Expert: Jennifer - 8/5/2009

Question
Hello Jennifer,

I am so glad I found this site on the internet because I feel like I am almost at the end of my rope. I am a 24 year old woman who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in late 2006. I was treated for depression for a year prior to my diagnosis, but had symptoms of the illness long before that.  I went from an honor student making mostly A's and some B's to someone who couldn't even finish a semester and failed some classes.  In 2007, I attempted suicide and had to go on leave from school, but when I came back the next semester I really turned things around.  I just graduated in April 2009 with a 3.41 GPA, which isn't that great compared to what it used to be, but I am still struggling to put the pieces of my life back together.  My credit is ruined, my job history has been very unstable, and I have creditors calling me daily.  I have a few civil suits against me from creditors because of my inability to pay them, not because I don't want to but because I simply can't.  I am truly trying to get my life in order, and I'm afraid that all of this will hinder my decision to go to law school.  It has been my lifelong dream to practice family law and be a juvenile advocate.  I know that on law school applications, they ask you disclose this kind of information, but I'm not sure what I should do or how to go about it.  Will this affect me when I sit for the bar exam?  I know that volunteer work and extracurriculars are a big plus on  your application, but it was hard enough to simply get through school. What should I do?

Answer
By law, anyone who is qualified to take the bar exam (in most states you are required to have attended and completed the curriculum as specified by the academic institution for their J.D. program before you can sit for the bar exam.)cannot be discriminated against because they have a disability.  Bipolar disorder is one of the diagnosis' recognized by the Social Security Administration as having the potential to substantially limit a person in at least one major life area (work, ability to care for oneself, etc) which qualifies by their definition as a disability - a view that is also supported by mental health professionals and a whole slew of other medical and disability advocates.  The question is whether or not you feel comfortable with the idea of disclosing your diagnosis, provided that you can furnish documentation from the doctor treating you for bipolar that supports your claim.  You did not mention whether you graduated with a 2 or 4 year degree, but a 3.41 GPA doesn't translate into "slacker" or "might as well forget about this person's application".  I found that when it came to applying for law school, especially where the time I took to get through my undergraduate studies and transcripts littered with "W's" and a handful of grade corrections entered were concerned, being honest about my situation was the best thing to do.  I had to go and take a lot of classes that I dropped or got below a C, which I was only able to do after starting treatment for bipolar disorder; that's basically exactly what I told them (summarized here for time and space reasons).  The fact that I went back and did what I needed to do to get up to that point demonstrated I can follow something through even when something major happens comes my way.  
  You may want to look into career counseling; most places that offer that type of service can also give you guidance on this kind of matter.