<p>Like so you wanted to apply to an ivy would this affect you at all?</p>
<p>Have you been able to excel at the highest academic levels?</p>
<p>Are you one of the top scholars amongst your non-learning disabled peers?</p>
<p>If so, then you’re a viable candidate with low chances like everyone else. If your performance is only good or OK, then your chances are less than slim – disability or not.</p>
<p>EDIT: from previous threads you’ve posted, your academics aren’t at a level where you’ll be a viable candidate for these ultra selective schools – whether or not you have a learning disability. You should expend your energy on finding some great schools where you’ll flourish academically. But not the tier one schools. Good luck to you</p>
<p>^Two things
1.This is a shared account I share this with my friends so yeah previous posts don’t apply to me
2. I wasn’t talking about myself I meant in general</p>
<p>For specific questions about specific LDs and the effect on college admissions, you should check out the Learning Disabilities Forum and the Parents Forum. Click on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen, and scroll down to find them.</p>
<p>I am not an admission counselor, far from it, But, it seems to me that a holistic evaluation of a HS student would absolutely include accounting for overcoming a learning disability (given solid empirical medical evidence and support). It’s difficult to picture each admissions committee retaining a cognitive behavioral psychiatrist to apply weight to the disorder but I would guess things like dyslexia, mild ADD etc. would be taken into account as would say overcoming adversity in being from a poor school district and still finishing in the top 5 percent of your class. </p>
<p>I have a relative who attended Yale who had no hearing in one ear (not technically a cognitive disability but it certainly could not have helped much if your teacher’s did not seat you in the front row)-certainly a challenge he overcame. i never asked him if his GC mentioned it in his admissions letter, but he got in, I do think his stats were as competitive as a student without any physical disorder. But this was many years ago and the acceptance rate was not 9 percent but in general, I think common sense would still apply.</p>
<pre><code> There are so many cognitive disorders that can also cause behavioral disorders, such that you may have the academic ability to become a top student but the disorder may need to be well characterized by a doctor. Many Asperger’s patients are able to perform at a high level but some are disruptive in a class setting. Whether admissions would allow you some “slack” for perhaps not being as consistent on all scores, seems hard to predict and I think would be on a case by case basis. The problem with learning disabilities is that I just do not know how each is classified and it becomes a sticky wicket trying to make it the equivalent of a URM as a general idea…many doctors diagnose ADD as a catch all and prescribe medications haphazardly that may cause damage or may help. Each case is different again.
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<p>I do hope that you try for the best school you think you can get into, and everyone can apply to a reach school, they just do not “expect” to get in, they hope to, but if they do its a wonderful opportunity that I am sure was deserved. it’s hard to give a more specific answer to a general question, but I tried my best. Just felt that maybe another angle should be tossed in.</p>
<p>Sounds like happy mom has me trumped here on knowledge of the forums. Anyway, hope my answer is more or less in line with what you find there…case by case and some probable consideration for it.</p>
<p>Okay what about this person I know, or as those who know about him call him “the nut case”, who has Short Term memory loss, mild AFHD and (not all that bad) dyslexia? Should this person tell the college and his high school or just leave it alone (PS yes he has been tested but they did not report it to the school…)</p>
<p>As I first posted: is this person, disability included, still able to perform at the highest levels? Unless he is, he has no chance at the top schools.</p>
<p>regardless, it seems he’s able to operate on some high level. If so, then trawl the Parents forum for advice sought & given for those with disabilities. Lots of good stuff over there.</p>
<p>I certainly would not tell colleges unless he was in a situation like this:
- Freshman year: GPA 2.5
- Sophomore year: GPA 2.35
- Diagnosed with learning disability summer between sophomore and junior year and given specific strategies and/or medication to deal with LD
- Junior year: GPA 3.8
- Senior year: GPA 3.85</p>
<p>So basically if being diagnosed with a learning disability can help to explain a shift in performance then mention it because colleges would possibly be more lenient when looking at the first two years of high school knowing that you didn’t have the strategies you have now. </p>
<p>I have a working memory disability that I was diagnosed with in my junior year but I am not going to mention a word about it to colleges because my GPA and SATs have been consistent throughout high school. All telling them about my disability would do would be to cause adcoms to raise red flags.</p>
<p>You don’t tell colleges about disabilities until and unless you get accepted except if you have a case like a pp stated where you got a diagnosis in high school that was previously not diagnosed and it is that diagnosis and subsequent treatment that caused a change in grades or test scores. Otherwise, the college does not need or want to know. Once you are accepted some place, that is when you make approaches to the school’s disability office and find out what documentation you need. Usually it is medical report less than 3 years old mentioning diagnosis and suggested remediation. High school IEPs are not sufficient and aren’t considered.</p>
<p>This is the answer I was afraid of. Unfortunately even physical or physiological handicaps are stigmatized as psychological disorders and some are not, and frankly, if you have the grades and you showed overcoming at least some of these disorders (like dyslexia etc.), I personally think it shows overcoming an obstacle like poverty etc…</p>
<p>But sadly, things change very slowly so I am sure you are probably correct in that it’s better to avoid it if your stats will get you in. Seems like a shame IMHO that things have to be like that though, people are all different and that is part of diversity IMHO.</p>
<p>military mom, do you feel the same about a kid or GC divulging adversities like a parent who is critically ill etc. I mean, at what point does the college look at only that things could somehow burden them vs. hardships a student overcomes as a positive thing?..i mean like in that case are they going to worry, gee-what if the kid is in college and the parent dies? It seems all a bit cold to me that the biggest worry is the burden rather than the beauty of overcoming adversity.</p>
<p>Look it is not my opinion to discriminate against LD or ADHD students. I wouldn’t do that. But I have certainly seen a lot of discrimination against such people over the years and would not recommend that students divulge anything they don’t have to that is likely to cause someone to say no. In this same regard, I wouldn’t recommend that a student write about a controversial cause that they advocate. IMHO, it is just better to play it safe and many schools even say this themselves. They want to see the students academic record and learn about their personality and interests. The fact that the student is a diabetic or ADHD or has any other problems is not relevant to whether they are a good student. </p>
<p>I also have read a numbr of books by admission counselors who recommend against writing a my ---- had cancer story for the essay. Yes, if student has missing semester or bad semester and it is due to medical issues such as cancer treatments or car wreck, I would include that in special circumstances or have the guidance counselor write about it. I am not sure what my counselor did so many years ago when I was homebound for one semester recovering from a very bad bout of pneumonia. I had less credits then but still had A’s. I don’t know if my GC had written about it. I know I didn’t.</p>
<p>MilitaryMom, your points are well noted. Ironically, the “confessional” essay is viewed as a well liked essay- within limits and its stated it can backfire. Life is what it is, not what we wish it could be, unfortunately.</p>