Hello!
I saw on a previous forum that students with mental illnesses may qualify to be protected under the 2010 equality act. What does this mean in terms of my chances of acceptance? My GPA is fine not great, but during my freshman/sophomore year I struggled with numerous illnesses and have hated myself for not taking classes quite as seriously.
If there is a chance that I can have a better chance of University acceptance by utilizing this Act I would love to know!
Thank you!
Are you applying to British colleges? I don’t think this will work in American schools. This seem to be a British law. American students are protected by the American’s with disabilities act (ADA) which includes mental illness, but this will not be used as a factor for college admission. It is used to ensure that students have equal opportunities once in college.
If you feel that your admission will be hampered by early illness it would be something to discuss with your GC. It may or may not be something you want to bring up to potential college admissions committees. My son, who has autism, had issues with his ECs. Autism is a disability that affect social skills and had a direct effect on his ability to participate in ECs. He opted to disclose only to specific schools that counted ECs heavily in their admissions criteria. He asked his special education teacher to do the disclosing for him. I don’t know if it will help or hurt, but he decided to take the risk.
So if I get into contact with my counselor to disclose this information it may or may not help? I really don’t want to damper any possibility of a chance of getting into a college but I feel like this information is crucial to explain my situation
Look at it this way. If you disclose your illness you are asking them to take it into account when you apply. This can have a variety of effects. (And my son and I talked about this at length before he made his decision, so I understand your concerns.)
- Disclosing mental illness can backfire because the admission committee might be concerned that you will not do well in a high stress environment. They might be concerned that you will relapse and do poorly. You have not disclosed on this thread what you illness is, but in some cases, they might become concerned about violence or harm to others.
- Disclosing your mental illness might work in your favor, because it could show the admission committee that you are able to overcome adversity. That you were able to come through something very difficult and persevere, but you needed time and your grades show that.
Something that someone told me at Stanford University when my son and I visited. We pulled aside the adcom who was doing our info session and asked her about disclosing my son’s autism because of the ECs. She told us that “I can’t understand something I don’t know.”
Now I am going to comment as someone who also has a mental illness. I have been bipolar since I was 15 and I am now 48. For me personally, I found that I did better when I didn’t have to hide my illness. It is a part of who I am and I need to be in a place where I can ask for help when I need to. This means that I always disclose but I am aware that this could cost me jobs/friends/relationships and other opportunities. But I always make the choice to disclose. It is a deeply personal choice and you will need to decide for yourself what to do.
There is no easy answer here.
If you choose to disclose you have three options. (I am assuming you are a Jr and you have not applied yet.) You can ask you GC to disclose in his letter of rec to the schools, you can disclose in an essay, or you can disclose in the other information option that the common app and other applications has.
Either way, there is nobody who can tell you what to do. It is a personal choice and many will tell you to never disclose. But in the end, that choice is yours and yours alone.
(If you happen to have bipolar or schizophrenia PM me and I will give you info on a scholarship.)