can you write about mental health in college essays

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Should you discuss mental health issues in your college essay?

by Erica L. Meltzer | Oct 20, 2018 | Blog , College Essays | 6 comments

Image ©Nickshot, Adobe Stock

Note, January 2022: This post was written in 2018, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Obviously, many things have changed since then, not least the amount of psychological pressure that many high school students have experienced. Clearly, some of the boundaries and expectations surrounding acceptable/advisable topics for admissions essays have shifted, and applicants undoubtedly have more leeway in discussing mental-health issues than they did in the past. That said, I would still caution against making this subject the exclusive focus of your essay(s). If it happens to be relevant—and it very well might be, given the events of the last couple of years— then you should focus on discussing it in a mature way that conveys qualities such as empathy and resilience, and that demonstrates your ability to reflect insightfully on what may have been very difficult situations.  

As regular readers of my blog may know, I periodically trawl the forums over at College Confidential to see what’s trending. Recently, I’ve noticed a concerning uptick in the number of students asking whether it’s appropriate for them to write about mental health issues, most frequently ADD and/or anxiety, in their college applications.

So the short answer: don’t do it.

The slightly longer version:

If you’re concerned about a drop in grades or an inconsistent transcript, talk to your guidance counselor. If these types of issues are addressed, the GC’s letter is the most appropriate place for them. If, for any reason, the GC is unable/unwilling to discuss them and the issues had a significant impact on your performance in school that unequivocally requires explanation, you can put a brief, matter of fact note in the “is there any additional information you’d like us to know?” section, but think very carefully about how you present it. Do not write your main essay about the issue.

The full version:

To understand why these topics should generally be avoided, you need to understand what information colleges are actually seeking to gain from the personal statement. Although it is technically a personal narrative, it is, in a sense, also a persuasive essay: its purpose is to convey what sets you apart from the thousands of others with equally good grades and scores, and to suggest whether you have qualities that make you more likely to thrive at university x than the other 10 or 15 or even 20 applicants clamoring for that spot.

Now, whether such thing can actually be determined from 650 words (with which some students receive significant help) is of course questionable; however, the bottom line is that, adcoms are looking for students who will be successful in college. Discussing one’s inability to focus or intense aversion to social situations does not exactly inspire confidence, even if a student insists those problems have been overcome. Leaving home, dealing with professors and roommates and more challenging classes… Those are all major stressors. There is a tacit understanding that of course some students will flame out, have breakdowns, etc., but adcoms are understandably hesitant to admit anyone who is already at a higher risk for those issues. You want them to be excited about the prospect of admitting you, not debate whether you’ll really be able to handle college. (In fact, I had multiple students with various issues who were not truly ready for college and who did flame out — colleges have good reason to take these things seriously.)

This concern goes beyond any particular student’s well-being: graduation rates get factored into rankings, and every student who doesn’t make it through drags that statistic just a little bit lower. If a student does develop serious problems while on campus, there are also potential legal/liability issues involved, and no school wants to deliberately court those.

Besides, if your grades are iffy, it is extremely difficult not to sound as if you are making excuses. You are much better off talking about an experience or interest that will make them look past the transcript and think, “Hey, I really like this kid.” And the reality is that if your grades are that iffy, you’re probably not a competitive candidate at super-selective colleges anyway. These schools are looking for applicants who are on the way to fulfilling their potential, not for ones who need to explain away chronic underachievement.

In addition, one thing applicants — and sometimes their parents — have difficulty wrapping their heads around is the sheer number of applications the average admissions officer has encountered. Situations that may seem extreme and dramatic to adolescents who have recently confronted them may in fact have already been experienced — and written about — by thousands of other applicants. A 17-year old may believe that describing their anxiety in morbid detail will make them seem complex and introspective, but more likely it will only come off as overwrought and trite.

I know that might sound harsh, but please remember that admissions officers are coming at this process with no pre-existing knowledge of you as a person, only a few minutes to spend on your essay, and hundreds of other applications to get through. They are also under intense pressure to ensure that the appropriate demographics targets are being met and all the various institutional constituencies (coaches, development office, orchestra conductor) are being satisfied. They’re not ogres, and they’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt, but if yours is the fifth essay about overcoming anxiety they’ve seen in the last 48 hours, they will look at it and reflexively think, “oh, another one of these.” That is not a first impression you want to make.

Now, are there exceptions? Yes, of course, but they are rare. In all the time I did college admissions work, I had exactly one student successfully discuss anxiety in an essay. It was, however, introduced in the context of a family tragedy that had profoundly shaped the student’s life; given that background, the discussion seemed natural and matter of fact rather than overdramatized. Even so, I made the student take a good week to think about whether that topic was truly the one they wanted to write about.

Ultimately, of course, the decision is yours, and the choice depends on the larger story you want to tell as well as your ability as a writer, but these topics are so difficult to pull off well that you are best off avoiding them if you can (particularly if you don’t have access to someone with a lot of admissions experience who can review your essay). Find another topic/ experience that you enjoy writing about (and that others are likely to enjoy reading about); that presents you as someone interesting and thoughtful; and that suggest you are ready to thrive in college.

If you really are concerned about your ability to function in college, most schools have plenty of resources for you to take advantage of (academic support, counseling center, etc.). But those are things to investigate after you get admitted. Before that, don’t go out of your way to fly red flags where none are warranted.

Why is Dyslexia ok to mention on an essay, but overcoming selective mutism is not?

Dyslexia is a learning disability that lends itself to proof that it has been overcome through excellent scores in reading and writing. It’s not easy to overcome or cope with dyslexia so an essay showing how a student did it demonstrates their tenacity and resourcefulness. Grades and scores are proof that the dyslexia will not be a problem in college, while the essay can highlight the characteristics that led to the student’s success and which will serve them well in college.

I wrote about how my dog helped me overcome me ending my life/depression and moving to another school is that too common

Thanks for the tips and perspective. It seems like common sense to me as a parent and tutor, but now I have an “established author” to cite!

I want to write about how depression had change me. But my grades and statistics are all great. Is this okay to write? My bad mental health somehow didn’t manage to get to the others parts of my life.

Is it okay to write about how despite psychosis I could manage to get good grades?

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Is it OK to discuss mental health in an essay?

Mental health struggles can create challenges you must overcome during your education and could be an opportunity for you to show how you’ve handled challenges and overcome obstacles. If you’re considering writing your essay for college admission on this topic, consider talking to your school counselor or with an English teacher on how to frame the essay.

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Talking about Mental Health in Your College Admissions Essay

• Written by The Hello College Team
• Last Updated on March 13, 2023

When applying to colleges, you may wonder whether discussing mental health in your essays is appropriate. While there is no firm rule about this, the following can help you make an informed decision. At the end of the day, though, it is up to you and your parents or guardians.

How common are mental health issues among high school students?

