hello
my younger brother is battling depression and anxiety. he is in a very fragile state right now. he has been having these problems since the beginning of freshmen year. but yeah, his grades are suffering because of this. many of you may argue that depression is no reason for dropping grades but everyone has it different. not everyone has the same type of depression. but he has been an honors student his whole life but it all ended in high school. he had a b+ average for the past two years. this year he has most A’s and two C’s in his ap classes. this has made his depression worse. he is scared that he won’t get into college and community college isn’t an option. but he is slowly getting better. so if he mention depression on his application, will it hurt him? if so, what are other options to tell them he had low grades because of his depression. he is applying to Rutgers, Purdue (1st choice), GaTech (we have family there), Syracuse, Boulder, Case, SUNY, CUNY, NYU Poly, RIT, WPI, Rowan, TCNJ, Drexel, Penn State, Rochester, Maine, Alabama, maybe Embry Riddle, Stony Brook, Penn State, Lehigh, UIUC, TAMU, UW-Seattle, USC, UT-Austin, Cal Poly and maybe, just maybe CMU or Northwestern. a lot, i know. his sat scores aren’t bad but he can bring them up. so yeah, please give advice on this. anyone, parents, college officers, students, etc. every advice is appreciated. thank you!
I really don’t see any schools on that list where his grades would be an issue, other than CMU and possibly Northwestern and Purdue. I would not mention the depression in his application.
However, if he is “battling” as you say, is it necessarily a good thing to send him to college fresh out of high school? Depending on your family’s financial situation, could he go for a post-grad year somewhere or do a year of a structured program to help address his anxiety?
Depression and anxiety aren’t things to just burrow through. Maybe he needs some time off.
His grades are not that bad - does he have anything in his life to give him perspective, like volunteer work?
Colleges neither want nor need any liabilities, in light of recent suicides or campus shootings.
I would not mention it. However, if he believes that it is crucial part of who he is, then focus the 95% of how he overcame his depression and how he is a maturer, better student and a person.
It totally does not sound like he should even go to any college for that matter right now.
College shouldn’t be on his priorities, his health should be; especially if he is in a “fragile state”.
Don’t use depression as an excuse - which it sounds like it’s trying to be - " community college isn’t an option ". Community college is always an option as long as you graduated or are going to graduate.
@rhandco yeah he does a lot of volunteer work. he tries to get his mind off of everything by doing this. that is why his a ton of ECs. he is an officer is like 5-6 clubs, president of two, co-founder of one. he also has been in those clubs for is entire hs career so it’s not like he is jumping around. also you put stars around “that”. may i ask why?
@viphan @StanfordSwag we are asian so our parents discourage a year off or CC. all his depression is linked to college admissions itself. he read your comments. he doesn’t feel that he should take a year off. he says that its going to get better once he gets into college. and he is getting better
He will definitely get into a college. Perhaps not a prestigious college, but some state school somewhere, and probably a fairly decent one. Besides, mostly A’s with two C’s is not low grades. Having mostly D’s with a few C’s is low grades. Everybody with a 3.0 GPA in high school can get into a four year state university. And many people with below 3.0 get into college too. People with below 2.0 GPA do have a hard time getting into college, but even some of them do.
It looks like maybe your family is in NY state. I bet almost all of the SUNYs would accept him.
There is no need to take a year off, it probably would make things worse.
There is no need to attend CC. He can get into a decent four year college.
In many states, some of the state universities are required to admit anyone who graduated from high school in that state. For example, here in Ohio, University of Toledo, Wright State University, and Youngstown State are all required – by law – to admit graduates of any Ohio high school. Even if your state does not have that kind of requirement, I can assure you that a state university in your state will admit your brother.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to tell a university about depression or anxiety – unless that specific college asks, or if they have special programs to help people with such problems.
Colleges do not care why a student has low grades. Telling them that it is because of depression will, if anything, make it look worse.
re college or not (i know it’s not your original question), get real advice from a real person. a counselor he trusts, not anonymous posters on a website … myself included 
He may want to consider applying to college, getting in, and then taking a year off to volunteer, travel to asia or europe in a stress free program and gain some perspective.
I would suggested looking at this year and last year’s results threads for the schools he is interested in and seeing how he compares
@Iz57c4 tbh he has done that but she really didn’t help. i went with him. she doesn’t assess the problem only beat around the bush. no doubt she is a great gc but she didn’t really help out.
@NROTCgrad thank you so much! it got a little off of his chest. we live in nj so i’m not sure if we have that policy. but yeah, rutgers engineering is hard to get into from what we heard. its a great school but his main choice is purdue. he doesnt mind if he has to pay debt, but after purdue he will get a great job then pay it off. thats all him. but anyways thanks for the advice. you really did help out!
Don’t mention the depression because it would probably be used against him. If/when he gets to the point where he can easily talk about how he has learned from it, how he has improved, and how he is a stronger person now from it, fine. But don’t let adcoms use that as a tool to label you a liability.
I understand how admitting a problem, especially with something like depression, isn’t easy; and it definitely isn’t easy to disclose something so deep and personal to a stranger like a counselor. However, I think your brother needs to see someone and your family needs to heavily contemplate sending him to CC or a school close to home (aka in state). His depression may not improve if you just send him out in the world alone. Even if it stemmed from college admissions stress, no one is saying it will go away once it’s over.
Go over to the parents’ forum and read all of the sad stories on there about students who struggled with depression and other mental issues while they were away at college. I’m not saying that that will happen but with something as serious as depression etc., you can never be too careful or cautious.
Best of luck.
My suggestion is for him to apply to schools quite close to home and that are known as supportive schools. Liberal a Arts colleges would be far better than larger universities. I see people are suggesting he not say anything. I agree that saying something about ongoing depression will probably count against him. But there is a genuine reason for that and reason for their concern. And that should be as big…no more …of a concern to the family. Pre-existing depression puts a student at much greater risk for suicide. A large impersonal university is simply asking for trouble. A small nurturing school close to home with a lot of contact and family visits would help to prevent a bad outcome. Schools are not just worried about legal liability. They are also worried about losing kids.