I am filling out forms for college, and here is one of the questions:
Have there been any recent crises in your family?
Here is another one:
Are you diagnosed as having any mental illnesses?
It also asks for the names of all my family members who are dead and their names and causes of death. Why do they need to know all of this stuff?
These questions seem a little bit invasive to me. Should I answer them truthfully?
my guess would be the questions about any crisis or mental illness are there to see if you are going to be able to adjust to college life.
I don’t know why they would care what family members died from.
You’d better answer honestly, because they probably have ways of checking and if they catch you lying on the application they’ll think you’ll cheat in school.
Of course, if the application form really bothers you, maybe this is the wrong school for you anyway.
The cliche is honesty is the best policy. As an aside, in counseling job seekers on their resumes, lying is a big no-no. A lie on a job application is grounds for dismissal (though on a resume it is not, if that is the only place it appears). There are ways to put the best foot forward without resorting to lies.
On the crisis in family question, the more dramatic the crisis that is written about, the more points may be added to the application. There are limits, but hardships will put one candidate ahead of someone else with equal academic credentials.
I am not sure about the mental illness question, but would wager that it has to to with liability and the plethora of lawsuits.
You might check and see if you’re permitted to leave things blank - sometimes information requested on forms is optional, but they don’t tell you.
For example, I believe you’re not required to put your social security number on any document that is not involved with earnings or taxes.
From http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10002.html :
You should be very careful about sharing your number and card to protect against misuse of your number. Giving your number is voluntary even when you are asked for the number directly. If requested, you should ask:
- Why your number is needed;
- How your number will be used;
- What happens if you refuse; and
- What law requires you to give your number.
The answers to these questions can help you decide if you want to give your Social Security number. The decision is yours.
…but even so, most companies, universities, etc will put a spot on the form in the hopes that you’ll fill it in. Maybe these personal questions are along the same lines.
How many generations do you have to go back with dead family members? That could be a VERY long list.
I would answer truthfully if you answer at all, but as Ava says, answering may be optional.
What’s the purpose of the form, Cran?
Is it an application for college, or have you been accepted already and this is just a form collecting information so they’ll know more about you?
I did not have questions like that on my college application. None at all. They asked about me, and about the education levels and occupations of my parents, and about how many books we had in our home. And that was it.
I’d give only names of members of your immediate family who are deceased–mother, father, brothers, or sisters. That’s what “family” usually means in this context.
As for crises, I’d give only major ones, like car accidents or the collapse of a marriage or a death, or loss of a job due to, say, the employer going out of business. Fires, floods, and hurricanes would also be good choices. Again, I’d limit it to your immediate family.
Aunt Sue getting fired for absenteeism, or parents squabbling over whether they really need a new wide-screen TV, as dramatic as it may seem, aren’t quite the right sort of crises to report. They’re not really crises or they’re not your immediate family.
The history of mental illness is a little more complicated. Again, what’s the purpose of the form?
In this school, I’ve been accepted, declared my intent to enroll, and am just getting all the odds and ends tied together. This individual form is called a “medical history” form.
It only asks for information on immediate family members, but about half of my immediate family is dead (we’ve had a lot of crises in the past few years). I don’t feel comfortable explaining everything that has happened (many crises are probably not completely over, which this form assumes), who is in prison and what for, how many times I’ve been in the mental hospital, and all of that stuff.
It also asks for a family doctor. We don’t have one. The closest thing I have is a psychiatrist.
Think minimal. Offer very little info, I say. Harruuuumph!
I don’t remember having to answer questions that personal when I applied for college…even on my medical form.
Like the others have said, be honest if you have to, but if the questions are optional, then don’t answer them.
Good luck 
Most colleges provide medical care for students, or make some sort of arrangements along those lines. This sounds like just a regular medical history form–what the doctor will want to have in order to provide adequate medical care for you.
Weeks is right . . . minimal is fine. This form isn’t wanting you to spill your guts; it just wants relevant medical information. Information for medical care. Exactly the same as you’d give your family doctor, should you have one.
Simply list immediate family members who are deceased and give the cause–heart disease, stroke, diabetes, accident. Details aren’t necessary.
The form isn’t assuming that crises are over–it just wants you to indicate them so that the physician will know what might be the source of any problems you may have later.
“Crisis” depends on your definition. You’re not auditioning for the Jerry Springer Show, but filling out a medical form. A woman I sat next to at work has crises four times a day–she rented her house to deadbeats and had a crisis when they skipped out and left fleas. She had a crisis every time someone she knew got “done wrong.” She had a really big crisis the day I got sick of listening to her “filth talk” radio, put a uillean pipe CD in my computer and didn’t plug in a headset. (I found that crisis highly satisfying.)
Those aren’t the level of crises this is asking for. I’d just use the definition of “house fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, personally taken hostage by bank robbers, and 9/11” and leave it at that. Any of those things happen? No? Then you didn’t have any crises.
Just put “none” in the family doctor blank. If you don’t have one, then you don’t have one. Lots of people don’t have one; it’s ok. Or, you could list your psychiatrist there, but there is no need to tell what his specialty is. (The school isn’t going to check to see what kind of doctor he is–this form is going to get filed in your medical record at the school infirmary. Unless you write something highly dramatic on it, it’s just going to disappear into a folder.)
Remember that you can disclose additional medical information when you see the doctor, if necessary, and if you ever do need to see the doctor. So, unless it’s something that a physician would need to know in the event that you were incapacitated and couldn’t talk about it (diabetes and seizures and allergies to peanuts come to mind), you can be very minimalist.
Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.
“… and then there was my Great Great… … Great Uncle Abel who was slain by my Great Great… … great Uncle Cain.” 
If it’s just a medical history form, you can either answer or not. It might be better in your case to have an appointment with student health when you get there, and give your medical history to the physician. Really, I think they are just the standard forms like what you would fill out when visiting a new doctor for the first time. But if you don’t want confidential information in a public place, it’s better to give it to an M.D.
Robin
(Brief Hijack)
Beth, there are companies who will refuse you service if you don’t give your SSN. No law prevents them from doing so as far as I can tell. My cell phone, for example. The first time they asked, I refused and they simply tore up the application and said ‘sorry…no can do’. There is no law compelling me to provide it…but no law compelling them to sell their service without it. Major PITA.
(Endjack)
(Brief hijack response)
Yeah…I had already gotten into the bad habit of supplying it, thanks to my first university. They used the SSN as a student ID number, and half of it went into email addresses, professors posted them on the door with exam results, it was horrible. There was a rumour that you could go to the administration and get a random ID number to use instead (as some people, like foreign students, didn’t have SSNs anyway) but I don’t know anyone who took the trouble to do it.
I wonder…if enough people stopped supplying their SSN when companies asked for it, thus making those companies lose customers…I bet the companies would stop asking.
Of course I haven’t used my SSN in eight months now! 
continuing hijack
When I had to get a new SS card (marriage) in 2001 - I noticed they no longer say “not to be used for identification” on the bottom. I guess the government finally realized what’s been happening for years.
Missy
cran, don’t forget to mention your dandruff.
Amar! Shame on you! :roll:
Good to see that you’re getting back into your usual form . . .