According to a 2022 study by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among adolescents aged 12-17 in the United States during 2018-2019, 15.1% experienced major depressive episodes, 36.7% had persistent feelings of sadness, and 8.9% attempted suicide. 

Mental health difficulties have become the leading cause of disability for high schoolers and the most frequent cause of poor outcomes among young adults. Clearly, mental health disorders are extremely common in today’s youth. 

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When mental health gets in the way of success

The pandemic has worsened the preexisting mental health crisis among high school students. According to a 2020 study conducted by UNICEF, 46% of adolescents have become less motivated to engage in activities they previously enjoyed. This loss of motivation led to less involvement in school activities and poorer school performance. 

Mental health disorders, in particular, can impact high school performance. For example, students with social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder, are twice as likely to receive a failing grade than students without it. Social phobia can also prevent students from engaging in extracurricular activities. 

Similarly, clinical depression can be disastrous to students’ well-being, making it hard for students to get out of bed, much less keep their grades up. When their mental health struggles are severe, some students find that time off from school can be needed for mental health treatment. 

Missing school for mental health 

One of the most obvious ways that mental health affects student outcomes is increased absenteeism. According to a 2016 study by the U.S. Department of Education, in 2015-2016 over 7 million (about 16% of all) American high school students missed 15 or more days of school. Such absences are often tied to mental health troubles, which account for 13.4% of total absences (Fornander & Kearney, 2020). 

Absence due to mental health can be an important and healthy way for students to improve their mental well-being.  According to a survey by Mental Health America, over half of students believe that taking a mental health break from school or work would be helpful to them. The importance of mental health breaks is even recognized by some state legal codes. Minnesota has recognized the legitimacy of leaves of absence for mental health since 2009, a policy that other states have also adopted in the years following (Gewertz, 2021). 

For some students—especially those suffering from severe conditions such as suicidality, substance abuse problems, and eating disorders—taking long-term time off to get mental health treatment can be the only way to effectively treat their issues. Unfortunately, this can leave gaps in students’ academic records that might concern college admissions committees. 

Do you have to disclose a mental health diagnosis in a college application?

No, you do not. To prevent discrimination against students with mental health difficulties, it is illegal for U.S. colleges to request this information from you. It’s therefore completely up to the individual to decide whether to disclose a mental health disorder or mental health leave of absence in a college application or essay. 

So, should you talk about mental health absences in a college essay? 

The short answer is, no, generally not. Because college essays are so brief—the Common App personal statement is only 650 words, about a page and a quarter—students should use the limited space in their college essays to highlight 

their strengths. Given how prevalent mental health issues are, having a mental health disorder is unlikely to make a student stand out—and it may be viewed as a weakness.

Unfortunately, stigmas about mental health still exist, and, while colleges can’t legally discriminate against applicants for having mental health disorders, they still do so, as demonstrated by a 2019 investigation into the University of Florida’s admissions practices that found admissions officers to be flagging applications that acknowledge mental disorders to be flagged for additional review (Jaschik, 2019).

Exceptions for discussing mental health in a college essay:

If your high school transcript reflects absences from school that would raise even greater concerns if left unexplained..

Extended or frequent absences can themselves be reasons for a school not to admit an applicant. In many cases, it is better to disclose that the reason for such absences was mental health-related than to let it seem like a student was simply lazy or indifferent.     

If you are applying to become a mental health counselor or social worker.

When a student’s mental health diagnosis leads them to discover an academic or pre-professional interest, it can make sense to mention that diagnosis in a college admissions essay. Still, students should make sure to highlight how these issues motivated them to become better students and how it inspires them to pursue careers as a mental health professional. It may even make sense to discuss the topic as part of a personal statement or “Why Major?” essay. 

If you want to write about the strength mental illness has given you.

This is perhaps the trickiest exception to the general rule of avoiding discussion of mental health. But, if having a mental health disorder is central to a student’s life story and they feel that their personal statement would be unreflective or incoherent without it, they should reframe their diagnosis as a strength. Rather than focusing on how their condition reflected them negatively, students writing about mental health, for this reason, should focus for the overwhelming majority of their essay on how they overcame their struggles.  

Where to disclose mental health absences on a college application

If a student feels that they must discuss their mental health,  they should do so in the “Additional Information” section of the college application, not the Personal Statement. Depending on the application, students may also want to attach a note from a psychiatrist or therapist. 

However, before disclosing their mental health diagnosis on a college application, students should get advice from a college counselor on whether or not to make the disclosure. 

The bottom line:

Despite social progress, stigmas around mental health disorders still exist. If a student decides to disclose mental health information on the Common Application or another college application, they should proceed with caution and make sure to seek guidance from a trusted counselor. Remember, Personal Statement’s purpose is to highlight a student’s achievements, strengths, and uniqueness, and it is ultimately up to the student whether to discuss their mental health. 

For more guidance, check out: https://sayhellocollege.com/blog/

• Active minds (n.d). Recommendations for leave of absence and return from absence policies for mental health concerns at higher education institutions. https://www.activeminds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ActiveMinds_PositionStatement_LeaveofAbsence_May2017.pdf .
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022). Children’s mental health. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html
• Fornander, M. J., & Kearney, C. A. (2020). Internalizing Symptoms as Predictors of School Absenteeism Severity at Multiple Levels: Ensemble and Classification and Regression Tree Analysis.  Frontiers in psychology ,  10 , 3079. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03079
• Gewertz, C. (2021, June 24). Why more schools are excusing student absences for mental health. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-more-schools-are-excusing-student-absences-for-mental-health/2021/06
• How to discuss mental health in a college essay. (2018, December 4). TKG. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.koppelmangroup.com/blog/2018/12/4/how-to-discuss-mental-health-in-a-college-essay
• Jaschik, S. (2019, August 27). College Found to Discriminate on Mental Health. Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved April 6, 2022 from https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/08/27/new-college-florida-found-discriminate-against-applicants-mental.  
• Ryan, J. L., & Warner, C. M. (2012). Treating adolescents with social anxiety disorder in schools.  Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America ,  21 (1), 105–ix. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2011.08.011
• US Department of Education. Chronic absenteeism in the nation’s schools. From:  https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/chronicabsenteeism.html
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021, December 7). U.S. Surgeon General Issues advisory on youth mental health crisis further exposed by the covid-19 pandemic . https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/12/07/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-on-youth-mental-health-crisis-further-exposed-by-covid-19-pandemic.html
• UNICEF. (n.d.) The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of adolescents and youth. https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/impact-covid-19-mental-health-adolescents-and-youth

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Writing College Essays about Mental Health in the Context of the Pandemic

