I’m a High school senior. Eager to get my Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Special Education/ also I want to get my certificate to teach kindergarten as well.
This kinda goes under Admissions and Search because, I looked and looked into the programs and admissions of all these different colleges and I kind of broke down at my computer. It was all hitting me. I literally have no Idea what college/university I want to go to. I have really bad anxiety and I have really bad ADD so it’s hard for me to take the first step for anything.
I have no idea what college has a really great Education/and Special Education program.
I have no idea if I want to stay in state or go out of state. (I live in Texas)
If you have anxiety and ADD, then I would advise you to look for a school that is relatively close to home. Especially if you find your parents particularly supportive with regard to these issues, and if you are receiving any kinds of treatments outside of school in your local area. Most state schools that have a department of education will meet your needs and goals. Start with those that are near you. These will also be among the more economical schools as well because they are in state.
Focusing on what is relatively near you is a good place to start. Then once you have a few schools you want to try for, make a list of the tasks required to complete each application for each school and work on these a section at a time. Make sure that you ask for the things that need to come from your school (school report/transcripts and teacher recommendations) as soon as you know where and how these are to be sent to each school as soon as you can. Once you get the parts that others have to do for you arranged you can focus on your parts of the application.
NorthernMom61 has given you good advice. What schools are within relatively easy driving distance that you can afford and are within reach academically? It doesn’t have to be a highly selective school for it to have a good teacher training program.
I would also suggest that you consider slowing down your college experience to accommodate your ADD and anxiety - there are no prizes for finishing in 4 years instead of 5 and taking a lighter load with the attendant reduction in stress. Especially consider a reduced load in freshman year, when you already have a lot to cope with. It will cost your family a bit more (unless you have some AP credits?), but if you can afford it, this could increase your certainty of completing the degree and you will be much happier, especially around exam time, if you aren’t being pushed to your limit.
One of the most important things for an education major, is to study in the state where they plan to begin their teaching career. So, it you want to work in your home state, ask the teachers you know where they got their degrees. Since you are interested in kindergarten, elementary, and special ed, then sit down with a couple of kindergarten teachers, some upper-elementary teachers, and someone who teaches special ed in an elementary school, and get a list of places that offer good programs for each of those specializations.
Then when you are looking at the various programs, find out how soon the students get into school classrooms. In a good program, you will be at least observing during your first education class, and possibly assisting teachers by the second or third one. You should expect to log many hours in classrooms before you do your student teaching.