whether a trend of exclusion will lead to parents and students being more reluctant to seek help for their mental illness and pretending that it doesn't exist?</p>
<p>I also find it disturbing that this article lumps kids with criminal records or kids who have stolen tests in with mentally ill kids. The former involve bad choices, the latter is something that the kids have no control over.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I find the idea that students would be excluded from college because of mental illness to be disturbing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Welcome to the stigma of mental health in modern society.</p>
<p>I, too, find the lumping of depressed teenagers into the "troubled" teen category to be appalling, and I find it to be grossly offensive that something as uncontrollable as mental illness is, in the minds of admissions committees, somehow inextricably linked to a student's character.</p>
<p>It just goes to show you how little some people actually understand clinical depression. It's disgusting.</p>
<p>I am not quite sure how the article can justify their conection of depression to academic dishonesty, drugs, and criminal behaivour. I have suffered from accute depression and have never cheated or overdosed on drugs. I am certainly not violent or unlawful; perhaps the worst taint on my criminal record is running a red light. In certain cases, I agree a history of mental illness COUPLED with questionable behaivour like expulsion, jail time, or drug abuse is reasonable grounds for rejecting an applicant... but as for me, yes, I've been depressed, but I have never done anything to suggest I'm about to become the next Virginia Tech shooter... I've worked just as hard for my 4.0 and 700 SATs as the next person. This article is poor scholarship in my opinion. The article is titled as addressing "depression" but focuses instead on troubled teens who have done stupid things.</p>
<p>Well, this is quite scary. I have moderate-severe clinical depression which is why I did very poorly in my junior year. My counselor is going to write a letter with my transcripts and now there's a chance that it will hurt to explain what happened? </p>
<p>Yes, I have depression. But I am not a "troubled teen" who does drugs and makes poor decisions. It is simply not fair if we're discriminated against because of something outside of our control.</p>
<p>Maybe it's just me, but depression in high school and college seems to be common in today's society.</p>
<p>^ But there is a difference between depression and clinical depression. It seems much more common because teens tend to say "I hate my life" etc. more but there still is real clinical depression. I don't think that it's any more common now than it was before.</p>
<p>I honestly didn't read the whole article, but..</p>
<p>I have depression/anxiety... it's hereditary. I wrote an entire essay on it, and how I worked through it.</p>
<p>I didn't have any troubles throughout the college admissions process. I'm going to Georgetown SFS next year, and I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out.</p>
<p>I think this article is a bit misleading because it's equating mentioned depression with mentioning disciplinary issues.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Welcome to the stigma of mental health in modern society.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, I know. But I hadn't thought that colleges were buying into it so much. I knew people in college with a wide range of mental illnesses - clinical depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, various forms of OCD, and more. Mostly terrific people, good students, and hard workers.</p>
<p>I've been expelled from a school and now I'm homeschooled. What should I do about it in my application. The article does not make me feel much better.</p>
<p>If you choose to talk about an issue - whether it be a medical issue or a past disciplinary action - approach it from a positive perspective - how you dealt with it, how you've turned lemons into lemonade, how it has motivated you to want to get a degree in an area to help others with a similar condition, etc., etc. Try to avoid whining or complaining.</p>
<p>I'm going to have to go through this with my private homeschool counselor.</p>
<p>Best case scenario, I can get my former school to expunge the records or something of that nature.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Maybe it's just me, but depression in high school and college seems to be common in today's society.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I have to agree on this. I thought I was a little depressed all of November...it was a stage. But because "depression" is so common with high school/college students, I think it's a little disheartening that those truly with clinical depression(maybe because of a death or something affecting one over a year...kinda thing) are lumped together with those who simply have the blues :/</p>
<p>I tend to think you should always tell, that way you can get the help and resources you need at the college you go to. Most have administrative arms that deal with this sort of thing in terms of allowances of one sort or another. I believe most house it in their disabilities function. Telling your teacher you did not hand in an assignment because you had a bout of depression, will not get you a break, s/he will not be able to distinguish it from any normal student excuse for missing an assignment (I believe the number one excuse is grandparent die -- in any given year more student grandparents die than are in the state the college is in). However, I you have gone through the correct channels you will have an official letter that specifies your problem and what is allowable in terms of your case. It is not a public knowledge thing. You show or give the prof the letter privately and no one else knows.</p>
<p>I guess I have some experience with this.
