Can disclosing mental illness and applying access hurt you in any way?

[Peanut Butter]

I've had OCD for a long time and it has seriously impacted my life.

 

I fear that the admissions committee would stigmatize me and think that I am malingering.

[artsydork]

Has living with OCD impacted your grades/LSAT? Did you see an improvement during your studies after diagnosis/working with a therapist?

Apply access if the above is true. If your grades weren't impacted, no reason to apply access. 

Schools aren't discriminating against documented, and managed, conditions. Schools may not be impressed if you're applying with no supports in place or demonstrated improvement once said supports are in place.

[Lawllapalooza]

19 minutes ago, artsydork said:

Schools may not be impressed if you're applying with no supports in place or demonstrated improvement once said supports are in place.

This is key. Demonstrating your ability to overcome or otherwise manage an obstacle in life is actually an asset. But bringing their attention to an obstacle that you continue to face may cause concern for your ability to thrive in law school and beyond. The access category exists so that you can bring light to the factors beyond your control that hindered your ability to perform your best. Just be sure that you also shine a light on your ability to perform your best going forward. Have you found ways to manage your OCD (rhetorical)? If so, tell them about it. Even better if you can point to your successes since learning how to manage it. 

[Peanut Butter]

22 minutes ago, Lawllapalooza said:

Have you found ways to manage your OCD (rhetorical)?

To be honest, it's only slightly improved with help.

If I did want to discuss this, should I include it in my PS or through SAM?

[Phaedrus]

I'm not on, nor have I ever been part of a LSAC, but it's highly unlikely that disclosure alone translate to an auto-rejection or after-the-fact placement at the bottom of their admission list. Schools, however, have a vested interest in accepting competitive applicants who are likely to succeed. It's your responsibility to demonstrate your competence, and your personal statement is an opportunity to control narrative. In my opinion, it's about finding balance in explaining your journey, your path forward, and how law school fits into it: demonstrating confident humility and self-awareness, and keeping in mind the important distinction between excusing poor performance due to some hindrance, and addressing the systems and structures you've put in place to overcome them. 

Like artsydork said, you can consider applying access if mental illness has impacted your grades, but you should be prepared to explain its impact, your steps to mitigate it impact, and the outcome of those steps. If you don't apply access, your PS can still explore this topic in a confidence-building way (or not, as you may choose not to disclose it). 

[Thrive92]

2 hours ago, GorillasAreDelicious said:

I've had OCD for a long time and it has seriously impacted my life.

 

I fear that the admissions committee would stigmatize me and think that I am malingering.

There was a reddit post from this forum asking a similar question. There were so many odd and incorrect answers that the mod had to literally delete the ones that said "dont mention it as it may hurt your chances" and give out a warning by saying that these answers are incorrect.

Someone who used to be on the adcom for Osgoode (I think but I cannot remember for sure the school) told the op that in the very least, the adcom will not draw a negative inference towards your mental disability. I wouldn't worry about it

[Goblin King]

As Artsy Dork said, you should only apply access if you feel like your grades/LSAT were negatively impacted by your condition. How that's defined for you idk. I had a pretty high undergrad GPA, but my grades also suffered due to serious anxiety and depression. Access categories exist for a reason -- to give people who show promise and faced serious impediments to success in previous studies a chance at law school. There's no reason I can think of that your application would be negatively perceived on the grounds of mental illness alone. However, if your grades/LSAT are lower than the median due to your mental illness and you are not able to adequately demonstrate that you have or are taking steps to mitigate it and are able to succeed in law school, adcoms could view that as a serious issue -- I know I would. 

An alternate perspective: if your grades/LSAT are within the admissible range in the regular category, mental illness can actually work to your advantage in the personal statement. I disclosed that I had been hospitalized before the LSAT and scored fairly highly, and that despite persisent depression and anxiety, I was able to succeed academically and vocationally. The PS might be your chance to seize control of the narrative and demonstrate your resilience and maturity, as well as your compassion and empathy for those in similarly stressful situations (e.g. potential clients). Dealing with mental illness mentally ages you -- you grow up real quick and have to grapple with your limitations and come up with ways of getting around them. I think that the character building that comes with effectively dealing with a mental illness would be valuable to explore in a PS. 

