Epilepsy and medical school admission

Doodledog

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Hi- I have epilepsy. I have been medication and seizure free for a couple of years but my condition did affect my decision to become a doctor. My question is- do I discuss my condition in my personal statement or will it hinder my chances of getting in to school? Thanks in advance!

As with all similar questions about describing a chronic illness in your application, the decision is ultimately yours. It is not likely that your well-controlled epilepsy will have a major effect on your medical school performance and it is not necessary, in my view, that you disclose it in advance. After admission, you may wish to let the Dean's know, but in general, I don't think it would be a big issue.

Now then, whether to "discuss" it in your essays/interviews depends on you. You indicate that your condition was a factor in your decision but not how important it was. If it was the primary factor in your decision to attend medical school, and you feel comfortable discussing your personal health issues, you certainly can mention it. It will not affect your admission either way most likely. However, as the major aspect of your process of deciding to go into medicine, it will give the medical school an idea of why you made the decisions you did. Look at it this way. If it was a major factor and you don't discuss it, then how will you answer the question "why did you choose medicine?".

On the other hand, if your illness was not the major aspect in your decision process, and you can explain other factors that were key in the decision, then I would not list it just to provide evidence of a connection with medicine. You could certainly consider it as "overcoming adversity", but depending on the nature of your illness, this probably isn't all that useful to the process or the reviewer of your record.

Good luck.

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