Written by Vanessa Garrido on July 7th, 2022

• writing college essays ,
• mental health ,
• Weigh your pros and cons, which may look something like:
• Pro: You are providing the admission office and student services with a fuller picture of your needs and circumstances as they relate to your mental health. If a college doesn’t feel it can support you, the school is not going to be a great fit for you.
• Con: Reducing your mental health challenges down to a 650-word essay is not likely to capture the full complexity of your experience. Your essay will only reveal a sliver of this facet of your life and may be misread or misinterpreted.
• Ask yourself these questions if you’re considering writing about your mental health:
• Are you currently in the midst of your mental health challenges? The personal statement is intended to give you an opportunity to shine light on your growth. If you’re managing something as complex as depression or an eating disorder, it can be challenging to focus on the growth. Your college essay might not be the ideal place to process the relevant feelings and issues. You may want to explore a different topic and address your mental health through journaling, talk therapy, etc.
• What positive personal qualities do you want to highlight, and is this topic the best way to let these traits shine? Remember, this is the one story about you most admission officers will have access to. Is this the one story you want to share?
• What is your perspective? How might you share a story that will be a vibrant, authentic take on something that is affecting a large swath of the population?
• How have you changed? How has this experienced helped you become the person you are today? What do you want your readers to take away?
• Identify ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
• Mental Health Resources for Adolescents and Young Adults from SAHM
• SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Helpline and Resources
• National Institute of Mental Health
• Mental Health First Aid training for teens

When is the right time to get started? How can you keep my child on track? Get all the answers to your most pressing questions.

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How to Discuss Your Mental Health on College Applications

Should you write about depression in your personal statement? Should you disclose mental health challenges elsewhere on your college application? Here’s what experts say.

Within the next few months, many rising high school seniors will be staring at a blank computer screen with the same question on their minds: What should I write about in my college application essay?  This question can feel heavy.  After all, by the time students approach the end of their junior year, they’ve surely heard lots about “THE” college essay.  The concept can feel overwhelming so it’s no surprise that many students struggle when it comes to choosing the perfect topic.

For students who experienced a mental health challenge while in high school, this question takes on another dimension. Should they talk about how they coped with say, depression, or any other mental health condition? Should they refer to it only in passing? Should they avoid mentioning it at all?  What is the best way to handle such an important topic?

While this is a very complicated topic, the college planning experts I talked with all offered similar advice.

The Purpose of a College Application Essay

Before thinking about whether or not you should write about mental health in your college essay, you should remember what the essay — or the “personal statement”— is all about in the first place.  What is the purpose of the essay?

No matter which prompt students select, and for all college applicants, those with or without mental health challenges, the essay is the only part of the application in which college admissions officers have the opportunity to hear the voices of the student. The rest of the application contains numbers, statistics, and comments from teachers and counselors.

This is why the personal statement, as college planning experts concur, is where you should share part of your true self in the most positive light. Think about what a college wants to know about you as a person, or what a university would gain by having you become a part of the campus community.  Dig deep to figure out what makes you, you.

Use your essay as an opportunity to bring your college application to life. Try to strive for it to represent you in an authentic yet optimistic way. One former reader of applications at a top university’s admission office shared a fun way to see if your essay checks out.  She asked me, “Does the essay pass the midnight test”?

Picture an exhausted admissions officer with a stack of unread application files on her desk. She is reading yours at midnight at the end of a 16-hour day. Does your essay draw the officer in and make her eager to read until the end of your essay to learn more about you? Will she be eager enough for her to conclude that, yes, we want this student on our campus next fall? Or does your essay sound far too similar to some of the others she’s read that day?

The purpose of your essay is to take the reader beyond the numbers (test scores and GPA) and into who you are as a real live human being.

Experts on Writing About Mental Health

All counselors interviewed for this piece agreed that students’ college essays should not be about their struggles with mental health. Wendy Kahn , a Chicago-based college planner, and Anna Seltz, of Higher Ed U , a college consulting organization in Philadelphia, both spoke about how students should try to talk about themselves in a positive light, taking the opportunity to showcase one of their many outstanding qualities, like intellectual curiosity, personal growth, or maturity.

A couple of the counselors — Bruce Vinik of Vinik Educational Services and Marsha Shaines of College Strategies in Kensington, Maryland — said that the only case in which a student should consider writing about her mental health challenges is if the struggle truly defines her as a person. Even then, both counselors saw this as the rare exception, and suggest that instead, most students should take advantage of the opportunity to explore one of the many other attributes that makes them unique. Vinik says that mental health problems should only be shared in the essay if the college would not be able to understand the applicant without knowing about this part of her. Generally, he discourages selecting this as a primary topic.

The Additional Information Section

All of the college planners mentioned above agree that if your mental health struggle in high school clearly impacted your performance, then you should mention it in the “Additional Information” portion of the Common Application — but only in a factual manner. If you missed three months of your sophomore year to deal with a mental health condition, you should explain that you spent those months dealing with a “health challenge,” overcame it, and are now back on track, advises Vinik.

The three other college counselors generally agreed with this sentiment. All expressed that if the mental health challenges have made an impact on your grades, involvement in class, attendance, or ability to participate in school activities, you should provide a short, factual summary (no more than two paragraphs) for background purposes, always emphasizing your recovery after these difficult moments and your preparedness for a college environment.

Seltz suggests that talking about this in your admissions interview may be another route that applicants can explore. Seltz recommends taking an approach like the one outlined for personal statements above: Briefly explain how the challenge affected your grades and focus mostly on the fact that those problems are now under control.  Making sure to emphasize the way/s that the challenge helped you to grow as a person is also important.

All of the college planners suggest that you talk with your high school counselor to ensure that what you are saying about mental illness in the college application is consistent with what the counselor may or may not say in her own counselor recommendation. Or, if you’d prefer that the counselor not address your mental health issues, request that as well. School counselors are almost always open to any guidance you may have for what you’d like them to include in or leave out of your letter of recommendation.

Dealing With Mental Health Challenges Past the Application

Being told that you cannot share a part of yourself that may have had a large impact on your life can be difficult to hear. Unfortunately, mental health is a stigmatized topic, and it’s difficult to explore its nuances and complexities in the short and streamlined format of a college application.  It is also extremely important to remember that with or without mental health challenges, you are far more complex than a 650-word personal statement.

The fact that you are not writing about it on your application doesn’t mean that colleges don’t want the “real” you, or that you will be unable to succeed. A mental health condition does not disqualify you from having an excellent collegiate experience by any means, the same way that a physical limitation would not interfere with your success as a student. As you explore your college options, be sure to look for campuses that are particularly mental-health friendly, and focus on finding resources you can rely on as a student. From counseling services to wellness organizations, many campuses make student mental health a priority, and selecting this kind of college will help you embrace your challenges and thrive in a new environment.

If you are worried that your problems are not yet under control — and that college may exacerbate them — you may want to consider taking a gap year and working with a local counselor to prepare for the big transition.  There are lots of really wonderful gap year programs for students in this exact position. If you think you might be interested in this option, talk with your school counselor about exploring what programs are available to you.

Be personal in your college application essay — but do so in an optimistic and positive way. The purpose of the essay is to convince the reader that you belong on their campus next fall. Don’t leave the reader with any unanswered questions or red flags about you.  Be clear about who you are and your will to enhance whatever campus you find yourself on.  This is the best way to tell the story of who you are.

