Psychological disorders and college applications.?
I have a question regarding psychological conditions (in this case, Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and college applications.
Here’s a bit of background:
I’m currently a senior in high school. For the duration of my high school career, I have been recommended for all honors/AP classes available, with the exception of mathematics (which was always a class a year ahead of my grade). I attained all A’s during my freshman year, and my GPA was about a 3.8 (honors classes are not weighted freshman year at my school), and I was in the top 5% of my class.
My academic performance had always been considered decent, up until my sophomore year. I was diagnosed with severe GAD during my freshman year. However, the anxiety did not affect my academic performance. During sophomore and junior year, some of my grades slipped down to B’s, and soon, I had more B’s than A’s on my report card. I missed several days of school due to panic attacks and other such crippling effects of anxiety, so my GPA slipped down to a 3.6 and my class rank suffered. Junior year, Chemistry was my most demanding subject, so I now have a ‘C’ branded on my transcript. Extracurricular activities are not an option for me, as I spent most of my time after school making up work that I had missed.
Needless to say, I am very apprehensive about this college application business. I plan on applying to Vassar, and other schools on the same caliber (Vassar being my number one choice). If I describe how my anxiety has affected my scholastic performance, will colleges understand? Or will I come off as a lazy and mediocre student with a bundle of excuses?
Any answers are greatly appreciated.
NEVER mention a psychological disorder to a college. Simply, they most probably won’t accept you. Colleges have been sued by parents of kids who have committed suicide, MIT most recently. They have also been victims of violence by kids with psych disorders. Admissions people are not professionals who understand the nuances of one disorder versus another. Whether one causes dangerous, violent or suicidal behavior or not. The mention of anything the smacks of mental illness is enough to scare them off.
If you do a search on the College Confidential web site on this subject you’ll find some posts by admissions officers of Vassar peer colleges on the subject. The way the tend to explain it is that their school’s mental health facilities are already stressed and they don’t have the resources to accept kids in potential need of help.
Unfortunately, so many kids have a "story" about why their high school performance was not as it might have been. Admissions officers don’t give them much weight anyway. They have plenty of story free kids to fill a class, so this wouldn’t have helped much anyway.
Focus your application on the positives in your life and apply to Vassar but also have a safety you love.
Comments
Comment from jb
Time January 6, 2010 at 3:22 am
NEVER mention a psychological disorder to a college. Simply, they most probably won’t accept you. Colleges have been sued by parents of kids who have committed suicide, MIT most recently. They have also been victims of violence by kids with psych disorders. Admissions people are not professionals who understand the nuances of one disorder versus another. Whether one causes dangerous, violent or suicidal behavior or not. The mention of anything the smacks of mental illness is enough to scare them off.
If you do a search on the College Confidential web site on this subject you’ll find some posts by admissions officers of Vassar peer colleges on the subject. The way the tend to explain it is that their school’s mental health facilities are already stressed and they don’t have the resources to accept kids in potential need of help.
Unfortunately, so many kids have a "story" about why their high school performance was not as it might have been. Admissions officers don’t give them much weight anyway. They have plenty of story free kids to fill a class, so this wouldn’t have helped much anyway.
Focus your application on the positives in your life and apply to Vassar but also have a safety you love.
References :
Comment from xo379
Time January 6, 2010 at 2:57 am
They will most likely understand–but the most important thing here is to make it clear that you HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL…even if you don’t. You don’t want colleges to think that it will impede your performance in college, too–that will be a death sentence for you in terms of getting in. So say that you see a therapist, and take medication, or something like that, and say that you are confident/sure that this will not affect your performance in college.
References :
Had depression; did what I mentioned above; got in.