Disclosure of history of depression?

Question

I have studied for eight years at University and have at the moment achieved a masters degree in Mathematics. During my first 4-5 years or so, I suffered on and off from depressions and my performanes varied. I did a bachelors project in physics and was supposed to do a masters there too, but a combined factor of the depressions with a professor who has a bad rapport with students made me interrupt the education. For a year or so I considered whether to leave academia or to actually fulfill the masters, but the experience left such a bad aftertaste that no interest seemed to come in finishing it. After a while I decided I wanted a masters after all, but it had to be in a different subject - Math. I took some courses and talked to a lecturer about doing a masters project (he knew about my situation). I finished much of my remaining course work (doing well in most courses, getting the equivalent of As or Bs pretty much all way through) and did a project under him. By this stage I had essentially overcome my depressions and was at full health. The project went really well and is now considered one of the better works done in recent years and several independent senior people have told me that chances of getting a PhD with such a thesis will be very good. Considering my history though, it has been explained to me that I will not get one at my current Uni. (Guess it would be too talked about, and I am well-known at several departments). I was however enouraged to apply to other Unis. So I did and only a bit more than a week ago I got an interview. Having had it I thought it went fine, but now after 10 days or so I havent heard back and am believing that perhaps I havent gotten a position (they announced three). During the interview I was asked about why I wanted to leave my current Uni and the answer I gave was that they didn't have the direction of reasearch I wanted to persue (which is true). I think in retrospect that they wanted to now about this history (that I assume my supervisor mentioned in his letter to them). My questions:- is it wise to disclose my history of depressions? They can obviously see my registered masterproject that was never finished and probably contact the department for more info. If I can convince them that the depressions is not a problem anymore I think it is only good, but to what extent will this be the case? Will it look better to avoid the question altogether?- 10 days having passed and no confirmation, but am I really out? (After the 20 minute interview I had a private discussion with one of the potential supervisors and he did mention that my master project was very strong and that they seemed interested in the commite. The discussion felt good)- I wrote an email after 4 days or so, asking how things went. The response was very short and went '' The decision is not quite made yet. We will announce shortly.'' Is it OK to email him again after a week from the first letter if there has been no response? Or would this potentially ruin any remaining chances?

Answer 1

Hello!

As someone who works in admissions at a highly-selective university, I believe I can give you insight on your question. We ask that students disclose their history of mental health so that we can be sure they will be a good fit for our programs. We do not use it as a penalty of any sort, so honesty is the best policy. When students disclose this type of information, we like to know what the cause was (to see if something similar would happen in our program), but most importantly, we want to know the steps that the student took to get help. So long as the student received/is receiving help, we rarely consider it in our decision. Rather, it is important for us to know that the student has had this issue, could have it during the program, and that we have the resources to help them should this occur. We do not seek to penalize students for mental health issues! So, in general, being honest about it is what we hope to see.