The youth mental health crisis in America is impossible to ignore, with record-high rates of anxiety and depression amongst teenagers. Against this backdrop, many high schoolers feel compelled to address their mental health experiences in their college applications. When done well, mental health personal statements can be very compelling. Without the right care, they can raise concerns from admissions officers. Our blog will share the pros, cons, and proven strategies that will ensure any college essay about mental health is well-received.
Table of Contents
- Can You Write about Mental Health in a College Essay?
- What Admissions Officers Say about Mental Health Topics
- When is it Appropriate to Discuss Mental Health in Your Essay
- Common Mistakes and Red Flags to Avoid in Mental Health College Essays
- Pros and Cons of Writing about Mental Health in College Applications
- How to Write a Strong College Essay about Mental Health
- Examples of Mental Health College Essay Topics (That Work)
- Final Thoughts: Is a Mental Health Essay the Right Topic for You?
Key Takeaways
- College essays about mental health can be risky if not handled with care. Students who focus too heavily on their struggles can send the wrong message to admissions officers and raise red flags about their level of preparedness for college.
- Mental health college essays should be written from a place of insight and resilience, showcasing your ability to reflect on your experiences and connect them to your plans in college. Avoid focusing solely on the struggle, using your essay as a therapeutic tool, or offering a medical retelling.
- Your story should strengthen your application, not overshadow your strengths. If writing about mental health isn’t essential to your college application or fails to add valuable context to your high school journey, it may not be the right topic.
Can You Write about Mental Health in a College Essay?
Yes, but a careful approach is the best way to ensure it strengthens your college application without raising concerns. Your mental health personal statement shouldn’t be a retelling of your personal struggle; it should discuss your resilience and how these experiences shaped who you are today.
What Admissions Officers Say about Mental Health Topics
We tapped into our robust counselor network to understand how current and former admissions officers felt about college essays written about mental health, and here’s what they had to say:
“Honesty and vulnerability are powerful tools in the college application process. But remember that the admissions officer reading your application has been tasked with answering a specific question: 'Does this student have the potential to be successful at our institution?' When discussing overcoming any kind of adversity in your college essay, including challenges with mental health, be sure to focus more on the tangible steps you've taken to learn and grow. I want my students to spend maybe 20-30% of their essay providing the context of their struggles, and the rest of their essay should be about where they are now, the skills they've gained, and all the reasons they know they'll thrive in college.”
- Caitlin Harper, Collegewise Counselor and Former Senior Director of Admissions at Lewis and Clark University
"I remind students that they have more than one story and when they are applying to join a community, it's important that they understand their essay will be reviewed in that context. Is this someone who can thrive in our community? Counseling centers are overwhelmed on college campuses. Sometimes these essays can be red flags for service providers."
- Renee Bischoff, Collegewise Counselor and Former Assistant Director of Admissions at Lake Forest College
When is it Appropriate to Discuss Mental Health in Your Essay
Writing about mental health in your college essay can be appropriate if those experiences had a significant impact on your life. Perhaps it changed your perspective on the world around you, or it created a more challenging high school experience. These are times when discussing your mental health would be appropriate in the eyes of an admissions officer.
It’s also good practice to sit with your chosen topic before you’ve started writing your essay and consider your application as a whole. Would your college application be incomplete without this story? If so, it’s likely what you should write about.
Related: Let’s Get Existential: How to Write a College Essay about Identity
Common Mistakes and Red Flags to Avoid in Mental Health College Essays
1. Focusing on the struggle, not the reflection.
A powerful metaphor to keep in mind is “write about scars, not wounds.” In essence, this encourages writers to use the art of storytelling to share their experience from a place of healing and perspective. By doing this, you’re focusing on reflection and resolution, rather than reporting from the middle of a hardship. Many students tend to focus solely on their struggle and write from their wounds (i.e., raw and unresolved). This puts your reader at a standstill without a sense of closure.
A better approach is to write about an experience you’ve already processed and spend time reflecting on how it's shaped you today.
2. Making your entire essay about a mental health condition.
While your mental health experiences are valuable to know, they should be the backdrop for more important information you hope to share with an admissions officer. If your essay focuses on symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, it may be interpreted as a medical retelling rather than a personal essay appropriate for the college admissions process.
3. Leaving admissions officers uncertain about your readiness for college.
An admissions officer has a few main responsibilities when evaluating applicants. The first is identifying if the student is academically ready to attend their institution. The second is uncovering if a student will thrive on campus and contribute to their culture. If your essay raises concerns about whether you can adjust to college life, it may harm your chances of admission.
For example, say you’re a student who requires specific accommodations that a college doesn’t offer, an admissions officer might reject your application for fear that you won’t receive the support you need to excel at their college. Ground your essay in a sense of growth and optimism, and leave your reader feeling confident about your future.
4. Exploiting your experiences as a strategic attempt to gain sympathy.
While we hope students don’t attempt this, we’ve spoken with some students who asked the question: “Will writing about mental health in my college essay increase my chances of acceptance?” Admissions officers are trained to flag disingenuous essays or question if a challenge is being overstated to gain sympathy.
