<p>I am a high school senior and am now applying to colleges. I have a 3.7 wieghted gpa (not sure what it is unwieghted), am in the top 10% of my class (barely though) and i got a 1270 on my sat (630 math 640 verbal) and i have good E.C's (tennis 4 years, basketball 1 year, soccer 1 year, SCA VP, about 4 diffrent clubs Yearbook editor for two years). </p>
<p>I also just got diagnosed with ADD. In other words I have not been given the accomodations other ADD students have. For example I didnt get extra time on my SAT.</p>
<p>I was wondering if schools like UVA and William and Mary (I am a VA resident) would look at the fact that I had add for all of high school and didnt know it, but was still able to make good grades taking the most rigorous course I could every year, and accept me. I know otherwise I would be an extreme longshot at both colleges.</p>
<p>so I have a question
if you were able to get good grades taking the most rigorous courses without accomodations- what prompted you to get tested for ADD?</p>
<p>As a child my teachers constantly told my parents that I was day dreaming in class. I also never did my homework, mostly because I would forget about it or not remember my teacher assigning homework. Teachers have always also said I have not been getting the grades I could potentially get. </p>
<p>Once I got into high school I continued this pattern. I rarely do homework, I usually get sidetracked. Also studying for tests is very hard for me. Reading a story the teacher assigned would take me maybe two hours where it should only take 30 minutes. I have managed to get by without studying by listening in class, If the class interest me I can absorb it like a sponge. If it doesnt then I zone out unintentionally. I learned how to deal with the classes I found boring, one of those being math. I was always bad at Algebra in middle school, but only because I would zone out. I found in high school that I was actually quite good at math, despite this fact I still zone out all the time in math. Even now taking AP Calculus I might be able to sit through one day out of a week where I listen to what the teacher is saying. Instead of listening to the teacher I teach myself by reading the book while she is lecturing and doing examples on my own. I was able to compensate not doing homework at home by doing them in the class before the class that they are due in. </p>
<p>I have always known I have had these faults and I have not been able to fix them no matter how hard I have tried. I have slightly improved but they are still there. The way I have been able to do well in school is because I am actually good at almost every subject. I would ace all the quizzes and tests, the ones that dealt with stuff we went over in calss, but then I would have maybe a 70 average for homework. The one thing I'm not good at is grammar and spelling. I find it very difficult to put whats in my head onto paper. But I have been able to get a B in English because I am extremely good at critical reading, which compensates for my lack of grammar skills.</p>
<p>I have also always been very disorganized and messy. I have always had a bad sense of time (for example I might wake up and say ok I have 15 minutes I can take a shower, eat, dress, and be ready to go to school in that time when I usually have to skip one of those things).</p>
<p>I thought things such as zoning out unintentionally was something everyone did (I zone out maybe 60 times a day). I also thought the reading blocks I was getting was normal. See whenever I got a reading block the more I would try to concentrate, the more the sentence wouldn't make sense to me. During one of these blocks I wouldnt be able to read the sentence "The car was black" and connect that the car was actually black. </p>
<p>One day I was just looking at the internet and decided to look up stuff on ADD. After reading the symptom list I found that I exhibited almost every single symptom except hyperactivity. I told my parents about it and they agreed that they had thought that I might have ADD, but they had dismissed there suspicions. My dad is a doctor and didn't believe that ADD existed. I was tested and I was diagnosed with ADD.</p>
<p>Actually I should be doing my AP biology homework right now.</p>
<p>well, that 's good that you can know yourself so well and be able to get soem encouragement on how to now manage and cope so you can use your talents and gifts. medication can help but so can learning from a behavorial therpaist specializing in Add.</p>
<p>It was not clear to me but when you took the SAT were you able to complete the tests (do you think your scores are lower than they would have been if you had been given more time to take them?). You said that you tend to ace tests and quizzes... If you were not able to complete them was it because you had problems staying focused during the tests? If you now feel you would have benefitted from a time extension you should see if you can take them again. Also are you now on medication to help you focus better? What I am trying to determine is your major problem time management issues and staying on task in relation to turning in or completing homework assignments as opposed to the amount of time given for taking tests? </p>
<p>There are many different factors that effect school performance and you do not automatically get extra time on tests, just because you have ADD or another LD; the accommodations you can receive depends on what your specific needs are and whether/how much the accommodation is required to help you perform. </p>
<p>Also, unfortunately, most colleges do not consider LDs such as ADD to be a hook in and of itself; you still need to meet their academic requirements for admission. So, I'd say unless you have teachers or a doctor coming in and saying that you would have performed x amount better had you been diagnosed earlier in hs, or you can demonstrate that being diagnosed and getting specific services or treatment has improved your academic abilities and grades, there is no real basis for a college to take your undiagnosed ADD into account, without a showing of improvement after being diagnosed.</p>
<p>My last question is what LD services would be available to you at the schools you want to apply to? (ie, what is going to be different in college compared to hs?) If you do need specific LD services or accommodations in college, it is more important to find a school that will provide the services that will help you succeed. If what you really need is time-management skills or tutoring services it might also be worth checking to see if the schools you are interested offer services in those areas (these are generally available to students both with and without LDs). </p>
<p>Many college freshmen struggle in their first year with time management issues and this can be made worse if you are attending a more academically challenging school - and not getting services that could help, so it might actually be to your benefit to start out at a less academically demanding school, which has the services you need, learn the time management skills you need to do well and then transfer to a more academically demanding school later once you have the skills you need to succeed there. </p>