Hi,
I have brand new member and this is my first post.
Starting to think about colleges for my teenage son. He has ADHD and executive function disorder. He’s interested in engineering. We live in the Boston area. Does anyone have any information on colleges that would suit his disorder and interest? Is a para military or regimented college a good idea Like the Massachusetts Maritime Academy? He does well in a structured environment And I fear he will really really struggle in a traditional college campus where he has to self motivate.
One of ours is in a pretty similar situation. College can be a difficult challenge, so buckle up and be ready to offer lots of love and support. The good news is that schools are now, generally speaking, much more capable of meeting the needs of students with these and other challenges.
Every situation is different, and your son and you and his teachers, counselors, therapists, and doctors will hopefully be the ones best able to evaluate the best approach, the best school for him. You will have to consider how ready he is for an engineering program in particular. They are challenging and require students to be very prepared from day one.
In our case, the most helpful things were time and nature. Our middle kid had the challenges. College was hard. There were successes and failures. They found that being in nature really allowed them to be their best self, which I think makes a lot of sense because we didn’t really evolve to sit in classrooms and perform the tasks often required in today’s US high schools. Getting in nature seemed to help them feel more comfortable in the world.
Time also helped. We just had a great conversation with ours, and they were doing a great job going through the multiple steps necessary for a job they are seeking. That didn’t happen EVER when they were 18. So a few years of growth and development (and nature) helped.
So you’ll have to figure out what works well for your son.
A few thoughts, if he wants to do engineering and thinks he can get up for every class and find a way to turn in every assignment, etc. A few schools I’d suggest would be WPI in Worcester. Why? It has a very project-oriented, hands-on curriculum, and all students take 3 classes at a time, which can be a little easier than juggling 5 classes. I don’t know his stats or financial resources; WPI is very competitive today, and will cost a lot, even with some aid.
Maybe Rose-Hulman as a small engineering school with a lot of hands-on projects.
Others might have good engineering suggestions.
To my above point, you might also look at schools that are in nature. A few I would think of–Sewanee, UNC-Asheville–don’t have engineering. What about Montana State? Bozeman is a beautiful town in a beautiful valley with beautiful mountains all around. The school is very popular now, and I’m not sure if it would be strong in services for students with learning challenges. Maybe, I don’t know.
Maybe Western Carolina University? It’s way down there but beautiful campus in the mountains. It has engineering. Again not sure of academic counseling services.
https://www.wcu.edu/learn/departments-schools-colleges/index.aspx
Would he/you consider a gap year?
It allows more time for growth and development. Not for everyone but a year goes very fast, and if he is better prepared as a result, then well worth it.
Here’s an idea. What about a year working in a national park or parks? Xanterra, Delaware North, and other companies are concessionaires and staff the restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. in the parks. Employees very often work in employee dorms and get subsidized food. So it’s being on your own, but without a landlord, utilities, etc. For example, the Grand Canyon is open all year. Most jobs are right on the rim, so the commute is often a 5-minute walk with the canyon right there. There are opportunities to hike and spend time in nature. And it’s not a program you have to pay for.
Anyway, that’s a few things we’ve considered over the last few years. Good luck, have fun! I think taking it as a learning journey can make it all less stressful.
Northeastern, Drexel, Rochester, and Clarkson come to mind for schools with solid engineering programs and that are supposed to have good supports for students.
I am in the same situation. ADHD/exec function son wanting to go into engineering. Adding to his difficulty is that he was only diagnosed end of sophomore year and did not want to go on medications, so he’s got a low GPA (hovering at around 3.0). We started executive functioning coaching a couple of months ago via Skype, and that has been helpful. His coach works with him to develop tools to help him organize, stay on top of assignments (he’s the kid who forgets to do homework and that’s a big contributor to his low gpa) and creates accountability. They are also teaching him to advocate for himself and to seek help such as tutoring if/when he struggles. It is slow progress, but it is progress nonetheless, and we are hoping that what he learns will help him in his last year of high school, in college, and beyond. Today he was excitedly showing me his Google calendar. He is now keeping track of all assignments, has developed a study schedule for finals, and has his work and driver’s ed schedule on there too. It’s so NOT my son to do something like this (we certainly suggested it many times, lol) so things are going in the right direction.
RIT and UConn both have very good support services for these types of kids. Unfortunately RIT doesn’t offer civil engineering, which is what my kid is interested in. And his grades won’t get him in UConn (our state uni). So we are looking at small to mid size schools where he can get some individualized attention. We have also told him we would like him to be part of an engineering LLC (if a school offers it) his first year.
One of the schools we visited is Widener in PA. They have a program through the Office of Student Success and Retention called Early Assessment that will monitor and provide outreach to freshman that are academically at risk. It was the only program like that we heard about in our (many!) college visits. They seem to have a lot of support in place so these kids don’t fall through the cracks.
Peterson’s Guide to Colleges with Programs for Learning-Disabled Students is a good resource. It provides info on all services available to kids with ADHD. I was surprised at how many accommodations students can qualify for to help them.
I’m not sure about the very structured environments. But Norwich Academy might be one to look at if you decide to pursue that route.
Will he carry accommodations with him to college? I am assuming yes. But even with those he needs to start advocating for himself. This is hard for most students not just those with Efd or Adhd.
How is he not self motivating now? Even with a learning disability he might have to fill out forms, approach professors to sign and agree for something like extra time for tests or accommodations. You should talk to the learning centers at various colleges to see how they help your son deal with this. The idea of like every school is to make him self sufficient.
Also some engineering is done in groups and some he might need to accomplish a part of “x” for the group by himself. It would have to be on time or it can affect the group he is working withs grade. Is this something he can accomplish?
Also college is much harder then high school and engineering is one of the hardest majors at most universities. Is he willing to work harder and go deeper. Usually hyperfocus with Adhd can actually be helpful with this.
Also for college suggestions knowing his unweighted GPA, act /sat scores and what he is interested in might help for suggestions.