Mental Health in a Personal Statement

[LSATtaker29]

Hello, I've recently been working on my personal statement and realized that while writing about my college experience, I keep coming back to how I overcame, or rather, learned to manage and live with my anxiety. I'm a little hesitant on this- while I know I can make this essay strong and establish how controlling my anxiety has made me who I am today, I am also aware that there is a stigma attached to mental health. This is also coming from a student who is trying to apply to universities that I am not necessarily 'qualified' for (lower GPA and possibly lower LSAT score than the average for that university) so part of me wants to take a risk and write an essay that can really showcase my story and how I ended up with my GPA (my GPA made a big jump between my second and third year). I'd love to get some feedback on this, thanks in advance!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi 29,

Good question! My advice is to go for it and write the essay. From what you've told us here, this is an issue that you've directly attacked and overcome (living with it successfully is overcoming it ), and so from that perspective there's a good foundation there. Plus, you clearly feel that you can write a strong essay on this topic, which is half the battle (or more!).

If you can use this topic as a platform to really convey a sense of who you are to the Adcomm, then you could have a real winner on your hands. As I often say about personal statements, it's not so much the topic that is important, it's how you execute it. For example, I've seen essays on atheism, drunk driving, and a criminal past all produce exceptional results (all the way to the top—one of those got a student into every top school including Yale), so I don't see a problem here at all. Just make it positive at some points, and you'll erase any concern they have about this being a problem if you were to become a student.

Good luck!