Mental health vs physical health

When applying to unis, do they consider extenuating circumstances, resits and breaks from school for mental and physical health the same?
Ik it may be a silly question but someone at my college today said prestigious unis might think poor mental health means u can’t handle the workload, which I thought was such a rude thing to say. I suppose if u had poor physical health u would struggle with the workload the exact same, I don’t know why some people have this view on mental health - like it’s something totally unmanageable.

Anyways, what are other people’s opinions on this?

Reply 1

Coventry University Student Ambassadors

Official Rep

18

Original post

by Anonymous

When applying to unis, do they consider extenuating circumstances, resits and breaks from school for mental and physical health the same?
Ik it may be a silly question but someone at my college today said prestigious unis might think poor mental health means u can’t handle the workload, which I thought was such a rude thing to say. I suppose if u had poor physical health u would struggle with the workload the exact same, I don’t know why some people have this view on mental health - like it’s something totally unmanageable.
Anyways, what are other people’s opinions on this?

Hello,
i hope you are doing well.
Yes, universities take all mental health quite seriously, especially at Coventry University, we offer a wide range of different student support services which all students are able to access, we have student success coaches, the health and wellbeing team and the students union, as well as this if students are suffering from poor mental health or extenuating circumstances, and are in need of extensions to assignments or exams, this is also available.
Sanam - Forensic Investigations - Coventry University

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Anonymous

When applying to unis, do they consider extenuating circumstances, resits and breaks from school for mental and physical health the same?
Ik it may be a silly question but someone at my college today said prestigious unis might think poor mental health means u can’t handle the workload, which I thought was such a rude thing to say. I suppose if u had poor physical health u would struggle with the workload the exact same, I don’t know why some people have this view on mental health - like it’s something totally unmanageable.

Anyways, what are other people’s opinions on this?

Universities shouldn't prejudice you on the basis of any health issues (of any variety) you may have had. I doubt any would anyway.

Now, that is a different thing to pointing out for an applicant themself, if they know they have a history of mental health difficulties or a chronic physical health condition which can impact their academic studies, they should make sure to consider their overall wellbeing while they are at uni and make sure they pick a uni they can thrive at, including when considering those factors. Some unis may have courses that are more intensively programmed than others which might be more highly pressured as a result, some unis may have poorer support for such students, etc. The former factor may well be correlated with such nebulous definitions as "prestigious", the latter factor I don't think would necessarily correlate with that though.

So while some students will find even with previous and/or continuing health issues they can succeed in those unis, others might find it makes their experience at those unis a lot more challenging and less enjoyable and successful than they otherwise could have had at another uni. That's something the individual applicant needs to determine for themselves - the universities won't do that for them in the admissions process!

Mental health vs physical health

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