Good University for Brilliant guy with bad grades due to LDs...

<p>750 students isn't small.
my daughters grad class was 18!
;)
( her sisters was 400)
It is true that a large school like UW will have larger classes. Some of your entry level classes may have 400 students, there will be lots of choices of courses, but that doesn't mean you will be able to get into the classes you want. More students, means more competition for research opportunities. ( and money spread around more thinly</p>

<p>It is good to prioritize your criteria, but when you do so, ask yourself what it is you need to accomplish your goals.</p>

<p>^^^^
Everything is in scale,which is why size is slippery slope IMO</p>

<p>A large school offers more classes and has more students,but the class will be larger and equally as hard to get into as a small school with a small class.</p>

<p>Again,UW for example has a class of 30K. Say 1000 want to do research an there are 100 opening. That is 10:1. A smaller school may have 10 opening for 100 students. still 10:1.</p>

<p>small private schools may have zero grad students who are leading research & be all about the undergrads.</p>

<p>Every student at my daughters liberal arts college does research, in fact they need to publish a thesis to earn their B.A.
However, it is considerably more out of pocket than a school with larger number of alums who may be motivated to give to a dept besides the athletic teams.</p>

<p>I like the cutting-edge research,nothing less.</p>

<p>I like the cutting-edge research,nothing less.</p>

<p>You do realize that often to get funding, research is replicating previous work?
Visualization</a> of Bose-Einstein Condensates</p>

<p>that is pretty cutting edge, IMO but the research assistants at UW in that group, are post-docs, not undergrads.
( and the head of the project sent his sons to liberal arts colleges) ;)</p>

<p>I don't want a LACs in general.
I don't like a small size of the school as a whole,though small classes are nice.
Obviously there are exceptions,but in general i am not fond of them since many lack engineering and engineering research</p>

<p>I MIGHT look into maybe a small college with 3-2 with Cal-tech or Columbia thought...</p>

<p>I only bring up lacs because they do have some strengths, especially for students with learning differences because they can be more flexible , larger schools, put more of the burden on the student to identify what they need and make sure they get it, and the things they need to excel, may not be available at the U, since ieps end once you leave high school.</p>

<p>However I know another prof @ the UW & he even takes a few undergrads . He is a very creative thinker & would be a fabulous mentor.</p>

<p>John</a> Sidles - Qwiki</p>

<p>I have a list of places I want to go, I don't know if they are possible because of my grades</p>

<p>well you have two years to identify schools that take other things into consideration besides test scores and grades.
( The UW actually uses essays and look at applications individually)
That is enough time to get a good assessment of what would help you more accurately show your intelligence in your performance and identify accomodations that will help you continue that progress in college.</p>

<p>This article has some info for college students but I think you could use them in high school.
How</a> College Students with Learning Disabilities Can Advocate for Themselves - Learning Disabilities Association of America</p>

<p>Look into the book Cool Colleges by David Asher. There should be a copy in your guidance office if you aren't willing to buy it. Not much advice that I can give you was left out of the book; not only does it make it known that it is okay to have a brain that functions like yours (and mine, very high IQ but incessantly lazy freshman year), but it also gives you some great choices whether you want to go to college early or just apply to one that gets you. Personally, I am looking into Hampshire. They are certainly research-oriented, and the curriculum is student-designed based on your desires in life -- I am going to be a music/neuroscience double, so you are definitely not alone. Check it out! And if not, and if you can't find a way to locate a copy, then PM me with your address and I can send you mine.</p>

<p>Mind you, none of this can really help you if you don't get your LDs checked out. I should not have to tell you that an LD is a hurdle that you can overcome and still be successful in the collegiate and post-collegiate world. You need to solve one problem before you can tackle another, especially one as large as yours. While it may never be completely exterminated, you can find ways to manage yourself better than you already do. Your life will probably be much more fulfilling and happy if you can find a way to cope with the way your brain works. On the other hand, if you embrace your LDs, that's okay too. I can understand not wanting to get rid of them entirely so as to stay unique and un-zombieish. Down to it, the choice is yours. All of these choices are yours. What do you want to choose?</p>

<p>Good luck with everything!</p>

<p>To give you guys an idea of what I want....Imagine if MIT,Caltech,Yale and Oxbridge had a child somehow....I would love that child more then anything</p>

<p>hmm maybe you should look @ Reed.
;)
NSF-AIRE</a> AT REED COLLEGE</p>

<p>Here is where I am looking at</p>

<p>Boston University
Northeastern University
CMU
Purdue
Georgia Institute of Technology
USC
UIUC
University of Pittsburgh
University of Toronto or McGill</p>

<p>I have to be honest,BU and NEU are PROBABLY the top of my list because I live a mere 30 minutes away from Boston and I am quite familiar with Boston.</p>

<p>Hey, I'm looking at BU, as well. If you can find a way to bring your grades up, you can definitely be admitted. But just in case, look for some of the smaller colleges out there. Someone else just suggested Reed, which was also in the book I mentioned. Smaller schools usually mean a better chance of acceptance, and if it has a curriculum more designed to what you want, you will be happier than being miserable at a big name. You never know, if you expand your horizons, you might just find that lovechild who will be willing to accept a learning disability.</p>