If there are circumstances that need to be explained — such as time off, a drop in grades, or diminished participation in extracurricular activities, do so in a factual and concise manner in the “Additional Information” section.

Yes, you may have experienced a mental health challenge, and/or you may be going to college with mental illness. But don’t let that singularly define you as a person. You have the propensity to offer much more to a college than your diagnosis. And the personal statement essay is the place to show the college who you are as an individual, why you are ready for college, and what strong and special qualities you will bring to the campus community if accepted.

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How to Address A Mental Health Issue or Disability On Your College Application

Applying to college can be a confusing and intimidating process for anyone. If you’re a student with a disability or history of mental health challenges, you might find the process even more so.

As a student who has a mental health issue or disability, your high school experience may have been inherently more difficult in some ways, and it has most likely been different from that of your peers. You might be unsure of how to speak about your unique challenges or struggles without sounding negative. At the same time, you may feel that your application is incomplete without addressing them. Your disability or mental health may be an integral part of your identity.

If you’re getting ready to apply to college and you’re wondering if or how to present a mental health issue or disability on your college application, this is the post for you. Here, we will discuss the factors to consider when choosing to disclose your challenges on your college application, and we will outline the various ways in which you can present these in the framework of a college application.

Should I discuss my mental health or disability on my college application?

Your mental health history or disability may be an integral part of who you are, but that does not necessarily make it relevant to a college application. For starters, it is important to know that it is actually illegal for a college to specifically ask for these types of details about your life, since doing so can be considered discrimination. Based on this reason alone, you are never required to disclose mental or physical health concerns on your application. Doing so is strictly a matter of personal choice and you should not feel that you are lying by omission if you choose to leave this information out.

Before you choose whether or not you’ll disclose your history of mental health or disability, you should think about the overall function of a college application.

Everything on a college application should contribute to an overall positive image of who you are as a student and as a member of a greater community. While you don’t need to hide integral parts of who you are, you also don’t want to share challenges that will not in any way support your application positively. This is true not only for mental health and disabilities but also for academics, extracurriculars, and other experiences. You always want to put your best foot forward and keep the focus on your strengths and most positive attributes.

That being said, mental health issues and disabilities are not inherently negative, and there is nothing to be ashamed of when discussing them. You should not feel like you need to hide these parts of your identity, but rather that you need to spin them in a positive way much the same as you would any other aspect of your application. Simply put, you want to ensure that you are presenting your true self in the best light. 

There are a few questions to consider when deciding whether you’ll include this information on your application at all. Ask yourself if your application will be confusing or incomplete if you don’t address these issues. For example, if you had to take a semester off to recover, you will obviously need to explain the gap in your transcript. Similarly, if you battled depression and failed one semester despite achieving a 4.0 GPA your senior year, you’ll need to explain the discrepancy. Never leave an admissions committee wondering what happened, since they will likely assume the worst if you don’t mention it at all.

If, after some introspection, you do find that these issues are ones that need to be addressed on your application, there are several places to do so. The specifics about why you choose to include these details in the first place will often dictate where the most appropriate place to discuss these issues is. 

When and how should I discuss my mental health or disability in my college essay?

The essay is one obvious place to include details about your mental health or disability, but you should only do so if you feel that your struggles with these issues truly define you as a person and can be included as part of a bigger picture that shows your strengths in a positive light.

Remember, the function of a college essay is not to be an autobiography. You should not be writing your life story simply to inform others of your experiences. Instead, the function of a college essay is to be part of an overall marketing package. And what are you marketing? Yourself!

Whatever you choose as an essay topic should shed light on the attributes that make you a beneficial and unique member of any community. If your struggles with mental health or disabilities are defining features of this nature, then your essay is a great place to frame them positively. If you choose to do so, focus extensively on your recovery or management of these issues, and stress your ability to overcome the challenges you have faced.

Never leave an admissions committee to wonder if you will be a liability in their community. While it is of course illegal to discriminate against applicants based on their mental health or disability, it would be nearly impossible to prove that your disclosure of these issues was a direct factor in your not being accepted. Make it a nonissue by always keeping the focus on how these issues have shaped you into a better, stronger person and emphasizing that you have fully recovered or managed your condition.

When and how should I discuss my mental health or disability in the additional information section of my college application?

If you realize that your disability or mental health is not a truly defining feature of you as a person, you will probably not include it in your essay. But if there are red flags or question marks on your application that cannot be fully understood without this information, the Additional Information section of your application is the place to discuss it.

In instances where this issue has impacted your grades, involvement in class, attendance, or ability to participate in school activities, you should provide a brief explanatory background, usually no longer than a paragraph or two.

If you are sharing information about your mental health or disability in this section, you should do so only in a factual manner. You should not offer overly detailed or emotional descriptions, but instead keep it short and to the point. Since you have already decided that this information is not worthy of including in your essay, you should feel no obligation to provide extensive details or specifics. 

For example, you might describe that you took a semester off to address a health concern that is now under control. Always emphasize your recovery or management of this condition and your readiness for college, so that the admissions committee is never left to wonder what your current status is.  

When and how should I discuss my mental health or disability in a college admissions interview?

The decision process to discuss these details in an admissions interview should be similar to the decision process to include them in your essay or the Additional Information section of your application.

If you feel that these experiences are the most defining feature of your personality and can spin them in a positive way that presents your best self, you should definitely do so during an admissions interview. On the other hand, if you feel that these issues are irrelevant to how beneficial you will be to the college community, you are under no obligation to divulge them. The only remaining reason to do so would be if part of your transcript is incomplete or confusing without this additional insight.

If you do end up discussing these challenges in your college admissions interview, frame them as you would in your essay or your Additional Information section. Make sure to discuss them in a brief, factual manner, and always emphasize your recovery or management of the issue, and your college readiness above all else.

One Final Consideration For College Applicants With Mental Health Challenges or Disabilities

Keep in mind that in addition to making your own decision about whether your personal challenges will be included on your application, you should also discuss your decision with your college counselor or any teachers who are writing recommendations for you. You need to be sure that the details you plan to include on your application are consistent with any details that your teachers might include in your recommendations.

Also keep in mind that you can always request that your teachers do not disclose any details at all about your mental health or disability. If you find no reason to mention it on your application, it’s unlikely that they would have any reason to mention it in a recommendation, either, but you should always communicate with them ahead of time to ensure that you’re on the same page.

If you’re a high school student who has struggled with mental health or disabilities, you may feel uncertain about how or even if you should disclose this information on your college application. You should know that you are not required to do so in any way, and that the final decision is always yours to make.

