<p>My son is very bright (34 ACT, 2010 SAT, 233 PSAT no prep). All that being said he suffers from a combination of ADD, OCD and social anxiety. He ec's are ok but not great. GPA is about 3.5 weighted, not sure unweighted. Will have 3 or 4 ap's. Interested in civil engineering perhaps. He gets the information, just has a problem either regurgitating it or doing it fast enough. Had a full educational evaluation done, currently has a 504 plan. Basically according to the evaluation there is a processing issue and it stops him from the quick recall that most have. He's not slow...just not fast. We are in Ohio and are on the low end of the financial scale. Currently looking at Case Western, Vandy, WashU. and Rose-Hulman. Any thoughts on schools or anything else? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>If you explain fully his disability in his essays and contact Office for Students with Disabilities before he applies, they may be able to help. His test scores are strong. Also, students with disabilities (dyslexia etc) can get extra time for test taking including the SAT. This is done by law. Also, if you are lower income, then apply to more schools that have the financial aid initiatives and shoot for the. I knew a student with a 2.7 GPA who was admitted to UCLA based on her dyslexia and she ended up in grad school because she did well once she got to UCLA because they had resources to assist her which most High schools do not. The extra test taking time alone helped tremendously.</p>
<p>Right, the Office for Students With Disabilities will administer her tests to her in a special room without distractions and give her twice as long to take the tests.</p>
<p>His grades and GPA are quite good. Don't inform the schools about his learning "differences" before acceptance. However, make sure you investigate the support systems in place for these special needs as you are choosing schools for him to apply. Once accepted, carefully follow the schools guidelines. For example the school may only accept testing by a psychologist and in addition to testing results require a recent letter from the psychologist.</p>
<p>Your son would have a good chance of acceptance at the following schools with strong programs in his area of interest.<br>
RPI in Troy, NY, Worcester Polytech in Massachusetts, Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY.</p>
<p>Since your son has social anxiety and since you say you are "on the low end of the financial scale," I recommend that you look at colleges no farther than 4-5 hours away. On the financial side, you don't want to pay for flights back and forth, and from the anxiety standpoint, it might comfort him to know that you are no more than a half day's drive away.</p>
<p>Much depends on HIS take, however. If he wants to go far away to explore a different region of the country, encourage him. I notice that many of the schools you are exploring are farther away, so you may have already had this talk with him about what he wants. Daffymom has offered a good list. You might want to look also at Lehigh and Lafayette (within 20 minutes of each other) in Pennsylvania. Lafayette is a small liberal arts school that offers engineering; he might thrive in a smaller college community where he can't get lost as easily. Lehigh is bigger although not huge (about 4500 undergraduates, I think) and probably is more competitive to get into, but it is well-known for its undergraduate engineering school. Lehigh, Bucknell, RPI, and Cornell get a lot of cross-applicants, so you might want to add Bucknell and Cornell in there.</p>
<p>You'll also want to include some less competitive schools, aiming for matches with his GPA and not test scores.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback. The reason for the schools we have chosen already is they in that 4-5 hour range from our home (great minds think alike) and they are all 100%'ers in that they will meet 100% of demonstrated need (or very close to it). It is interesting that one poster tells me to let them know of the challenges up front while another says to hold off til after acceptance. We think he can handle a selective school if the support and accommodations are adequate. Do you think he could get in to any of the schools (Vandy, WashU, Case) based strictly on the numbers without disclosing his challenges?</p>
<p>We have an acquaintance whose son is also a bright student, but needs more time to process things. He has similar engineering interests. WPI accepted him, and is accommodating him by letting him take fewer classes per term. His parents were up front w/ the situation and found WPI very willing to work w/ him. He's doing very well.</p>
<p>Having a son with very similar issues to yours, I think the fact that he chose to disclose it in his application helped him a lot in getting into the college he wanted to go to and is now attending. Having said that, I don't know if other colleges, such as the ones you mention, are similarly understanding or holistic in their approach. The GPA might be a little low.</p>
<p>College is required to have disabilities services and offer accommodations, but you'll find if you dig deeper (namely, by communicating with their disabilities coordinators, going to the colleges and seeing for yourself the program and getting a "vibe") you'll see that every college is very different in their approach, their staffing, and their capabilities. Check to see if staff changes every year -- if that happens, you can be sure there's going to be a yearly learning curve and lack of stability that could negatively impact the services your child receives. If they come back to you and say "we follow the ADA rules", that's the no more, no less approach, or if they insist that your child will have to take the initiative with all of the professors in making sure the professors get the accommodations letters, and they won't help but "might" intervene if there's a problem, think really hard about what they are telling you. Especially with a student with social anxieties, because that initial contact may be very difficult without assistance.</p>
<p>We took our son to every single college and met with each college's disabilities program administrator, and that helped enormously in making the right choice.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>UCLA77, where did your son end up, and what was his experience with other colleges?</p>
<p>I have a son with similar issues, and good scores/so-so GPA. I definitely want him to be in a place with a good solid disabilities program. He's looking at small LACs, though, not engineering schools.</p>
<p>It would be a whole lot easier if engineering wasn't in the plans just because it would open up a lot more private schools but he is very strong in math and physics (36 on ACT, 80 on PSAT and 740 on SAT) that we feel it is likely the right place to start. Has anyone sent their child off to a highly selective while having these or similar issues?</p>
<p>consider Ga Tech, I think he will thrive there</p>
<p>I'll look into Tech. Have to figure out how far it is from home. Anyone else? Do you think it would be worthwhile to post this in the Learning Difference section of cc also?</p>
<p>We really just looked at colleges in CA and OR, and University of AZ (with their SALT program). The only private was LMU in L.A., and their track record in keeping their program administrators was abysmal. U of A has a brilliant program with tons of support. Cal State U at Monterey Bay has an excellent program admin. UC Irvine was the biggest surprise -- excellent resources and assistance, with a really caring administrator and staff, including social anxiety group meetings, etc. Biggest disappointment: UC Santa Cruz. As touchy-feely (sp?) as they are, their disabilities people gave the impression that they were only there because they had to be there.</p>
<p>Son is at Berkeley and thriving. I guess they've been working in this area for so long and are so into it, that they know exactly what the student needs and provides a circle of support. They help the student learn the advocate for themselves with lots and lots of support. An incredible program, and the staff -- all excellent.</p>
<p>Friend's son found University of Denver to be very helpful, but I haven't had personal experience with that college.</p>
<p>S's friend, who sounds very similar, applied to Drexel, Virginia Tech, and Hofstra. He chose Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>It wouldn't hurt to post it, bue most schools will not use disability against a student. however, in looking into schools I would certainly check if they have a strong disability department, with tutoring included, etc.
Another school I would look into would be Maryland College Park, which has a terrific disability dept.
Good Luck</p>
<p>We have looked at a couple of schools (Mt. St. Joe's and Muskigum) that have SALT type programs but unfortunately we haven't found one in the 4-5 hour range that offers engineering. I appreciate all of your input.</p>