Your goal should never be to manipulate the reader. Being honest with yourself and your reader is the best way to write a successful essay.
Pros and Cons of Writing about Mental Health in College Applications
Pros
Humanizes your college application.
Students are more than just grades and test scores. Colleges and admissions officers know that; it’s why they ask for essay responses in the first place. Having a good essay or a powerful topic, such as a mental health struggle, can bring your application to life and make it memorable.
Adds much-needed context to your transcripts.
High school is a four-year-long journey, and not every year is smooth sailing. If you’re a student who suffered from a traumatic experience that interfered with their progress at school or within their extracurriculars, your personal statement may be a great place to address any outliers or drops in performance.
Offers a deeper understanding of who you are as a person.
This can be especially important for highly selective or tight-knit colleges with a smaller incoming class of students. Admissions officers want to ensure their incoming class is diverse, unique, and will offer a wide range of perspectives and experiences to their institution. By writing about your personal experiences, readers get a full picture of who you are and how you might contribute to the discussion in the classroom and on campus.
In some cases, writing about mental health experiences can also demonstrate maturity and your ability to problem-solve. Having admissions officers identify these characteristics from your application can help strengthen their perception of you as a soon-to-be college student.
Cons
Not knowing who is reading your essay.
Students don’t have control over who reads their essays. You never know who is on the other end of the college application process. Every admissions officer has their own level of comfort, and students can’t predict how their mental health narrative will resonate (or not resonate) with that individual. For this reason, it may be risky to write a college essay about mental health without the guidance of a trusted adult.
It may overshadow legitimate strengths.
Your essay is memorable. Congratulations! That’s not an easy accomplishment, especially when millions of students apply to college every year. But if your focus is too heavy on mental health, it can unintentionally pull attention away from other accomplishments and strong defining qualities. As we’ve already mentioned, if your essay focuses more on your resilience and less on the struggle, you should be in the clear of this potential con. To ensure your essay doesn’t overshadow your strengths, run it by a professional reviewer.
How to Write a Strong College Essay about Mental Health
Writing a strong college essay about mental health is no easy task. Even the most seasoned writers can feel overwhelmed writing about something so deeply personal. Here are some tips we share with students that truly work:
- Start early and write multiple drafts. The best way to get the message right is by giving yourself uninterrupted time (preferably before the fall semester) to reflect and revise your narrative.
- Share it with a trusted adult, but not a parent. Turning to a counselor or close relative is a great way to receive unbiased feedback from someone who isn’t too close to the story.
- Have open conversations. Not every experience is the right fit for a college essay. By having open conversations with professionals and mentors, you may uncover a new perspective or angle you hadn’t considered before.
- Keep the spotlight on you. Mental health is part of your story, but not your whole story. Avoid writing a one-dimensional story and weave your strengths or interests into the essay.
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Examples of Mental Health College Essay Topics (That Work)
The beautiful thing about the Common App personal essay is that it allows students to write about virtually anything. This is both good and bad. On the one hand, it can lead to a paradox of choice; on the other hand, it can allow students to be creative. If you’re considering writing about mental health in your essay, but don’t know where to start, here are a few examples of topics we’ve seen students write about:
- Managing test day anxiety while studying for the SAT.
- Coping with depression or anxiety through creative expression.
- How parents’ separation taught them about independence.
- How a student overcame social anxiety by stepping into a leadership position.
- How a student’s experience with bullying helped build resilience and self-advocacy skills.
- The challenges of being a first-generation college student and how the student overcame these obstacles.
Remember, everyone’s story is unique. Just because we’ve listed an example here doesn’t mean it will magically help a student gain admission to a college or university. Use these examples as fuel to inspire your unique narrative.
Final Thoughts: Is a Mental Health Essay the Right Topic for You?
A mental health-focused college essay has the potential to be powerful, as long as it’s purposeful and rooted in deep reflection. Before drafting your essay, ask yourself these questions:
- Have I processed this experience enough that I can write about it today?
- How does this story relate to my academic experiences or my journey toward college?
- Will my college application feel incomplete without this story?
- What does this story say about me?
If you’re still unsure about mental health being the right college essay topic, feel free to seek input from the professionals at Collegewise.
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**The authors of this blog are not mental health professionals, and this blog should not be considered as medical or psychological advice. The information provided is intended solely to help students think strategically about their college application essays and is in no way a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are experiencing mental health challenges, please seek guidance from a health provider or call a crisis hotline such as 988 for immediate assistance.**
About Us: With more than twenty-six years of experience, Collegewise counselors and tutors are at the forefront of the ever-evolving admissions landscape. Our work has always centered on you: the student. And just like we’ve always done, we look for ways for you to be your best self - whether it’s in the classroom, in your applications or in the right-fit college environment. Our range of tools include counseling, test prep, academic tutoring, and essay management, all with the support of our proprietary platform, leading to a 4x higher than average admissions rates.
