I am a current senior applying to colleges, and was recently diagnosed with Dyscalculia this October. I’ve applied to four schools thus far, and was recently rejected from one (highly selective) school. I’ve disclosed dyscalculia in the additional info section on the common app, however, I’m concerned about how colleges may be viewing my application. If anyone has advice for applying to schools with an ld, especially dyscalculia, and/or what schools are more accepting of ld’s, it would be greatly appreciated!
@cisforcookies
Where are u located? What is your expected major?
DD was accepted to all the “colleges that save lives” schools on the west coast–see web site for national options–a couple of UCs, as we live in CA, three Catholic universities on the west coast, and she ended up attending University of Arizona in the SALT program.
She felt comfortable disclosing her LDs on all applications, as the schools had good disabilities info on their websites, and if a school didn’t want disabilities kids and rejected her for that reason, she didn’t want to go there anyway.
She applied to schools where her SAT scores were higher than the middle stats for the institution and was offered scholarships from everyone but the UCs, which don’t have a lot of merit scholarships. She wanted a school where she had a running start at success with her disabilities, rather than a reach.
She loves Tucson and U of A.
My DD also disclosed dyscalculia in the additional info section. She was an A student at a competitive high school with some B- s in math as well as a math SAT score 200 points below her other scores (which were all above 90th percentile). In the additional info box, she wrote that she was not receiving any extra math support at her high school (true). She had her math teacher write one of her recommendations as well as he knew her very well and could speak to her math abilities and her work ethic. Since you are recently classified, I think it might be helpful to explain a bit why - did you manage to get by without extra help until senior year? If so, that can be a positive thing to note. If your math grades have improved since you were diagnosed, you can write that you now have a better understanding of how you learn. A plus too! The main goal is to give colleges the info they need to reassure them that you can handle their coursework. Try not to “over explain” as that can raise red flags unnecessarily. In the end, I think the dyscalculia info probably did cause my daughter to be waitlisted at a few schools where she might have been accepted, but it is impossible to know. Overall, she had many acceptances, a few waitlists, and a few rejections at far reach schools. She is now at a “top 20” school that does offer math support but also requires 2 math credits. If your grades and scores don’t show a weakness in math, you don’t currently receive extra help in math and you don’t anticipate needing any help in college, I would not mention the dyscalculia as it isn’t information that is important for the school to know. You are not required to disclose learning differences on applications. On the other hand, if your application shows a clear weakness in math or related subjects, or you are applying to a STEM major and anticipate that you will need support, it’s a good idea to disclose so colleges understand the discrepancy. Hope this helps!