<p>pulling this from the 2011 thread. I am now slightly blurred on the whole thing. I know we read about Wooster in CTCL and I think the A+ options site.<br>
If I recall Carolyn here on CC encouraged us to look beyond our own local area for schools that were a good match for DD. The anthropology major is actually a big problem - I'd say over half to 3/4 of schools we liked either did not offer it at all or offered SOAN - a sociology/anthro mixed major.
DD is very bright, late diagnosed with a type of ADD, minor neuro problem with finger control. She just took off in the past two years once we knew what she needed, but took off best in smaller classes and/or with great teachers.
We had to break out of our regionalism, including thinking of Vt. as closer than eastern Ohio. DD had no problems with locale at all, though Beloit - a great anthro school-did seem too far for her. If not for CC I don't think we would have looked at schools out of our parental comfort zone.
We, her parents, would have loved to see her attend a Jesuit school, but for her this was THE match.</p>
<p>We also learned about Wooster in "Colleges That Change Lives." Pope's rave review caught our interest right away, so we continued to research this school we'd never heard of. What we learned was impressive. While Wooster is not "famous" in the sense of a Yale, Harvard, or Princeton, it is apparently quite well-respected in nationwide academic circles. </p>
<p>Our daughter (now a freshman) eventually chose Wooster for several reasons--its wonderful IS and archaeology programs; the serenity of its lovely, safe-feeling campus; the welcoming friendliness of students, professors, and administrators; the sense of "feeling at home" when she visited, and of being wanted; the good financial aid offered; plus a soccer coach who stressed academics first and foremost. </p>
<p>She's lived in this amazing, academically rigorous environment for almost an entire school year now, has made friends who will last a lifetime, and has been inspired to challenge herself every single day by gifted professors who are truly there for their students. She'll grow into young adulthood in this very special place, and we wouldn't have it any other way!</p>
<p>OldinJersey -- I am just curious. What kinds of things helped your daughter to excel once you diagnosed the ADD? It's a subject I'm interested in. I've long suspected my oldest has it, and possibly my youngest, but nothing has ever been diagnosed.</p>
<p>Back on topic. I don't know how my daughter ended up with Wooster on her list of schools. I think I may have stumbled across it when my son was applying to colleges three years ago when I read CTCL. But I think my daughter found about it a different way. Anyway, she says she was intrigued by its different sounding name and so was curious. One thing led to another. And now it is at the top of her list. One more school left to visit. She just got back from a visit to St. Olaf, and had a wonderful time, and says St. Olaf has the best food of all the places she has been to, but still likes Wooster the best -- so far!</p>
<p>I got a big kick out of the four students that were talking about how they ended up at Wooster when we visited for accepted students day. Two of them seem to have ended up there sort of randomly, which may also be the case with my daughter. One was from India and couldn't really explain why she chose to apply to Wooster, but once she did, the college was so friendly and communicative she ended up going. A black student from Akron said someone suggested Wooster to her, but she had never heard of it, and thought, "I'm not going to a college that is 30 min. away that I've never even heard of. How could it possibly be any good?" Anyway, she checked it out and is a student there now. The other two students said they chose Wooster because it seemed like the one place they could do everything they wanted -- sports, ec's and academics. All four seemed very content with their choice of Wooster (of course, or else why would they be talking to a group of prospective students?).</p>
<p>Anyway, I just got a chuckle out of how random this process can seem at times.</p>
<p>we thought my DD had learning disabilities, but school balked. Took her -paying cash-to someone who as he as about to read the findings said " I don't believe learning disabilites exist" o-kay. thanks for ripping me off. Here is a friend's story, and mine. At the point the stories start, both are 15 years old.
At a company Christmas party we were talking with another family who had been through all this. the younger child was diagnosed, got tutoring etc but still had some issues. They went to the one developmental pediatrician in our state trained by Dr. Mel Levine. He found more, subtle learning issues. They hired a math tutor trained to work with the LD found and child shot up in math. She is now a super successful college student at a school that helps her with the LD.
We then brought my dd to the same developmental ped. and eventually since he was not local to a ped. neurologist -same diagnosis. My DD turned out to have inattentive ADD. This was not something I knew about. The child is calm, sweet, daydreams, never is a problem. In fact my DD is so quiet I still have to strain to hear her talk sometimes. She also turned out to have a mild neuro problem with her fingers, saved slightly by a lifetime of cello. She is extra slow with writing, and like many kids never did get cursive down too well.
The first thing we tried was ADD meds -concerta. Her grades went from C's with occaisional D to B's with occaisional C or A. We had to up the dose this year. She has had dreadful math problems on and off. Got a tutor in Oct. but grade was still low. In fact probably this low grade in AP calc effected her acceptances or even merit $, though that is a guess. We ended up switching tutors to a woman who is the retired AP Calc teacher. DD went from a c to an A this marking period and feels so SMART. that is the best part of all this. The ADD kid does have to develop their own skills at working around the problem, helped by the tutor not hand-holding. But when they realize they are bright-with-problem the joy is wonderful to see.
The literal things we did were make sure teachers knew about this kind of add if they would listen. had her in the front of the classroom. put her on meds. talked about her learning stuff from a medical point. helped her figure out what class and study behaviors got her the best grades.
That's part of Why Wooster. Small classes, good teachers and hard work. All three of mine are semi ADD. The oldest at least as bad as this one. the harder the class the more the peer pressure to do work well, which suited him.</p>
<p>Tks. for sharing that OldinJersey. Makes me wonder about my own kids, and me. At any rate, it is inspiring to hear a success story like this -- an A in AP calc is very impressive! Good for you daughter! </p>
<p>Well, one more college visit to go for my daughter -- perhaps we'll see you at Wooster. Guess we'll know in a couple of weeks . . .</p>