It also might be to your advantage to note that there has been a recent trend to recognize OCD as a form of neurodiversity. Law schools seem to value diversity in their classrooms and a PS that notes the challenges of neurodiverse individuals in a neurotypical world as well as the new perspectives they bring to LS might be a novel spin on the diversity argument that adcoms members may not have seen before. 

If you aren't able to either demonstrate mental illness' impact on your grades or your success in spite of it, I don't think it's worth mentioning your condition for fear of people drawing negative inferences about your ability to handle law school. 

Feel free to PM me to discuss mental health and law school/law school applications further btw. 

Edit: here's some unsolicited advice. Your health is the most important thing. If you feel like attending law school will really fuck that up, consider strengthening your supports, delaying applying for a year, or even looking at other occupations. I don't think that a career this stressful is something you should consider lightly if you have serious mental health challenges. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Goblin King

[luckycharm]

1 hour ago, GorillasAreDelicious said:

To be honest, it's only slightly improved with help.

If I did want to discuss this, should I include it in my PS or through SAM?

What are your stats and which schools are you planning to apply?

[123]

7 hours ago, GorillasAreDelicious said:

To be honest, it's only slightly improved with help.

I don't necessarily disagree with most of the advice you're receiving. Access or not, you're trying to show you'll be a capable law student. Obviously, "I have serious OCD which really hampered my undergrad studies, haven't done anything about that, still a hot mess, okay please admit me to law school byeeeeee" doesn't do anything helpful for you. Artsy Dork (who I'm now referring to with Goblin King's first name, last name formulation) is correct. You want to show progress, in both results (i.e., your marks) and your process (i.e., measures you've taken to -- accommodations, treatments, changes to personal life, etc to ensure that you'll be able to handle law school readings, exams, assignments). 

That said, I disagree that you need to have "overcome" or even managed your OCD before you should mention it. It's not realistic to expect that you'll solve it, like any other personal problem. I would hope that law students, profs, and whoever else comprises an adcom won't expect that from you, because that would misapprehend the nature of disability. The nature of most chronic, serious disabilities is that they can't be overcome at will. And insofar as they're immutable, or beyond your control, you don't necessarily manage disability. If that were adcoms' expectation, the logical extension would be that disabled people wouldn't be admitted to law school. I don't agree with that, and can't imagine others do either. People with disabilities can and do become excellent lawyers. 

Again, not disagreeing with anyone here. Both for yourself and your application, you should take reasonable steps to set yourself up for success, and you need to be realistic about whether you're there. But you also shouldn't impose unrealistic expectations for how much you need to have mitigated impairments arising from your condition. It'll be case-by-case and only you, in consultation with those who know you, can say for sure what the appropriate measures and accommodations are. 

[Lawllapalooza]

51 minutes ago, realpseudonym said:

That said, I disagree that you need to have "overcome" or even managed your OCD before you should mention it. It's not realistic to expect that you'll solve it, like any other personal problem. I would hope that law students, profs, and whoever else comprises an adcom won't expect that from you, because that would misapprehend the nature of disability. The nature of most chronic, serious disabilities is that they can't be overcome at will. And insofar as they're immutable, or beyond your control, you don't necessarily manage disability. If that were adcoms' expectation, the logical extension would be that disabled people wouldn't be admitted to law school. I don't agree with that, and can't imagine others do either. People with disabilities can and do become excellent lawyers. 

I can clarify that by "manage" I meant demonstrate ability to succeed notwithstanding OP's OCD. That does not necessarily mean demonstrating that he/she has his/her OCD managed perfectly. If you replace "manage" with "demonstrate progress" then perhaps that better iterates my intended message. You're certainly correct that the nature of many disabilities is that one cannot simply overcome them. 

 

8 hours ago, GorillasAreDelicious said:

To be honest, it's only slightly improved with help.

If I did want to discuss this, should I include it in my PS or through SAM?

I recommend being very selective with what you discuss in your PS. You want to directly answer the question(s) while creating a compelling narrative. If you feel that your experience with OCD fits into that, include it. If it doesn't, don't. I spoke about mental health in my PS and am happy to chat about why and how if you wanna PM me.