[Perfectly_Imperfect]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone knew how colleges view mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, etc. I'm asking this because I suffer from severe depression. As a result, my grades haven't been quite good. Would colleges take this into account when looking at my application? Would they cut me some slack because of my illness or would they judge me unfairly because of the negative stigma that mental illnesses carry? Thanks for all your help!

[Christina86]

Depends on the university. Do you have the medical documentation of your depression? Does your university have a health services, or services for those with illnesses/disabilities? If so, I'd suggest calling them. (My university has a centre for those with disabilities - including mental illness - which allow for certain accomodations).

[LMo]

Well, this is just my opinion...

My perspective is that of the spouse of a man who is in college and who has severe anxiety/depression issues. He is 33 and is still a junior in college because he fails/drops so many classes due to depression and anxiety.

Colleges "judge" you based on your ability to perform and progress through their curriculum. They have some "disability" accommodations for people with mental illnesses, but it is an involved process that requires YOU to be committed and communicative, even when you feel like crap. They might extend a deadline or two for you if you are in a depressive episode, but you will have to notify your instructors ahead of time, in writing, that it "might" happen, and be specific ahead of time, in writing, about what kind of accommodation you need. And you need to get yourself out of bed and pick up the phone and call them when they're struggling. Don't do what my husband does and just not show up.

I don't consider them to be judging people "unfairly" because of a "stigma" -- the fact is that chronically poor past performance is not a positive indicator of how well they will do in the future. Colleges want people who are determined to succeed. With proper mental health management, it can definitely be achieved, but you will have to DEMONSTRATE commitment and motivation to get yourself through the process, rather than expect others to cut you slack.

Again, I might get bashed for this perspective, but that's what I see. Sorry if I offended anyone.

[Razzleberry]

What kind of degree would you like to get? How bad are your grades?

Some colleges will exclude you just based on numbers. But you may be able to get into a different kind of program, maybe like a community college or something like that.

What are your talents? Strengths? If there is a way to highlight those, that can help.

[Perfectly_Imperfect]

Well I've always dreamed of going to an elite college but I feel that my grades aren't as good as they could be.

Freshman year I had a GPA of 4.1 (weighted), but sophomore year my GPA went down to a 3.6 (weighted) and now I'm currently at a 3.5 (weighted). My cumulative GPA is still about a 3.7 (weighted) but that just doesn't feel like enough. So far the best I've done on ym SAT Practice tests is a 1750 (out of 2400).

I've always wanted to be a docotor and I'm thinking of majoring in both Biochemistry and Psychology. Science has always been my favorite subject. The world just fascinates me.

I'm not really sure what some of my talents or strengths are. I started swimming this year and I did quite well for it being my first year. In some ways I feel like I'm an all around athlete and that with the proper training I can do well in many sports. I designed a poster for a contest in my school and it won it was then sent out to compete against other posters from around Massachusetts and it won too. I've never had any formal art training so I guess I'm kind of talented at that.

[Perna]

I would go to a smaller, local school for the first couple years of college, do the basics, make sure college was going to work for you and was something you could succeed at and then transfer. People drop out of 4-year colleges and so there are spaces that open up and if you did well in the first 2 years at a local college, any university would love to have you for those open spaces because you are a "known" entity, they know you can succeed and have what it takes. So much of the first year at some major institutions is trying to get rid of the slackers and those who can't make it in college; so I would go to a smaller, more friendly place for my first years and see what it was like and if I thought I could hack it somewhere harder. No, they won't take your mental health situation into consideration if you want to be something like a doctor; there are too many people who want to be doctors who don't have problems. You have to keep up and keep being top in your classes to get into and be allowed to do the graduate work for something like that.

[Irine]

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Perfectly_Imperfect said:

I designed a poster for a contest in my school and it won it was then sent out to compete against other posters from around Massachusetts and it won too. I've never had any formal art training so I guess I'm kind of talented at that.

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WOW GREAT for you!
I am note sure i would have made it!
Go for grapic design,then!

[Rapunzel]

What opportunities you have for college will depend on your performance and your ability to do the work and the tasks assigned to you. You have good grades, and many colleges would love to have you.

You sound a lot like me. I can't remember for sure what my high school GPA was. My state didn't use GPA for high school at that time, in fact. But I graduated in the top 10% of my class, and was accepted at all of the universities I applied to at that level. I even had a full tuition scholarship at one of them. I was an honors student in high school and in college. But I didn't always meet deadlines, and some professors put up with that, while others didn't. I was in a departmental honors program my junior year in college, and doing fine. My senior year, I struggled with writing a senior thesis. I felt like I was done with it, and couldn't motivate myself to keep revising it over and over, and wasn't making deadlines for revisions. My GPA was above 3.5, but was on a downward trend in the second quarter of my senior year. They asked me to withdraw from the honors program, and that hurt. Then they didn't accept me to the master's program (where in that program almost everyone continues on). That was a shock. I appealed, and they said that I lacked the social skills to be in the social sciences. I started to think that my faculty hated me, and gave up on everything for a lot of years. I didn't even graduate until I went back 12 or 13 years later after bottoming out in life.

Now I don't have as many options as I would have had. I have a 3.9 GPA in the master's program that I am almost finished with. I've been hitting some rocky places lately. I don't think I'll ever get accepted to a doctoral program, and I'm going to feel very limited and likely resentful with the degree I'm getting. But it is better than staying at a $6 per hour job where I was getting beaten up and told by the director that i was too old and would never be able to advance.

Your life is your own, and your future is ahead of you. You can have good grades and be talented and still be limited by mental illness. But you can also overcome it and reach your potential. It's what you make of it, and how you handle your challenges. Get support when you need it, and communicate about your struggles. If I had been able to get the right kind of support when I needed it, my life would have been very different. Show your dedication, keep pushing through the hard places until you make it, and don't give up. Grades are not everything. The thing that will really move you ahead is to get to know your faculty members and help with their research, etc. Don't spread yourself too thin though. Concentrate on one or two things that you are most interested in.

There is discrimination against mental illness. Even online support communities don't accomodate people like me when challenges get to be too much. And saying that you have a mental illness isn't accepted as an excuse. But I know several people who have succeeded in spite of mental illness. You can be one of them.

[Perfectly_Imperfect]

Wow Rapunzel, thanks for that. It was really inspiring.

[SpazKatt]

It all really depends on the college. Where I went they had FREE counseling and offered lots of support in that area. You could even apply for extra help with courses (it was considered a disability service). For example you could arrange to have someone make sure you were going to classes and if you were unable to attend due to a depressive episode they'd arrange to have someone already in the class who took notes and the college would have their notes copied and provide them to you with out actually exposing you to the person who was providing the notes (they'd have them for you to pick up during your counseling session). I'd always recopy them in my own notebook so no one ever saw that I had their notes. Good Luck!