Would this qualify has special circumstances for college app?

Lisa,

I was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome at the age of 38, and Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of 48. I cannot imagine going through all of this as a teenager!!!!

That being said, most of the rest of the world has no idea what we are dealing with. They don't understand the "I feel like I just got struck by a freight train, and really, no, I cannot take just one more step" fatigue that we get. I don't know that your application is the place to educate them, although, it won't hurt to try. If you are not familiar with it, you might see what you can borrow (with proper credit, of course!) from "the Spoon Theory" or the website, "butyoudontlooksick.com"

Having served on various committees throughout life, I think the question is not one of where you have been, but where you are going. That is, with all that's going on in your life, can you finish the program successfully? (Duh, I know, but they don't! If you already made it this far, there's no stopping you now!) So, if you are writing an essay, you want to focus on your success thus far. I think my thesis sentence might even be "I'm extremely proud of my 3.3 GPA!" (or something like that).

I don't quite understand your chain of events. Were you in school the whole time you were looking for insurance and dealing with therapy? Since you are headed towards a science degree, and not a psychologist/case-worker degree, I think I'd leave the therapy out, and focus on the medical. I think the therapy would detract from the overall theme. You can talk about dr appts, T cells, B cells, DMARDs, biologics, etc (no, don't do that, they'll get lost!), but, gently discuss the science of autoimmune conditions and how it was you came to want to want to go into biochemistry.

I also don't think I'd mention the specific family income, just sort of "we were a large family, and money was tight," or even just "money was tight." (but, what does that have to do with anything?) Why were you kicked out of welcare?

You want this whole thing to sound positive. Avoid anything that sounds like "poor me." Then you want to find someone to proofread it. The best proofreader in the world is that person who always finds fault with everything you do. You need someone who will be honest with you! If you need me to , I'd be happy to look at it. Connect with me on LinkedIn and I'll send you my e-mail address.

Are there other universities you can attend, or is that the only one? If there are other possibilities, apply to all of them!

Also, I would imagine you would possibly qualify as a person with a disability under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). It does not mean you are disabled, just, that you have a disability! You might want to touch base with the school's Office of Disability Services PRIOR to submitting your application to see if they have any suggestions on how to get past this hurdle. Everyone is big on "diversity" and "inclusion" right now. Let them prove that they are sincere!

Keep fighting, keep pushing, keep going!
Kim

Wow, that's an awful lot of hardship. Yes, I think most of that would qualify as special circumstances. The idea behind 'special circumstances' is that schools want to give a chance to people who are bright and want to learn, but are behind because they have had struggles and bad circumstances that others did not have.

I agree with Kim: focus on the positive. Don't say "my GPA is only 3.3, I know it sucks". From where I'm looking, that's an accomplishment. But more importantly, people respond differently to the same facts based on how they're presented. If you present your application in a way that seems to imply you don't believe in yourself, it will actually make said application less likely to be accepted.

The way to think about an application like this is that it is a sales pitch. You are selling yourself to the school, because it has a limited number of slots to enroll students, and it wants to make the best use of them that it can. The school is prepared to accept that your medical issues and struggles with poverty and other things has complicated your life, and that will help. But people don't buy things from salespeople that sound ashamed of what they're trying to sell.

Now, I don't want to end on a cynical note like that. Go for it! The most important thing you can do is not give up. Frankly, getting a 3.3 GPA with all the problems you describe is a good thing. I'm not an admissions officer, but if I saw your application, I'd accept it. Even if this particular school doesn't take you, someone else will.