Should I disclose my depression on university application?

December 21, 2009 7:45 AM

I was diagnosed with depression and was in therapy for about an year. Do I disclose this on my university application?

I am applying to an undergrad program at University of Waterloo and as part of the application, I am required to submit an additional form( (pdf here)

Question 5 on that application asks for any medical, personal or financial circumstances that may have affected my marks.

I was diagnosed with depression in September 2008 and was put in therapy. The therapy ended in August 2009. This did have an impact on two of my courses, Math and Computer Science. My marks for those two courses were 77% and 76%, respectively. All my other marks in highschool have been in high 80s or low 90s.

If it matters, I am in my final year of highschool right now and my mid-term average was 91%.

So my question boils down to this: Should I link those two marks with my depression or should I just let it all slide? Why or why not? Would disclosing my medical condition put me at any disadvantage when being considered for admission?

posted by anonymous to Education (6 answers total)

Agreed with liketitanic. They don't need to know specifics and they'll probalby glance over it rather than really bug you about it in a private interview. Since your scores bounced back, I doubt they'll look at this too closely. Good luck and glad you're feeling better.
posted by stormpooper at 7:59 AM on December 21, 2009

What liketitanic said to the letter. While I think talking about depression and our experiences with it is important and helpful (to those who experience it and others), in professional/academic situations, it is probably best to keep the specifics to yourself, because many people do not understand depression or have their own set of often unfair assumptions about what that actually says about you. Also,you are entitled to medical privacy. "Medical condition" is truthful, while not being all TMI, and will not hamper any professional or academic application processes. Good luck!
posted by katemcd at 8:12 AM on December 21, 2009

My personal opinion is that you should definitely disclose it if you feel it will impact your application.

What they are asking you is whether your marks reflect your ability, and whether (if there were external factors that affected your marks) your future marks will reflect your ability. For that reason I would think it would be to your benefit to explain that your marks dipped during X period due to a medical problem (I am personally not scared to disclose my depression in that sort of context, but I don't know about the situation in Canada) but that after treatment everything is going better, and (perhaps most importantly) there is no reason to think that it will recur (assuming that is true) and/or that you now know what to do if the problem should recur and that you therefore don't see it impacting your marks in the future.

Basically, they don't want to miss out on accepting able students whose final-year marks may not be an accurate reflection of their ability, for reasons that were beyond their control. In my opinion you fit into that category and there is no reason to be scared of disclosing the problem and the treatment. (NB sadly in a professional application, there's a lot more reason to keep diagnoses of mental illness to yourself; however I do believe that the vast majority of academic organisations are much more enlightened. YMMV.)

Good luck with your application and I'm genuinely happy for you that you were able to find the right treatment to overcome depression - that's no mean feat!
posted by different at 8:21 AM on December 21, 2009

They don't need to know specifics, but if you have trouble later on, it may be easier to get academic help when you need it.
Example: a friend of mine had a severe depressive episode and ended up failing out of school because of it. He eventually reapplied and got in to the same school, but had to go through a lot of trouble to get his transcript cleaned up. He also got a fair amount of crap from the hearing committee about not seeking help.
posted by honeybee413 at 8:35 AM on December 21, 2009

Were you taking other classes other than Math and Computer Science at the time? Were those marks also affected? I think that fact that it was depression and not some other illness could become relevant if it particularly affected your grades in classes that were important to you/more crucial to your university acceptance (I am assuming you are applying to Waterloo for Math/CS/Engineering, not something non-technical). And it might raise a red flag if you claim non-specific illness as a reason for low marks in some classes, while your performance was unaffected in others.
posted by aiglet at 9:38 AM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think this is up to you and how much you want to share. No college that you would want to attend will slight you for having depression (I think it might even be illegal to do so), and depending on how you talk about it you might even help your case. Recognizing and dealing with depression is a big deal, and it shows particular strength of character and emotional maturity -- traits that colleges look for. I'd say you could go so far as to write a personal essay about the experience if you felt it would help admissions people get to know your strengths better. Playing it close and just mentioning a "medical issue" as liketitanic and stormpooper mentioned is just fine too -- you certainly have a right to keep this private.

I hope you find a school that you love and a community that can continue to support you should you experience any lows again in the future. As a fellow depression survivor, I find that a big change (like college) can be invigorating and great but also stressful and possibly a trigger. Be well and continue to take care of yourself!
posted by cubby at 10:23 AM on December 21, 2009