I was diagnosed with clinical depression at the age of 19. I had felt depressed since the ripe age of 14, but I refused to admit I was depressed because I had a great upbringing. I always felt like I was making excuses. After I graduated high school my mom convinced me to see a psychiatrist. After a few months of sessions, I was prescribed Lexapro and took it daily for over a year. By my third year at CC I had stopped taking the medicine because I felt I was ready to manage my depression on my own. I applied as a transfer applicant to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Irvine, and honestly admitted my diagnosis. My personal statement actually addressed how much my depression influenced my decision to major in English because of my interest in existential literature. I was accepted to all three schools. I did make sure to convey that I am in no way a victim of my depression, and that currently I am just managing it responsibly. I’m not saying everyone should claim to have depression in their personal statements, but I don’t see the harm in admitting to having been diagnosed with clinical depression if it has played a significant role in your education.</p>
<p>The essential problem boils down to these two sentences.</p>
<p>"I felt sick so I went to the doctor yesterday."</p>
<p>"I felt depressed so I went to my psychiatrist yesterday."</p>
<p>Two medical problems that have very similar implications, but a
drastically different response from the main stream. People are
ashamed to admit psychological problems, and it's quite sad that
society has inadvertently imposed this perception upon us.</p>
<p>This is a tough situation for students, families, highschools, and colleges. When an admissions office sees an application that is highly irregular, many high school with some midyear transfers, erratic performance, that is going to bring up a red flag right there. If the reason is a physical malady, it is likely to be considered a challenge that the student is handling. If it falls under mental illness, that is a whole different story. It isn't supposed to be that way, but it is.</p>
<p>Though I don't think the shoots at Tech and NI helped the situation, colleges had already become wary of mental illnesses in students. The past few years, kids who have killed themselves or hurt themselves because of such illnesses, have had parents who sued the colleges for not being more up on the situation. This liability is what I think is driving the concern. Yes, many college students end up needing mental health services, but to accept someone who is known to have the problem is guaranteeing another such student. The same goes for kids with other problems. </p>
<p>The other side of this is that such kids are having these issues addressed and treated instead of having them pop up in college where the overburdened health services has to dx them and treat them. </p>
<p>My feeling about the situation is that if the depression or other disorder is such that it has made an impact on your application, it is wise to bring it up and emphasize that it is being treated and under good control. If it is not, I don't think going away to college is a good idea in most cases. If the mental illness has not caused events that affected the student as a college applicant, I don't think it needs to be mentioned any more than some physical treatments. I don't think kids list every injury or illness on their apps, only those that impact performance. If you bring it up unnecessarily, you are acknowledging it as an impact event.</p>
<p>This is hard for me to read too. I'm a straight-A student looking to apply EA to Yale, and I've been clinically depressed and on meds for 2 years now. It's really hard to think that I can't be honest about my struggles with depression for fear of not getting admitted.</p>
<p>I was diagnosed with depression my sophomore year of high school. I was put on medication, was seeing a psychiatrist and a shrink, all that jazz.</p>
<p>My grading trend showed that my grades plummeted from my freshman (3.4) to sophomore year (2.2), then I began to recover. I did pretty well my junior year (3.6), and did even better my first semester senior year (4.4). I got a 590 verbal, 570 writing, 610 math SAT scores. Overall, I don't have bad grades, it's just that one bad blemish (sophomore year), that hurt my record. I was also captain of 2 varsity sports, musician, etc.</p>
<p>Well, I got rejected from my first choice, a state school which was really the only school I wanted to go to, and community college was really my only option left. I decided to write an appeal based on the fact that my depression limited my capabilities. I contacted my old psychiatrist, whom I had write a letter explaining my situation.</p>
<p>I wrote a letter to the review board explaining my case, pointing out that there is a trend in my grades, and doing all that I could to get through my situation in this letter. I sent in the appeal along with all the documentation I could get, and hoped for the best.</p>
<p>A few weeks later, I received an acceptance letter. My teacher, in his 40 years of teaching, has never heard of a case like mine. </p>
<p>I encourage all those with issues such as mine to do as much as you can to let your situation be known. I'm not sure if I would do it right off the bat when applying, or if you get rejected. Probably the latter, however I wish you all the best of luck.</p>
<p>"This is hard for me to read too. I'm a straight-A student looking to apply EA to Yale, and I've been clinically depressed and on meds for 2 years now. It's really hard to think that I can't be honest about my struggles with depression for fear of not getting admitted"</p>
<p>It's very risky to divulge this. And there really is no benefit in doing so because you did so well in school anyway. If someone was dealing with a learning disability, you could write an essay about overcoming obstacles but this issue is different. Adcoms are too afraid of a Virginia Tech situation.</p>