Here’s the thing: I don’t want to be the girl who allows whatever form of adversity she has overcome to define her. That’s why I really wanted to shy away from writing about depression, anxiety, or my previous schooling - I think I have more interesting things about myself, rather than the fairly common “I had depression, I went on medication, I got better” essay that is popular in my hometown.
However, a recent meeting w/ my college counselor made me see it a little differently. My transcripts, ECs and SAT scores are all pretty impressive, in my opinion. There’s just one problem. In eighth grade, my parents weren’t sure how to cope with the severe bouts of depression and anxiety that had appeared in seventh grade, so they sent me to all-girls boarding school. I was so depressed there that I was asked to go on medical leave in the middle of the year. I ended up in a treatment facility (which I would NOT include in my essay) for about a month, and from there I attended a small, alternative private school to finish up my eighth grade year. My parents and I both agreed that the alternative school was too small & way too geared towards kids with learning disabilities, so we applied last-minute to a DIFFERENT, slightly more mainstream (but still alternative) “therapeutic” school. At this point, I was on medication and thriving; I didn’t feel as though I needed to be in a non-traditional learning environment, but due to how late we were in applying, I had no choice. I attended that school for 9th and 10th grade, but being there - surrounded by kids with depression and anxiety, who self-harmed, who had eating disorders, many of whom were substance abusers and would come to school high - was uncomfortable and frustrating for me, not to mention ridiculously easy. Because my peers were delicate, teachers felt as though homework and work ethic was not a priority, so I was never challenged or pushed to try my hardest. I got great grades and did nothing. Once again, my parents agreed that it was time to switch schools, so I applied to many different traditional private high schools in 10th grade. Due to my history, I only got into one of them, and I’m there now and I love it.
The problem is that this period of adversity is present in my transcripts. I don’t want top-tier universities to be reviewing my grades and previous schooling and wonder why I attended so many different schools in such a short period of time. My counselor feels that if I can write a well-rounded, thoughtful and honest essay about my experience, it’ll give admissions officers an explanation for the inconsistencies.
Thoughts?