For more about disabilities, mental health, and the college admissions process, see these valuable CollegeVine posts:

• A Guide to Disability Accommodations for Standardized Testing    
• Getting Back On Track After a Disciplinary Setback
• Dealing with Test Anxiety
• How to Get Into a Competitive School if You Struggled in High School
• What Makes a Good Recommendation Letter?
• How Often Should I Meet with My Guidance Counselor?
• Doubt, Discouragement, and Setting Appropriate Goals in High School

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Mental Health in College Students – From Application to Enrollment

August 16, 2022

Sometimes it takes unspeakably tragic events to bring the existence of a widespread problem into the national conversation. In the past decade, highly-publicized suicides at Penn, Hamilton College, MIT, NYU, and Cornell, among others, have moved the discussion of mental health in college students right to the forefront of the higher education discourse.

Thankfully, these are, of course, extreme cases of mental health challenges. However, the shift in focus could benefit the massive numbers of students who enter college each year with depression/anxiety. According to a survey by the CDC in 2022, 44% of American adolescents report feeling persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness; 28% said that they had thoughts of self-harm at some point in their lives. Perhaps even more startling is the fact that only an estimated 40% of those suffering actually receive any form of treatment (the National Institute of Mental Health). According to just about every survey in the world conducted after March 2020, the pandemic has had a profoundly determinantal impact on teens’ (and everybody’s) mental health.

In this piece, we will offer recommendations for dealing with depression/anxiety on your college application. But perhaps more importantly, we will share what mental health experts and current research says are important considerations for managing your illness on campus.

*Disclaimer: Mind you, we are college planning experts, not mental health experts. We are merely summarizing mental health considerations as related to college admissions and attendance. Your mental health provider may offer additional advice based on the specifics of your situation .

Impact on your high school career

For many, dealing with a mental health condition will negatively impact their high school career in some way, potentially impacting areas such as academic performance, school attendance, teacher relationships, and extracurricular involvement. There is ample statistical evidence to support this. For example, students with social phobia are twice as likely to fail a grade as those without. Students with a depression diagnosis have been found to earn significantly lower grades than their similarly-abled peers.

Given the impact of mental illness on a teen’s academics, a significant number of high school seniors are faced with a difficult choice each year—do I reveal my condition on my college application? There is no blanket answer that will guide every applicant. Ultimately, the decision to reveal your condition is an entirely personal one.

Did your academic performance suffer?

Perhaps your mental health issues were managed successfully and never impacted your grades. If this is the case, we advise that there is no reason to reveal your condition on an application. You should, however, still check out our recommendations on how to check out a college’s mental health services (below).

If your academic performance did suffer as a result of your condition and you do choose to share your challenges with prospective colleges in an essay and/or interview, we recommend that you consider framing your experience in one of the following ways:

The “overcoming obstacles” angle

Overcoming challenges and citing evidence of personal growth can be a winning story arc. If a bout of depression during your sophomore year contributed toward failing grades but you received treatment and rebounded academically the following year, then revealing that journey may be extremely helpful to your admissions chances. Knowing that you faced a significant challenge in your life and successfully emerged from it speaks volumes about your resilience, maturity, and grit, traits that are greatly valued by admissions officers.

Weakness as strength

Another approach is highlighting the strength that you draw from what others call an “illness.” An associate of Abraham Lincoln said of our 16th president that the “melancholy dripped from him as he walked.” Yet, many historians feel that Lincoln’s lifelong depression helped sparked his legendary wisdom, insight, and brilliant strategic thinking. Lincoln was hardly alone. Many of the greatest, most creative minds throughout history were, at least in part, driven by mental conditions. Darwin, Michelangelo, and Einstein were all likely sufferers of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If we were to list all of all the great writers, artists, comedians, actors, and directors who were influenced by depression and anxiety, this blog post would be longer than the 1,017 page novel, Bleak House,  penned by Charles Dickens, who was himself a lifelong victim of severe depression.

The semantic shift

Cautious applicants might consider simply substituting the term “medical condition” for “mental illness.” After all, mental health issues are treatable medical conditions in the same vein as mono or a broken bone. Simply stating that you were afflicted by a “serious medical condition” which caused a temporary academic decline and led to you quitting the school newspaper and the baseball team will suffice.

Check out a college’s services ahead of time

In a recent survey of college students with a diagnosed mental health condition, 45% rated their respective college as being somewhere between supportive and very supportive. The other 55% felt that mental health care on campus was less than ideal. Factors that were rated as being most important by students included: access to a psychiatrist for medication management, a 24-hour crisis hotline, community connections to additional mental healthcare, and the school’s overall culture of understanding that college can be stress-inducing and that mental health is paramount.

It is essential that parents and students research the mental health services on campus ahead of time. Check out each prospective college’s counseling office online to get a sense of what is available to students. If a college does not offer long-term therapy on campus, then parents should take the reins and find a good private therapist located near campus who accepts their insurance. Do this well before school starts.

Colleges are expanding mental health services

Many state universities, despite budget crunches, are recognizing the need to expand their mental health offerings. For example, in the fall of 2017, UCLA began offering free online screenings for depression; 2,700 students took advantage. Ohio State opened a dozen new mental health clinics in 2016. Penn State has increased their spending on mental health significantly in the last few years. The University of Michigan and Virginia Tech, in an attempt to make mental health more accessible, have embedded counselors in buildings around campus, rather than at one centralized location. Many schools operate prevention/wellness programs that assist students before they enter a crisis. These schools include Harvard, Georgia Tech, UVA, and Bowdoin College.

Amherst, Skidmore, Princeton, Drexel, and Carnegie Mellon are just a handful of schools that now offer access to 24-hour crisis hotlines manned by either peers or professional counselors. Unfortunately, excessively long wait times for a counseling appointment at many schools persist. At schools like Northwestern, Carleton College, and WashU, wait times to see a counselor range from one-to-three weeks.

Relevant statistics on mental health at college

Just to highlight some other meaningful stats on the subject:

• Only 50% of college students report disclosing their mental health issue to their school
• Of those with a diagnosed mental illness who dropped out of college, 64% directly attribute this event to their condition/disorder.
• Only 36% of college students with a mental illness are sure that their university includes mental health information on their website.
• 39% of students reported a wait time of 5+ to obtain an appointment for clinical services and supports.
• 73% of those entering college with previous mental health concerns have experienced a “mental health crisis” while on campus.
• Half of students believe that their peers will think less of anyone receiving treatment for mental health.
• The percentage of college students seriously considering suicide has doubled in the last decade.
• More than 1,000 suicides occur on college campuses each year.

College Transitions bottom line

If you are going to discuss your depression, anxiety, or other mental condition in your application, do so in a strategic manner for the purpose of illuminating otherwise unexplained inconsistencies in your academic record. A well-conceived and well-delivered narrative about your struggles with mental illness can be beneficial to your admissions chances. Contrarily, a poorly crafted disclosure may have the opposite effect.

Of even greater importance is that you do your research on the mental health services offered at each prospective college. Ensuring that the necessary supports at your disposal is critical to your overall well-being.  It is also likely critical to your academic performance over the next four years.

