<p>I’m applying this fall to Cornell’s Undergraduate School of Human Ecology. The essay topic listed on the supplement asks to connect the majors that interest me with the school of Ecology and how I plan to incorporate it into my future academic plans.</p>
<p>I’ll just be blunt, but I have an eating disorder and I plan on majoring in nutritional sciences. Do you think it would help or hurt me to write about my eating disorder as an essay topic? And say that I plan to use this knowledge to help adolescents in the future who have eating disorders. I don’t know, it really could go either way, since I would be casting myself in a negative light.</p>
<p>The topic is good, and I think it depends on how you handle it. If you end on a hopeful note or demonstrate how your struggles made you a better person, it could be a quite moving piece.</p>
<p>^^^Exactly. That was something I was going to use as an essay but a mentor told me not to because at that point, I didnt have a handle on my situation.</p>
<p>For starters (and I know this sounds blunt too), some people may view you as a “liability” to the college-- will this person be able to handle school, being away from home, perhaps get worse because he/she is in an environment where it is difficult to control what they eat? College is often a place where old EDs can flame back up, especially since there are no parents or people dont know you had an ED, so they wont express concern when you start to fall back into it.</p>
<p>Secondly, if you have yet to overcome the ED, its kind of like, well, what are you trying to say? That you can handle a tough situation? So can a lot of people. </p>
<p>Unless you can make it a point to say “I had this issue, now I am better, and this is how its changed my life for the better…” then I would steer clear of it.</p>
<p>Roneald is right. Don’t make it sound like you want sympathy. Also, as someone who has written on that topic, it is only worth it if you have conquered it. If you don’t have a handle the essay may sound scattered and discredit yourself a bit. Another thing to think about it why nutritional sciences. Would this help or hurt you in the long run?</p>
<p>I know someone who was in the same situation, and I don’t know if she wrote about it for colleges or not, but she should have because it was such an inspiring story.</p>
<p>I dated a food science major here who has suffered from an eating disorder for a good amount of her life. I think it’s actually a common draw to food science/nutrition. To put my response (my opinion) very bluntly. If you don’t use your problem as a crutch in the essay I don’t think it matters if you’ve conquered it. Cornell is looking for someone devoted to their field of study that will thrive here, not some example of “perfection.”</p>
<p>I have a devil’s advocate question for you. </p>
<p>I’ve known a few people who went your route - had an eating disorder and then pursued nutrition science in college. While the eating disorder at 15 or 16 was quite tragic and difficult to overcome, by the time they were in their twenties they had moved on to other interests and it faded into the background of life experience. </p>
<p>So, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but since it’s obviously still fresh in your life, I just want to ask for your own sake: </p>
<p>Are you absolutely sure you want to commit your entire career and all that college tuition to eating disorders, or is there a possibility that once you get a little older it will fade into your adolescent history and you’ll take up interest in something else?</p>
<p>Do you have a deeply rooted passion for nutrition and diet issues that started before or separate from your personal disorder (perhaps started before it)? </p>
<p>Don’t go way into detail with it either… Focus more on what you learned from it and whatnot, rather than telling the story of having the disorder.</p>
<p>I don’t know why you’re getting testy with me. I’m simply trying to help. Perhaps the fact that you got a little upset at my question should raise a few of your own. </p>
<p>Anyway, I didn’t ask how long you’ve been dealing with the disease. I simply asked whether there is something beyond it in your life that compels you into this field to sustain your interest once you fully overcome it. </p>
<p>I’m not trying to be a jerk. It’s important to think these things through. If you have, then godspeed and I hope you make it into Cornell. If so, I’d definitely use it as an essay.</p>
<p>No offense applejack, I realize that you’ve known people in this situation, but unless you’ve had one…it’s hard to comment. People with eating disorders deal with them their entire life, regardless of whether they have overcome them or not. I can’t imagine that anyone who has had one will say that it has “faded into the background.”</p>
<p>Its all about how you spin it. It would be wise to focus the essay on how you found an interest in food science as a result of your eating disorder, rather than how you dealt with the struggles of an eating disorder. </p>
<p>Having just gone through the college ap process, I realize in retrospect that what colleges are really looking for is to see your passion in a particular field. The reason the problem arises is less important to them than the question of if you are indeed the best candidate to take advantage of the resources available at the particular college.</p>