Mentioning OSD status in application

[gatorgrad]

If I am registered with OSD at my university for a cognitive "disability" (ADHD), would it be beneficial or detrimental to mention it in my SOP/PS. If I mentioned it, it would be to demonstrate my ability to overcome it, maintaining a significantly high GPA while working full time.

 

I don't want to hurt my application, nor do I want to sound like I'm playing the pity role - I don't ever do that. I rarely even use the services provided by my OSD, short of unlimited printing and the software they give us access to to help us speed-read using PDF versions of textbooks.

[somethinbruin]

I wouldn't mention it, mostly because it's unnecessary personal information. As a doctoral applicant, admissions committees aren't going to care. They will be concerned that your SOP and PS deal directly with explaining the type of researcher/psychologist you want to be. They'll want to know what you've done, what you want to do, how you plan to get there and what you can bring to the table at their university. Very few adcomms are interested in biographical details unless they are strongly connected to what you plan to study (and even then I would suggest keeping it to a minimum).

 

Plus, it seems like the accommodations you receive are unlikely to interfere in any major way with your studies, or with how professors operate their labs or classes. It will be a non-issue as far as your potential work there would be concerned. So while I don't think it would hurt your application, per se, I would leave it out, and use the valuable space in your SOP/PS for more important information that better sells you as an asset to their university.