<p>In light of the recent shooting at Virginia Tech, I realize that colleges are more wary towards any students displaying mental illness, and many colleges are rejecting if they hear anything about a student having such an illness. What is W&M's stance on this?</p>
<p>The reason I ask is I know that when people are physically sick and their grades suffer, you can usually explain that away with a letter from a doctor and the school corroborating that. But depression also has many debilitating side effects that are extremely likely to interfere with school progress, such as overwhelming exhaustion, physical pain such as aching, strained eyesight as a result of the exhaustion, inability to concentrate, helplessness, and perhaps even increase a masochistic tendency to destroy the student's own progress. If such a student was untreated for years, displayed the above symptoms, and finally received treatment, would it be in the student's interest to explain their poor academic performance via their psychologist, school psychologist and guidance counselor? Or would it hurt them more, with a negative bias already at work on the admissions counselor?</p>
<p>While most of my queries are aimed at how admissions staff at W&M would react, any generalized input is more than welcome.</p>