<p>Hello. I am not sure where to post this but I would appreciate the advice of others in our situation. Our rising senior, a quiet, thoughtful kid who is a NM commended or semifinalist (depending on cutoff), straight A student and runner suffered a bout of depression after contracting mono in January. He missed 2 months of school, withdrew from AP bio (missed too many labs) and has been under a psychiatrist’s care. He is still recovering. Grades and ECs suffered but thankfully, he is not suffering like he was last winter. The school did not require him to repeat his junior year. The question is, how honestly do we deal with this in the college application? He is no longer on medication and feels better and would like to just describe grade drop to mono, (and only if an interviewer asked him) but the school records will note the psychiatric care. Some college planners told us that a psychiatric illness should not be mentioned in his application unless he is undergoing continued treatment. My son already knows he’ll need a school close to home and one with good support, but he loves academic challenges and doesn’t want to shy away from a tougher school due to last semester’s issues. He is a legacy at 2 Ivies. I have no idea how either of these schools would look at his illness but with the incredible kids applying these days, mom and I wouldn’t be admitted again either. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>My daughter is also a rising senior and we have been pondering a similar (but less serious) problem. She has fibromyalgia, and on top of that got mono in the Fall. She stuck it out in her AP and honors classes, but has missed 16 full days of school, plus coming in late and leaving early on other days. She got inducted to National Honor Society … but may get kicked out due to her lower grades this year. Her former straight A’s are now mostly in the B to B+ range for a good part of this year. Her dream school would have been a reach under the best of circumstances, and it makes her very sad to think that her illness may have destroyed her chance to make that dream school attainable. (And yes, of course she has back up schools, but still…) We have been thinking that honesty is the absolute best policy. Her GC has committed to writing a letter explaining the (hopefully temporary) drop in grades this year and how she actually did really well in light of the circumstances. And DD is planning to write a supplemental essay (“is there anything else we should know?”) that discusses her health challenges. And then we wait to see if it works. I’m very interested to hear how other families have dealt with this, and how schools have responded.</p>
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Why would the school records note the psychiatric care? Isn’t that against privacy laws? And I doubt that interviewers would be allowed to ask about it. </p>
<p>I agree with the college planners about not including it as information unless it’s ongoing. Drops in grades can be attributed to mono (true) which is probably not all that uncommon. What are the SAT/ACT scores?</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses. Our son goes to a private school and it calls for retention in a grade if more than 20 unexcused absences occur. Our primary MD referred us to psychiatry after son wasn’t “bouncing back” from the mono and hence, the psychiatrist’s are the doctor’s notes in our son’s record. Despite the 45 days off and a jr yr of 4 APs/2 honors classes, son maintained a good (4.2; down from 4.4) GPA. Activities stopped after first semester due to fatigue/depression and AP Bio was dropped even tho he had a solid B+ first semester. SATs are 2100 first sitting (pSAT 218 so prob nat’l merit commended). Son probably would like to try one IVY (Dartmouth, Cornell or Yale; he loves the Yale classics dept) and maybe Notre Dame, BC, Holy Cross…I just don’t know how a semester with half the days off, significant drop in activities, and GPA trending down should be addressed. I believe my son is recovering but this is a process and he may very well need counseling in college, but I am afraid being treated for depression is a red flag for some admissions offices, esp in the Ivies where MIT/Yale have had recent student suicides publicized. These schools would be “reach” anyway so would talking about the depression/therapy be the thing that would make these schools an impossible dream?</p>
<p>two2go: Perhaps I’m not understanding but even if your Dr’s note is from a psychiatrist, why would the HS school need to share this with colleges your S applies to? I think they are obligated to respect your s’s privacy. Any divulging of medical information as I understand privacy laws has to come from your son. I didn’t think that attendance records were a part of the school’s report to colleges. If you have concerns about what your S’s school will report perhaps speaking with a guidance counselor will clear them up. It seems that your S’s record is outstanding even with the illness but I would guess that explaining he had mono and therefore many absences would account for any downward trend. Is it really inevitable that the depression will be reported? It would seem that it would be best to deal with your son’s needs regarding psychological support after admission.</p>
<p>Our DD missed about 30 days of school at the beginning of the year for 3 surgeries and the notation in her file for the absences is just “doctor”. I would call the high school and see how it is really reported. I would find it very unusual if they got into specifics with that when they send the information on (IF they send that information even).</p>
<p>I would request a chance to look at his file with his GC. There is no reason for them to mention the specifics of his drs visits in a GC rec or in his file and I would fight to make sure that the school complied. His grades etc are very good especially considering the mono and depression following that is quite common, good for everyone involved for addressing it. Good luck to all of you.</p>
<p>I would be very surprised that a psych report would be included in any part of reporting from a school. I do know absences are reported and these could be easily attributed to the mono.</p>
<p>That said, am less concerned about what a school thinks about a kiddo having depression than how a person recovering from this illness would fare in a high-stress environment. I knew one of the boys who died at MIT this year and he had no visible signs of depression whatsoever. I think one of the keys will be finding the environment that is the most healthy for him in the long run.
Best to you all.</p>
<p>I don’t have any advice but you do have my sympathies. My oldest DD also contracted mono in her junior year and it was a nightmare as far as the school went. For over a month she would go to school a day and be out for 2-3. Luckily a good portion of the time she was sick was over February break and her school also had several snow days that month but even so I had a very hard time getting her work sent home and eventually had to threaten to go to the school board to get action. Quite honestly my DD was not fully recovered for at least a year IMO (she says to this day she feels like she still feels different).</p>