<p>If say, you could explain it in other terms…?</p>
<p>For example, 1st year problems due to attention deficit disorder that was later helped out with medicatiion. But a lot of students without ADD have problems too, and they get themselves out. And then you could argue like one of those other students, who argue on basis of immaturity.</p>
<p>It can be seen as an excuse, for one thing. And for another thing, if say social anxiety combined with asperger’s syndrome made you not get any independent research, you’re pretty much doomed anyways…</p>
<p>I’ve heard that college admissions is more lenient on this than grad school admissions…</p>
<p>Hmm…</p>
<p>Provided you have an actual diagnosis, it probably won’t hurt to disclose it in your personal statement. The adcom will have your full transcript so the change in grades following freshman year will be obvious to them and the explanation is reasonable. Just present it as something you were able to overcome and move on. One sentence is enough.</p>
<p>As to the research issue - grad school is all about research and your ability to work as a peer with the professor(s) guiding you. If the stresses of putting yourself forward prevented you from doing undergrad research you may well have difficulty with grad school. Often, only the first couple years of grad school even have classes, and those will be very small and will be oriented to developing the skills and knowledge base you’ll need to do your thesis (i.e. research).</p>
<p>Also, depending on your field, you may well find that grad school also means spending 5 or 6 years in very close contact with with a fairly small group of people. So relationships and “networking” can be critical. For example, I’m in Classics and the grad schools I’m looking at typically have about 20-25 grad students of all levels and 6-10 professors. Even in big departments, your speciality will likely be shared with only a small group.</p>
<p>Finally, when you do get to the point that you have a list of schools to apply to - be sure to visit. That personal contact can be very important not only for you to learn about the department, but also for the adcom to put a face and voice to your application.</p>
<p>Hmm, interesting. So I see that they won’t take well to something like a propensity to develop anxiety or depression. Since those who got depression in the past are more likely to relapse than others are…</p>
<p>On the other hand, A LOT of Nobel laureates and famous scientists had problems with anxiety/depression. Marie Curie, Robert Oppenheimer, Paul Erdos, Nikola Tesla, Newton, the list goes on… But that doesn’t count per se - they got into grad programs IN SPITE of them and their intelligence was more than enough to make those anxiety problems not as relevant.</p>