Should I Mention Depression on My College Application?
Colleges scrutinize applications from troubled students more closely
If an applicant's school records raise suspicion, colleges say they will make every effort to verify the information. Some, for instance, will turn to Google, Facebook, or another source on the Internet. But it's not clear how thorough most colleges are when high schools don't cooperate. It is often the case, some say, that an anonymous tipster or an upset parent of a child who was not admitted to the school will come forward. Colleges say a high school's refusal to share information could damage the school's relationship with the college, especially in the event that the applicant is admitted and later commits a crime.
Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of admissions at Harvard, says high schools that knowingly withhold troubling information about applicants will be held responsible. "We're not a detective agency," she says. "We operate on the assumption that schools are behaving honorably." If administrators learn that an applicant has lied, colleges can rescind offers of admission. That's what happened in 1995 when Harvard administrators found out that an admitted applicant had killed her mother when she was 14. The applicant, a straight-A student, had not disclosed the incident in her Harvard application on the advice of her lawyer.
Seth Allen, dean of admissions at Grinnell College, a liberal arts school in Iowa, says colleges expect that students will answer questions about their past behavior truthfully and completely. "We want to understand if you slipped up why it happened," he says. "If we understand that there is a death in the family or a personal crisis that would help us say, 'This is not a normal pattern of behavior,' we can forgive you." Sometimes, he adds, an honest and thoughtful response can make a candidate more appealing.
Earlier this year, Emily was offered admission to six schools; she has decided to attend Simmons College in Boston. She was turned down by four other schools. "I'm grateful because I feel people are willing to take a chance on me," she says. "It just makes me hopeful that the world is moving away from fear and towards acceptance of those of us who haven't had the easiest times."
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Depressed people don't physically hurt others
As a mother of an A student in grade school, who quickly spiraled down to a failing student by the time she reached high school, I can feel the pain of these students and their parents when it comes time to college. She had been diagnosed with Oppositional defiant Disorder to ADHD, to a problen child, before I, who also has depression, realized she had it. In a adolescent, the tell tale signs may not be there until she reaches a certain maturity level, such as excessive crying and actually admitting that there is something wrong with her but does not what or why. These kids should not be discriminated against, they are getting treatment. It is an illness, often hereditary. They did not ask to get it, just as a teenager who develops diabetes or irritable bowel syndrome. Do they get discriminated against? If anything they should be given extra consideration, due to the fact that they are getting the help they need or needed. It is the other forms of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, where other students may get hurt. The public needs to become more aware of how many people out there actually suffer from depression. It is said that one in five are on an antidepressant.....In todays demanding world, I would say at least an extra one or two is on them and not admitting it, because of fear of discrimination, or they should be on them.
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