V vv Micaela SlotinADHD OverdiagnosisOver Diagnosis and the College Admissions ProcessComment by Edwards, Judith: Title could be a bit more intriguingSo, do you think youre ready? I texted my friend Brian* at 7:30 on a Saturday morning, bleary-eyed and anxiously waiting for our SAT test to begin.Yeah. David* sold me two of his Ritalin so I should be good to go, he replied. This blatant admission of what some may call drug abuse, and what others may call cheating, did not faze me in the slightest. I was used to my peers freely discussing their use of study drugs to try to improve their performance on projects and tests. Research indicates that my experience is, sadly, not out of the ordinary.Comment by Edwards, Judith: MIGHT USE ANOTHER SENTENCE HERE TO CONNECT BACK TO YOUR TITLE SUCH ASStudents are abusing drugs to improve their chances of fulfilling their dreams choice of collegeAccording to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.4 million children ages 4-17 have received an ADHD diagnosis, a 16% increase since 2007 and a 41% increase in the last decade. As reported in the New York Times, aAbout 2/3 of these children take prescription medications such as Adderall or Ritalin (Schwarz & Cohen). While many believe that this increase is due to more widely available and accurate diagnostic procedures, there is strong evidence to assert that the rapid increase in ADHD diagnosis is directly linked to academic pressures in todays society. In a society that increasingly requires a college education in order to be successful in the workforce, and that values prestigious institutions with low acceptance rates more highly, the pressure for students to attain high grades and perform well on standardized testing is crushing. Comment by Edwards, Judith: As reported in the New York TimesIn a 2013 New York Times article, factors cited as contributing to overdiagnosisover diagnosis of ADHD mainly revolved around parental pressure. Pharmaceutical advertising often plays off of parents fears of their children failing in school and asserts that medication can drastically improve childrens lives. Parents may also attempt to medicate children who have slipping grades or behavioral problems so that they will perform better in school (Schwarz). Stories of students gaming the system- pretending to exhibit symptoms of ADHD to be given a prescription for medication- are also not uncommon.Comment by Edwards, Judith: A recentComment by Edwards, Judith: FactorsComment by Edwards, Judith: This article noted thatOver diagnosis and ADHD medication abuse are often found to be linked. A; a study published in Pediatrics showed a strong correlation between rising ADHD diagnosis and medicine abuse. Querying the American Association of Poison Control Center's National Poison Data System for the years of 19982005, the study found that calls related to teenaged victims of prescription ADHD medication abuse rose 76%... and that substance-related abuse calls per million adolescent prescriptions rose 140% (Setlick 875-80).Some may assert that the current problem of medication abuse is comparatively unconcerning, as a 2012 article in TIME Health attempts to explain. The National Institute on Drug AbusesMonitoring the Future(MTF) study shows clearly that we are not even close to the all-time peak of misuse of prescription stimulants by high-school students, which occurred in the early 1980s. In 1981, 32% of all high-school seniors reported having taken such a drug, with 26% having used it within the past year and 15% in the past month. By 2011, the rates had plummeted: just 12% of high-schools seniors reported ever having misused a prescription stimulant, with only 8% using in the last year and a mere 4% in the last month. Overall, the trend of prescription-stimulant misuse is down dramatically (Szalavitz). However, just because rates of medication abuse are lower than they were in the past does not mean that we should ignore the current patterns of abuse.Comment by Edwards, Judith: Which stimulants are these?Comment by Edwards, Judith: Better if you extracted this information and paraphrased rather than including a long quoteComment by Edwards, Judith: Good counter argumentDoctors say that abuse of prescription stimulants can lead to depression and mood swings (from sleep deprivation), heart irregularities and acute exhaustion orpsychosisduring withdrawal (Schwarz). However, there is more at stake here than side-effects of medication abuse. The current culture of competitive college admissions makes students feel like without a 4.0 GPA, multiple extracurriculars, SAT scores in the 2000s and hundreds of volunteer hours, theyll never make it into any of their top choices. Tufts University, a competitive university in the Northeast, had an acceptance rate of 19% in 2017. Numbers are even lower for more prestigious Ivy League schools like Harvard, Columbia, or Yale- 5.8%, 6.8%, and 6.9% respectively in 2017. When students see numbers like that, can they really be expected to remain calm and unworried about the admissions process? Statistically, the possibility of rejection is overwhelming. In the mindset of many students, rejection means failure, and failure is not an option. As such, they turn to methods that will enhance their academic performance and thereby increase their chances, frequently abusing ADHD and other similar medications.Comment by Edwards, Judith: It is well documented that Comment by Edwards, Judith: VERY GOOD AT STAKE standComment by Edwards, Judith: MAY WANT TO COMPLETE THE SENTENCE WITH A CLOSING STATEMENT FOR EMPHASIS.To enhance their academia performance to enhance their college admission prospectsTruly what we need is a cultural overhaul, a serious re-evaluation of the college admissions process and how we as a society put value on a college education. This involves increased awareness of and dialogue about the seriousness and abundance of study-drug abuse and how it links to the current academic and social environment. More time spent teaching good study habits and effective time management in middle and high school may also help alleviate stress for some students. Students should be informed and aware that there are a variety of different post-graduation plans that are not just immediate enrollment in 4-year institutions; gap years, technical schools, community colleges, and even entrance into the workforce are all options after high school graduation, . and students Students should not feel pigeonholed into choosing one type of post-graduate experience. Comment by Edwards, Judith: Such alternate plans includeComment by Edwards, Judith: WhichThe current college admissions panic that pervades the United States will not be an easy one to subdue. , butHowever, if students are given more options and taught how to handle stress more effectively, and if society stops pressing college admittance on high school students as a life-or-death issue, maybe students like Brian wont feel the need to abuse medication to perform better in school. Comment by Edwards, Judith: ADHD*Names have been changed

ReferencesSchwarz, Alan. "Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill."The New York Times. The New YorkTimes, 09 June 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.Schwarz, Alan, and Sarah Cohen. "A.D.H.D. Seen in 11% of U.S. Children as DiagnosesRise."The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.Setlick, Jennifer, MD, G. Randall Bond, MD, and Mona Ho, MS. "Adolescent PrescriptionADHD Medication Abuse Is Rising Along With Prescriptions for TheseMedications."Pediatrics124.3 (2009): 875-80. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.Szalavitz, Maia. "Teens Taking ADHD Drugs to Get Good Grades: How Big a Problem Is It? |TIME.com."Time. Time, n.d. Web. 14 Apr.