To view hundreds of free and easy-to-sort tables of higher education data, visit our DATAVERSE .

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Andrew Belasco

A licensed counselor and published researcher, Andrew's experience in the field of college admissions and transition spans two decades. He has previously served as a high school counselor, consultant and author for Kaplan Test Prep, and advisor to U.S. Congress, reporting on issues related to college admissions and financial aid.

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Talking about personal struggle with health conditions/diseases in college essays

Not exactly sure where to post this, but I feel here is sufficient.

I have looked at a lot of threads on CC and what brought me to making this thread was a recent thread about what to write your college essays on when you are a privileged individual (link: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-essays/1717301-how-does-a-privileged-person-write-a-college-essay-what-did-you-write-about-p1.html )

I have seen many people talk about either their experiences with school clubs, their fundraising efforts, any relationship troubles at home with parents, trips to 3rd world countries (a few people), and other somewhat ordinary stuff which shows both their personality and perspective and all of that is good, but I haven’t seen many people talking/writing specifically about having a disease (a few common ones such as maybe stage 1 cancer/diabetes/forms of leukemia and there are many more conditions which are lesser known & more/less impacting on one’s life) and talking about their experiences sometimes from a young age growing up and dealing with these health problems. What comes to mind is if you have had a disease since a young age you have had to deal with much more mature experiences (multiple hospital visits, blood tests, MRIs and medication, negative impacts on all aspects of your life such as social or physical limitations) and that it provides a really good basis for your college essay when strictly looking through the window of getting in or not.

I was just curious as to anyone who talked about similar experiences or health struggles they have to overcome in their application essays for college or for other programs. This subject might be a bit more private/taboo than other examples listed above (key club/nhs/math competitions and honor society experiences and many other things) but I wanted your guys’s input.

Bump for interest. Specifically, I have an inexplicable gap semester, and I had to take it for health reasons, but I’m not sure what all I is a good idea to disclose. Do I tell them the absolute honest truth about what happened, or do I leave it incredibly vague so that there’s no prejudice from the committee about “serious medical situation requiring missed semester”?

I would go for an essay about your health struggles if you think that you can write a strong one. It definitely sounds like it has been a huge part of your life and would stand out a lot more than an essay about NHS or volunteering abroad. Just make sure you focus more on how you have grown/matured rather than the disease itself (you don’t want to make it seem like a pity party). I’m sure you have lots of interesting things to say.

On a related note, I remember reading an essay someone wrote about pizza and PKU that I loved. It connected her thoughts about her disorder to what she’s doing today (I think she mentioned doing research) while maintaining a light, humourous tone.

It may be a good indicator of your background if maintaining health / dealing with illness was a major part of your life, or if you’re using that experience to show discipline (through nutrition, physical therapy, ADHD), a catalyst to discovering a new passion (you couldn’t play basketball, so you joined theater), courage (being on the debate team despite a speech impediment), or a budding interest in medicine.

However, I think it’s difficult to write a sincere illness essay, since most of the time, you’re either too young to know what’s going on, or you don’t have the superhuman resilience you want to put in an essay. Most of the time, when you’re chronically ill, you either suffer through it in a way that’s not very flattering to write about, or just integrate whatever health regimen into your daily life. And then if it doesn’t have that much negative impact on your life, then does it still fall in the realm of “ordinary stuff.”

And then there’s the potential risk of revealing a health condition that could pop up again and cause you to have to leave school frequently / perform poorly. That being said, I have read many essays about sports injuries, speech impediments, ADHD, and obesity in regular essays, and some brain injury, car accident injury, sustaining some weird illness/issue due to young-child-stupidity (e.g. swallowed a marble), and congenital conditions for doctor essays. I also hear many more people write about family members or friends from all over the board (Alzheimer’s, suicide attempts, heart attack, death) so they can show how they handle a situation deftly or are a good caretaker / friend.

I’ve also heard of the rare few people who can bring up a mental illness and handle it skillfully enough to get accepted. That has not been my experience; then again, choosing to write about an eating disorder for Ivies, which were already super-reaches, was not the wisest decision I’ve made… So @cameraphone‌ it really depends, but I would be reluctant to mention something that could lead to stigma.

I agree with @OnMyWay2013 ; mentioning mental illness can definitely make people think you’re fragile or incompetent. Or they just plain don’t want to deal with it. For a more tame example, I entered an essay contest at my university with a (well-written, I thought) essay about depression. Didn’t place.

I can understand your desire to address it because, just like with a gap in employment, college admissions folks may wonder. Here’s my thought: if you can point it out, use large brush strokes to explain that you were ill, and then focus on [paragraph 1] [paragragh 2] and [paragraph 3] on how it changed you (for the better)/learned from it. My son wrote an essay about moving around several times, including once in high school, but the positives he had to say about it brought tears to my eyes. Good luck in whatever you decide!

I gotcha thanks guys for all the replies. Yeah I guess writing an essay regarding your health struggles is very dependent on what exactly you write about as it can work and not work in your favor, although it can work for you if you make it both mature and well-written i suppose.

you know i wonder if there are a few essays talking about what @OnMyWay2013‌ was mentioning earlier along with others (speech impediments and food eating disorders to depression or life-endangering genetic diseases stuff and more severe stuff alike)…from the strict standpoint of getting into the college and assuming they are all written of equal level…do you guys think a college ad com might sway more towards the applicant who has dealt with more severe issues?

Not necessarily. I think adcoms will read many “sob story” essays that follow the same narrative of painting a picture of tragedy, then dramatically explaining how you rose above it. Taking a unique angle will make the writer stand out more, and this can be done regardless of the severity of illness, or even with any topic at all. That being said, if somebody was able to go through leukemia treatments and, let’s say, be valedictorian despite missing half the year, start a support group at her hospital, etc., that’s worth mentioning because those are more impressive accomplishments given the circumstances. But then again, the more “severe” the issue, the harder such accomplishments are to attain.

Adcoms lean toward more severe issues ?? No. That would be more for, say, medical research.

Remember you’re writing this as part of a college app. Rather than how disabling or debilitating this is/was, you want Adcoms to see how you succeeded despite-- and will be a great member of their community. And also remember it’s not just telling them. You need to show it.

D wrote about overcoming health issues associated with being born terribly premature. I think it’s fine to talk about a medical condition unless it’s one that might cause a college to have concerns about admitting you

if your main concern is explaining the gap year, you can ask your guidance counselor to address that in his or her letter (but also with a positive spin, such as “Despite the fact that…”). And then you can address a topic that you might be more eager to write about in your essay. At least thats my thought, but I’m just a parent, not an admissions professional.

i gotcha guys thanks for the info and replies. yeah i feel what you’re saying onmyway it will really benefit you if you show through examples like you said of how you overcame it but just talking about it i guess there would be quite a few applicatants just talking about something they “overcame” but not really showing through real life examples the significance and whatnot of it you know what im saying

More From Forbes

College essays that worked and how yours can too.

