<p>I have had aspergers my whole life although I don't think I have ever been officially been diagnosed. I have grown out it for the most part and have learned how to be social ect. but the symptoms where quite obvious when I was young (didn't talk much around strangers, couldn't make friends easily, got into trouble in school, poor grades, didn't show emotion, very self-conscious...). Although I have excelled in H.S. I feel like aspergers holds me back in some areas. Will it hurt or help my admission chances to reveal the fact that I have aspergers. The symptoms have become so small that it almost seems not worth mentioning.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’m following you. You’ve never been diagnosed, and you’ve “out grown it”. It seems the only was the LABEL could hurt you, is if YOU mentioned it.I wouldn’t assume everyone even agrees on what “it” is. I think you should not focus on the label, but rather on what specifically holds you back. From what I gather, talking about what currently holds you back is not usually a good thing.</p>
<p>You cannot self diagnose yourself. Since it hasn’t affected your academic profile why bring it up?</p>
<p>Well, when I was in middle school, I got bad grades and I got in trouble a lot. I even had a 504 status for a while. I tried hard to turn myself around academically (and I did despite a rocky start freshman year). What I’m wondering is if it’s a good idea to mention the suspicions of aspergers somewhere in my application and explain how I’ve grown from it (in an essay perhaps)</p>
<p>Sounds like a great essay topic</p>
<p>I, too, wonder what there is to gain from mentioning this. It’s not like schools are looking for Aspies to recruit. If mentioned at all, it would be in the context of overcoming a roadblock as you said, but with no formal diagnosis, it might be taken as trying to play a victim or sympathy card.</p>
<p>That being said, DS (with a formal diagnosis) did mention it in most of his essays, but was careful to say it does not define him. In his case, we felt the issue was still important enough that the college would want to know about it, and if they wished to disqualify him because of it (illegal, I know, but still…), he’d be better off not going to a place which wouldn’t want him if it did know.</p>
<p>That doesn’t seem to be your case. If you don’t feel it’s currently an issue you and the college will have to deal with, I’d avoid mentioning it at all.</p>