<p>I was just wondering if it was possible for a school to not accept someone because of an allergy/handicap.</p>
<p>no 10charrrr</p>
<p>No. It won’t increase your chances… Hell, they won’t even know that you have one (unless you get accepted, in which case you will need to fill out certain medical forms and evaluations).</p>
<p>I was thinking that if one applicant (student a) had a severe food allergy to, say, apples. If they were accepted the school would have to stop serving apples in the cafeteria and probably ban them in that student’s dorm, and if another applicant(student b) was not quite as qualified but didn’t have an allergy, would they choose student b?</p>
<p>I doubt they would do that. I’m certain that an allergy such as apples wouldn’t keep them from accepting you, or decrease your chances.</p>
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<p>Many public schools have instituted food bans, but I don’t know of any boarding school which has instituted food bans. If anyone does, please contribute to the discussion! </p>
<p>I don’t think that an allergy to apples or peanuts, say, would affect the chances of admission, as the candidate is well able to monitor and control the consumption of allergens. All the schools have medical procedures for dealing with medical emergencies. </p>
<p>If, however, you believe your child has an airborne peanut allergy, I would think that that might affect the chances of admission, because providing a safe environment for that one student would involve many headaches, and huge risks. </p>
<p>I AM ONLY A PARENT. IF your child has such an allergy, in my opinion, it is in his best interest for you to raise the issue clearly with the schools at an early point in the admissions process. Do not wait until a week before the start of school to say, “By the way, he has an airborne peanut allergy, and you must treat all peanuts as contraband for the next four years.”</p>
<p>The larger point, I think, is that boarding schools are very different from local public schools. You do not have many of the legal rights and protections granted to public school families, when you choose to attend a private school. You do not have nearly as much leverage to make requests of the administration. The school may decide it would be better if you parted ways. Therefore, it is essential to choose a school which will fit your family’s values, and which will follow practices which your family will accept as reasonable. It would be foolish to think that, after admission, you could force the school to change its policies.</p>
<p>^In my 7th grade public school (three years ago) there was a ban on peanuts due to such a case. </p>
<p>I was a little presumptuous in my first post. I sincerely doubt, however, a food allergy will affect you application significantly.</p>
<p>Miss Porter’s dining room has been nut free since September 2008.</p>
<p>my brother’s elementary class can’t have any nuts, wheat, soy, grapes, and a bunch of other stuff, its ridiculous</p>
<p>Shelley14, is there a campus-wide ban on nuts, or is it only in the dining hall, i.e., the school’s kitchens? Are there restrictions on the sort of food students can bring onto campus?</p>
<p>First off, you don’t have to let the school know until you get accepted and fill out your medical forms. Second, I don’t think they would even have to ban it. They could just designate an area of the cafeteria to be free of that food and be very careful in the dorm and maybe ban it from common rooms in the dorm. But that wouldn’t really be a big deal.</p>
<p>I cannot conceive that it’s a reasonable or healthy approach to the admissions process to conceal a serious, life-threatening allergy from a school. As a parent, that would be exceedingly reckless. For one thing, you want to know if a school even has a policy in place to deal with allergies. You want to be able to ask them questions, such as, “what do you do if a student shows signs of being in anaphylactic shock? How far away is the nearest hospital? Has the campus ever dealt with a severe allergic reaction?”</p>