Statement of Purpose and ADHD. Should I mention?

[cristyarline]

Hey, yall. I am pretty new to this site, so if I am breaking any norms/rules please let me know!  I am having a pretty rough time. I suffer from ADHD and decided to go off of my medication during my undergraduate because that stuff was just horrible for my mental health. Anyways, I took the GRE. I studied very heavily! Like, for months. Essentially, I did really poorly, like, REALLY just horrible, bad and deplorable scores. I've never really been a test taker to begin with but my ADHD has always been a struggle, even on the ACT. I'm currently getting my MA in communication studies so it's pretty much writing and researching, which I love and I am able to pace myself. However, I am applying to PHD programs, which are more qualitative, and they don't have GRE reqs listed. I was just wondering if yall think it would be a bad idea to mention it on my statement of purpose. Like, HAI, I have a 4.0 and research, just really bad scores! IDK. What do you all think? What could be a way I could frame it? Any advice would be appreciated! <3 

[Warelin]

I think the general rule of thumb is that you should never mention anything that can be considered a negative or anything that can be considered an excuse. You have very little to gain from saying that you have ADHD. And a program has no reason why they should accept someone who has ADHD over someone who doesn't. Some people just test poorly and it has nothing to do with anything they have or don't have; they just are poor test takers. The SOP should be used to sell yourself as an applicant on why you should get accepted into the program, why you're a perfect fit for the program, and why they should offer you funding for your research.

Most programs tend to not have any GRE requirements. Sometimes, e-mailing programs can get you an average of scores that have been accepted into the program. However, that means that some people have gotten lower than the stated score.