Mental Health and my applicationAnswered
Hi! As a student, my academic profile regarding my SAT and rigor reflects well on my college application (1530, 8AP, 15GT, 2Hon). However, my GPA was severely impacted due to the development of an anxiety disorder and sleep disorder at separate points along my academic career (3.45/4.0, 4.3/~4.85). Due to this impact, my opportunity to participate in some of the elite extracurriculars I had planned on participating in was taken away due to eligibility requirements (min 3.5 and I have a 3.45). Is there any way to reflect this in my college application and how can I increase my odds of getting in to more elite schools despite my setbacks in mental health?
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4 answers
I personally feel that I'm unqualified to objectively provide you with an opinion on what to do next. You can greatly help the readers of this inquiry if you could do the following, please.
1. State what your top college choices are.
2. State whether or not you are applying for financial aid
3. State your current Top 5 EC.
4. State whether you identify as any of the following? BIPOC, 1st Generation, Low income, DACA, Trans/Queer?
5. What AP Exams did you take and what were your scores?
6. Do you have a talent or a spike?
7. What is a GT course? Explain how they are different from regular, honors, or APs/IBs? You took 15 of them so what did you take?
8. Have you uploaded all your pertinent information on the CV chancing profile? Please share a few examples of what the % result is for your reach, target, and safety school and what those schools are.
9. Why is your weighted GPA scale out of 4.85, not some round number like 5.0? Just curious.
10. What are your top honors or awards thus far?
Without more information, the common response will be, yes you seem smart and accomplished so keep up the grades and work on everything important like ECs and Essays.
I'm sure you don't want to hear lip service, so that's why I'd like more information prior to weighing in.
Honestly I don't think you wont be able to get into elite schools because of this if anything I think your application wouldn't be complete with out this information. If your application has a spot for you to give them more information about your grades, classes gpa etc. Then put everything you just wrote in that section write about your anxiety during the pandemic and your sleep disorder and how it has affected your grades. Its better to do this than to not do this.
For something like this, if it's something that's been a huge barrier in your education, then you should definitely write about it in your supplemental essay or one of your PIQ's if you're applying to UC's. But if you're not sure, it's not that impactful to your education, or you're scared the readers may perceive you differently because mental health is a hard topic to talk about in your essays properly, I would simply state it in my additional comments. Make sure you don't simply complain about your mental health/anxiety but show how you have overcome it to further your education in a proper way.
Maybe you can write an essay based on your mental health during these periods, it could be an essay topic and it would explain how your GPA and academics were impacted.
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1) UPenn, NYU, Georgia Tech 2) No, 3) Eagle Scout + 2 Roman Catholic religious scouting medals, Drama Lead, 400+ hours of Community service through ASP, Internship at private construction company, Research Project about advancement of tendinopathy and grafting technology. 4)No, 5) I took a few but I do not plan on submitting them (insomnia related), 6) Eagle/Community Service, 7) "Gifted and Talented", A in GT=5, A in Honors=4.5