<p>Remember: colleges LIKE brilliant kids and know that not every high school student follows the same path to college. If you can give them reason to believe that your brilliance can benefit the campus community, they will want to admit you. You are smart enough to know that you will have to play by the rules enough for admissions officers to justify admitting you. So that means: upward GPA trend, benefit to your community through volunteering or some other activity, good test scores, and being able to get a good teacher recommendation. I have a son like you and he was able to pull it together his junior year and get admitted into several great schools. Put your intellect to some use, even if it has nothing to do with High school classes and be productive. Write a book, compose a song, teach yourself a language or another skill, learn computer programming, whatever interests you, but do something that demonstrates you are curious about the world around you.</p>

<p>I am just upset that I am looking at some decent school and my freshmen year hurts a lot...If BU or NEU or WPI threw away freshmen year I would be overjoyed...</p>

<p>Would a recommendation from my doctor help?</p>

<p>My ECs are outstanding IMO.
My recommendations should be on the mark as well. But that isn't enough.</p>

<p>If everything else is good, your frosh year should not be too much of a detriment at many schools. Don't worry about that. Focus on what you can do NOW to positively affect your chances of admission.</p>

<p>I don't know...Rank will suck too.
I mean I could get 4.0 this year and still suck.</p>

<p>I mean it is terrible saying ok this is what I want, and knowing your chances suck.</p>

<p>I think that there are things you can do that will minimize the impact of your less than stellar freshman year in your college applications. In this case, I think I would go with the parents who recommend disclosing your LD. Then I would take a three-pronged approach. </p>

<p>First, in the section of college applications that asks about whether you have anything else to add, I would very matter of factly explain -- be sure to have your GC or an English teacher take a look at this and make sure it doesn't come across as whiny or bitter -- that you have an LD that was not fully diagnosed and that you hadn't really addressed in freshman year. Then you can let the colleges know that by sophomore year, you were determined to succeed academically so you could pursue your interests in ABC successfully and become an effective DEF as an adult. If you like, you can be specific about how you began to cope with your LD better, and to become a better student (your grades will bear out the fact that you did improve) but I don't think you have to be too specific if you don't want to. </p>

<p>Second, if your parents agree that this is the way to go since you have the legal right to have your school keep your LD secret, I would sit down with your GC and give your GC something in writing explaining your LD and your improvement once you began to face it and deal with it, with permission to reveal your LD in his statment with a glowing description of how you have worked to improve, and indicating that this continuing improvement is reflected in your grades, the difficulty of the courses you've taken, etc. Having a GC more or less explain that your freshman year does not reflect your abilities or motivation as a student should be helpful, especially if your transcript backs him up. </p>

<p>If you have a teacher who taught you in freshman year, when you were not doing so well, and more recently, when you are doing much better, you might consider having that teacher write a college recommendation that makes it clear to colleges that the problems you experienced in your freshman year are behind you and that you are now functioning at the intellectual and academic level of students at their college. (Again, the teacher would need specific permission from you and your parents, if you're not yet 18, to reveal that you have an LD.)</p>

<p>Finally -- and this is the most important -- do everything you can to find ways to work around the LD issues that still make it difficult for you to succeed at the level of your potential and knowledge RIGHT NOW. In one of your early posts, you said that certain things seemed to be getting harder or getting worse. Please get some help to work on those issues. Remember, once you get to college -- and I hope it will be a very good one -- you will want to be a successful student there. Colleges offer all sorts of support for LD students, and if you learn to use support now to do even better, as well as to show colleges an even more dramatic upward trajectory, the transition to college level work will be a lot smoother for you.</p>

<p>The third part of this advice, which you are also getting from other parents, seems to be the least compelling for you. Please listen. Getting help in dealing with your LD now is going to make the biggest difference both in giving you a better life in high school, AND in helping you get into the best possible college. So, make sure that your accommodations are in place this year from the first day of school. If there's a problem with some of your teachers or the school in general not respecting your plan, have your parents involved and get meetings set up at school asap so the problems can be addressed. If your school has not applied for your accommodations on SAT, ACT and AP exams, make sure that happens right away. (If your accommodations were not in place for your standardized tests, your scores might have been negatively impacted. The ETS is reluctant to grant accommodations after a student has already taken SAT's etc. and received an average score. But if you've never taken the ACT, maybe give it a try with accommodation, and don't give up on the Education Testing Service/College Board until your school gives it a try.) Do the thing with the calendar and speaking with each and every one of your teachers on a scheduled, regular basis. See if you can sit down with a learning specialist or educational psychologist to work out a plan to help you succeed in school at the level of your intelligence. </p>

<p>Your freshman year and rank will matter a whole lot less if colleges understand why it happened, and can see that once you came to grips with your LD, things got a lot better. If you do well this year, they will see that you are capable of doing the work at their colleges, and I suspect that a rotten freshman year will be a lot less harmful to you than it would be for a student with a less compelling explanation and less dramatic improvement.</p>