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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - JULY 08: A view of Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University on ... [+] July 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have sued the Trump administration for its decision to strip international college students of their visas if all of their courses are held online. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The college essay is a pivotal piece of the college application showcasing your individuality and differentiated outlook to admissions officers. What makes an essay truly shine? Let’s dive into the words behind three standout essays highlighted by university websites and a school newspaper's brand studio so you can get into the right mindset for crafting your own narrative.

Embracing Differences: Finding Strength In Uniqueness

Essay Excerpt: ‘Bra Shopping ’ (Harvard)

Featured by the Harvard Crimson Brand Studio , Orlee's essay recounts a student's humorous and insightful experience of bra shopping with her grandmother, weaving in her unique family dynamics and challenges at her prestigious school.

What Works:

• Humor and Honesty: The student's humor makes the essay enjoyable to read, while her honesty about her challenges adds depth.
• Self-Awareness: She demonstrates a strong sense of self-awareness, embracing her uniqueness rather than trying to fit in.
• Resilience: Her narrative highlights resilience and the ability to find strength in differences.

For Your Essay : To write an essay that embraces your uniqueness, start by identifying a quirky or challenging experience that reflects who a key insight into your experience. Think about how this experience has shaped your perspective and character. Use humor and honesty to bring your story to life, and focus on how you have embraced your differences to become stronger and more resilient.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, finding connections: humor and self-reflection.

Essay: ‘Brood X Cicadas ’ (Hamilton College)

As an example on Hamilton's admissions website, Nicholas writes about the cicadas swarming his hometown every 17 years and draws a parallel between their emergence and his own transition to college life. He uses humor and self-reflection to create a relatable and engaging narrative.

• Humor: Nicholas uses humor to make his essay entertaining and memorable. His witty comparisons between himself and cicadas add a unique twist.
• Self-Reflection: By comparing his life to the cicadas’, he reflects on his own growth and readiness for change.
• Relatability: His narrative about facing new experiences and challenges resonates with readers who have undergone similar transitions.

For Your Essay: To infuse humor and self-reflection into your essay, start by identifying an ordinary experience or object and think about how it relates to your life. Write down funny or insightful observations about this connection. Use humor to make your essay more engaging, but ensure it still conveys meaningful self-reflection. This balance can make your essay both entertaining and profound.

Persistence and Multicultural Identity: Life Lessons From Tortilla Making

Essay: ‘ Facing The Hot Griddle ’ (Johns Hopkins University)

In this essay published by Hopkins Insider, Rocio uses the process of making tortillas to explore her multicultural identity and the challenges she has faced. Her story beautifully weaves together her Guatemalan heritage and her experiences growing up in the United States.

• Metaphor and Symbolism: The process of making tortillas becomes a powerful metaphor for the student’s journey and struggles. The symbolism of the masa harina and water mixing parallels her blending of cultural identities.
• Personal Growth: The essay highlights her perseverance and adaptability, qualities that are crucial for success in college.
• Cultural Insight: She provides a rich, personal insight into her multicultural background, making her story unique and compelling.

For Your Essay: To write an essay that explores your identity through a metaphor, start by thinking about an activity or tradition that holds significant meaning for you. Consider how this activity relates to your life experiences and personal growth. Use detailed descriptions to bring the activity to life and draw connections between the process and your own journey. Reflect on the lessons you've learned and how they've shaped your identity.

A winning college essay isn’t simply about parading your best accomplishment or dramatizing your challenges. It’s not a contest for which student is the most original or entertaining. Rather, the essay is a chance for you to showcase your authenticity, passion, resilience, social awareness, and intellectual vitality . By sharing genuine stories and insights, you can create an essay that resonates with admissions committees and highlights your unique qualities.

For you to have the best possible essay, mindset is key. Here’s how to get into the zone:

• Reflect Deeply: Spend time thinking about your experiences, challenges, and passions. Journaling can help you uncover deep insights.
• Discuss and Share: Talking about your stories with friends, family, or mentors can provide new perspectives and emotional clarity.
• Immerse Yourself: Engage in activities that you are passionate about to reignite the feelings and memories associated with them.
• Draft Freely: Don’t worry about perfection on the first try. Write freely and honestly, then refine your narrative.

The secret to a standout college essay lies in its authenticity, depth, and emotional resonance. By learning from these successful examples and getting into the right mindset, you can craft an essay that not only stands out but also provides a meaningful insight into who you are. Remember, your essay is your story—make it a piece of writing that you will always be proud of.

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Student Wellness Tip: First-Year Workshops Promote Health and Wellness

Champlain College launched a 10-week curricular program to build students’ skills in transition, teaching healthy habits and campus resources.

By  Ashley Mowreader

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Incoming students at Champlain College complete a 10-week course on health, wellness and academic preparation to promote a seamless transition into higher education.

Champlain College

For many students, balancing academics and other responsibilities is their top stressor and what they believe to be the driver of the collegiate mental health crisis, according to a recent Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and the Generation Lab.

To ease student anxieties and stressors in the transition to college, Champlain College in Vermont developed a first-year program that facilitates peer connection, successful habit building and proactive resource connection.

Champ 101 , first launched in fall 2022, has proven successful in promoting healthy living and wellness among students, prompting campus leaders to integrate the program as part of a required wellness curriculum.

What’s the need: Two-thirds of college students report being lonely, and an additional three in 10 students experience severe psychological distress, according to May data from TimelyCare and Active Minds. While there is no one cause for the increase in mental health concerns, isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and heightened political tensions have impacted how learners engage with one another.

Leaders at Champlain recognized the difficulties first-year students were facing integrating into campus life and “saw this as an opportunity to redefine student support and meet these changing student needs,” says Danelle Berube, vice president for student affairs and institutional emergency management coordinator.

How it works: Champ 101 is a required 10-week program for first-year students to help them adjust to their new lives on campus and set them up to thrive.

Each week, students participate in one or two workshops, co-led by a student and a staff or faculty facilitator, meeting regularly with the same small group (20 students or so) throughout the duration of the program.

“This dynamic helps new students build early friendships within their group and creates trust between the students and facilitators,” Berube explains. “It makes it ‘OK not to be OK’ within a peer group that gives students an intrinsic level of comfort and encourages openness.”

Workshop content varies from academic, well-being and social topics such as identity development in the college years, managing homesickness and how to prepare for advising appointments. Students don’t complete assignments or homework as part of the initiative but instead are graded on attendance.

The curriculum was developed by the director of student success and advising and the coordinator of first-year transitions and well-being initiatives, with input from campus stakeholders.

The peer facilitator is also crucial to the program’s success, adding a near peer who can empathize with students’ experiences moving away from home. Student peers are paid for their work.

Faculty and staff facilitators represent various disciplines, academic divisions and departments. Facilitators help mold content through feedback and insights, ensuring the program is relevant and responsive to student needs.

