Essay topic: mental health struggles

Answered

Many CollegeVine Members ask this question because unfortunately because of COVID-19 and isolation from normal activities, at least 50% of high school students experience some form of mental illness or if they had mental illness prior to COVID-19, the virus symptoms, quarantining and online learning just made these symptoms worse.

So while it's a perfectly reasonable topic to write your essay on, keep in mind that for 20-21 and 21-22 application cycles this is probably the #1 essay topic applicants write about.

Therefore, you have to ask yourself whether or not your 'mental health' essay is going to be better than the other thousands of mental health essays in the piles and piles of essays at each college you apply to. And if the typical applicant applies to 10 schools and uses this topic in their Common App essay, then they are multiplying the number of mental health essays by a factor of 10X.

If you figure that you are applying to a school that has a 20% acceptance rate and the application reader has to sift through and read 40-50 essays per week and by the time they are done with ED they've read 200 essays and by the time they're done with RD about 500 essays, it is MUCH easier for them to remember and advocate for the non-mental health essays because they are unique in themselves. Otherwise, if there are 10 candidates who all are coping with anxiety/mental health and there are only 2 spots, how is someone who is not a mental health professional going to do make an informed decision that this person should get in because they did a really good job managing their anxiety/mental health versus the other 8 applicants.

I had mental health issues before I applied and still struggle with my issues but I felt the best thing about me is not my mental health issues. I might have been sucked down the rabbit hole of COVID-19 but I'm not going to let my mental health be the main thing I write about to share unique things about me to the colleges I'm a applying to. When a global pandemic affects every human being on the planet differently, everyone can say they were affected by COVID, either directly or indirectly. But that doesn't make their perspective of surviving through the global pandemic their best unique quality they can share and write about.

I do not define myself by my mental or physical or emotional health. When I applied to Columbia University, I wrote about myself and advocated for myself. I used my voice to explain who I am and where I'm going and how education is invaluable to me as a young woman.

This is only my take on it. Everyone has a right to decide for themselves what they are going to write about to inspire admissions officers to advocate for them. I didn't know at the time I was writing my essays that 96% of applicants would not get in. I just know that I was going to have a solid shot, I need to write something powerful, impactful, impressive, and memorable. Something that that application reader would remember all the way through "committee" when they voted on me.

Good luck.