Medical Withdrawals Forum

[tfarunner]

Anyone else have a medical withdrawal for a semester in college on their transcripts? I got a withdrawal passing for all the classes, but not sure if/how to address it on applications.

Any thoughts?

[BillsFan9907]

Anyone else have a medical withdrawal for a semester in college on their transcripts? I got a withdrawal passing for all the classes, but not sure if/how to address it on applications.

Any thoughts?

It's not a big deal at all. If it was a physical ailment all you need to do is write a brief addendum without giving too much information to the point of making others uncomfortable (ie: if you had cancer just say you had cancer, don't talk about the agony of chemotherapy).

In truth, you might not even need to name the ailment. For me, I just wrote "due to a serious physical ailment I..." It's critical to note that the ailment no longer affects you (you are fully recovered).

If it was for a mental health reason, it gets trickier. There is still a major stigma, although I know multiple people who who based their personal statements on mental health issues and got into the top schools...

[tfarunner]

Thanks for the reply. Not anything like cancer, but still very sick. I like the idea about speaking to it in more vague terms and just noting that it has been fully treated and taken care of.

[BillsFan9907]

Thanks for the reply. Not anything like cancer, but still very sick. I like the idea about speaking to it in more vague terms and just noting that it has been fully treated and taken care of.

This is what I said "during the fall semester of my junior year, I was diagnosed with a serious physical ailment. With the full cooperation of my school's administration, I withdrew from X courses and granted a medical leave of absence. After treatment, I was restored to perfect health and returned to school."