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The impact: The program was piloted in fall 2022 and last year became a requirement for all incoming students.

A wide majority of students participated in the program regularly this past fall (92 percent) and achieved a satisfactory completion rate (99.8 percent). A 2023 post-survey found:

• Eighty-six percent of students said the program made them feel knowledgeable about campus resources,
• Sixty-seven percent said the program helped them set personal, social and academic goals,
• Sixty percent increased their focus on their own personal health and well-being, and
• Ninety-one percent felt welcomed and included by their peer facilitator.

“Student resources are only helpful if the students needing support understand that they are available and know how to access them, and Champ 101 was extremely successful at creating awareness,” Berube says.

Fall-to-spring retention for the 2023 cohort was 94 percent, compared to the fall 2022 cohort, which had an 88 percent retention rate.

“While not directly tied to Champ 101, this six-percentage-point increase from 2022 to 2023 corresponds with the shift to making Champ 101 a required part of the curriculum in the fall of 2023,” Berube says.

A bigger picture: Champ 101 is now the first step to students’ meeting a l arger graduation requirement focused on wellness and life skills, InSight . The program teaches students career competencies, personal finances and, more recently, wellness.

Each year, students are assigned a list of milestones to complete outside of the classroom in person or online, tracked through the college’s LMS, Canvas. As they work through InSight, students are paired with peer coaches who provide mentorship, encouragement and advice, further developing connections from the learner to the institution.

If your student success program has a unique feature or twist, we’d like to know about it. Click here to submit.

This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Danelle Berube's name.

Helping LGBTQ+ Students Thrive

Colleges and universities can invest in strategies to include, welcome and celebrate their LGBTQ+ community on

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Press Release Details

College instructors feeling the strain of mental health crisis.

Majority of college instructors say they are struggling with mental health issues, which may be impacting their ability to teach effectively

HOBOKEN, NJ— College instructors are feeling the strain of mental health issues and experiencing increasing levels of burnout and stress from the demands of their jobs, according to a new survey by Wiley (NYSE: WLY), one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in research and learning .

The Instructor Mental Health Landscape —the last in a series of three Wiley studies exploring mental health issues across the practitioner and higher education landscape—reports six out of ten college instructors (61%) say they are struggling with their mental health to some degree. And more than a third said teaching was more stressful than during the previous academic year.

Instructors cite a number of factors that are contributing to mental health issues they are experiencing, including:

• ongoing pressure to meet the increasing demands and needs of students (51%),
• being asked to do more with less time and resources (49%),
• spending too much time on non-teaching related tasks (48%), and
• feeling underpaid for the work they do (43%).

The increase in mental health struggles may well be having a negative impact on instructors’ ability to teach effectively. Fifteen percent say they feel burned out or exhausted, while another 15% report having less energy and patience.

Among various challenges instructors face, keeping students engaged and helping them retain class material are high on the list. Sixty-five percent say it’s a challenge to keep students engaged, while 53% say that they struggle with teaching students who start courses with different knowledge levels. These findings are aligned with those of Wiley’s March 2024 student mental health survey , where 61% of students said staying engaged and remaining interested in classes was a challenge.

“The mental health crisis is pervasive, impacting college instructors just as we saw it hurting students and practitioners in our previous surveys,” said Amanda Miller, Wiley group vice president, Academic Publishing Group. “It’s important for college officials to understand and acknowledge the strain felt by students and instructors as a result of these issues and continue to take whatever steps they can to help ease the impact on their education and their lives.”

The findings suggest many instructors believe the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to their mental health issues. Fifty-seven percent said the pandemic had a negative impact on them, and 83% feel it had a negative impact on students.

College instructors are well aware that students are also experiencing mental health issues. Nearly all respondents (93%) say they believe students are struggling emotionally either a little or significantly. That aligns with the findings of Wiley’s recent report on students which showed more than 80% of college students saying they are struggling emotionally at least somewhat.

Recommendations

Wiley’s report recommends steps colleges and universities can take to support both instructors and students as they navigate the mental health crisis.

• Increasing support —As instructors feel increasingly exhausted and experience more burnout, they’ll need more support. Support networks for instructors can go a long way in improving mental health for both instructors and students.
• Recognizing burnout —Burnout is an issue that can be addressed through various means, including peer support networks, time-saving resources, and strategies for self-care.
• Providing resources —Instructors need materials that are easy to implement, and which save them time and effort. With student engagement a big challenge for many instructors, materials should be flexible, interesting, and provide more opportunity for class interaction.

Wiley Mental Health Surveys

This report is the third in a series of three surveys focusing on mental health issues impacting the higher education community. The first report, The Psychology Practitioner: Navigating High Demand, Burnout, and Telemedicine , issued in December 2023, focused on mental health practitioners, while the second, The Student Mental Health Landscape , issued in March 2024, focused on college students .

Wiley is a leading publisher in psychology resources. Known for its timely subject matter, quality content, and innovative resources, Wiley’s publications and franchises are trusted by practitioners worldwide. For more resources, visit the Wiley Psychology Hub .

Methodology

The survey was completed in December 2023 through January 2024 by 971 instructors at four-year and two-year public and private colleges of varying sizes across the United States.

The full report can be accessed HERE .

About Wiley  

Wiley (NYSE: WLY) is one of the world’s largest publishers and a trusted leader in research and learning. Our industry-leading content, services, platforms, and knowledge networks are tailored to meet the evolving needs of our customers and partners, including researchers, students, instructors, professionals, institutions, and corporations. We empower knowledge-seekers to transform today’s biggest obstacles into tomorrow’s brightest opportunities. For more than two centuries, Wiley has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential. Visit us at Wiley.com . Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn and Instagram .   

Contact:   Ed Colby / [email protected]

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Is there any way to do a mental health essay well?

Like everyone says not to do one bc you don’t want to give AOs a red flag, but like it’s effected school stuff so I’ll have to mention it in the additional info section, and tbh it’s been a big part of finding passion and personal growth, but I don’t know if there is a good way to write a mental health essay :(

Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, is it appropriate to write about mental health in my college essay.

I've been through a lot and I'm considering sharing my mental health journey in my college essay. Will colleges think it's too much, or is it seen as being open and honest about my struggles? Anyone got advice or experience with this?

It's wonderful that you're considering sharing your story in your college essay. Mental health is an important issue, and discussing your journey can illustrate personal growth and resilience. I've advised students who've written about their struggles with mental health and have been admitted to great schools. It's all about how you frame it – focus on the positive aspects, like how you've overcome challenges or what you've learned about yourself. Your essay should ultimately be forward-looking and show how your experiences have prepared you to succeed in college. Just a word of caution: make sure not to let the essay become a list of difficulties. Instead, it should underscore your strengths and the proactive steps you've taken to manage your mental health. Have someone you trust, like a guidance counselor or teacher, review your essay to ensure it strikes the right tone. I hope this helps, and good luck with your essay writing!

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