<p>I have posted about my daughter's situation before, but I really could use more input. She is a junior and has been having a very tough year due to a mental health disability. She was on homebound instruction and we have to make some decisions now that will affect college. She started the year with 3 AP classes, but has had all of them removed. She could finish junior year with a light load of classes, possibly only taking 3 classes for 1st semester (she has not finished the homebound classes yet) and maybe 4 for 2nd. She started the year with 7 classes for each. She will, at most, have only 1 honors class and no AP classes. Sophomore year she had 1 AP, 5 honors and 1 regular class. She is grade accelerated and could possibly medically withdraw from the year and repeat junior year next year and graduate a year later. Prior to this, she was in the top 3% of her class. She is not interested in elite colleges, but is interested in some of the colleges listed as colleges that change lives. Any input on a light load versus repeating the year and how colleges might view these options would be appreciated. Thank you.</p>
<p>Sorry you've both had such a difficult year. Is your d willing to repeat 11th grade? This sounds as if it might be best, if she's hoping to report a rigorous curriculum when she does her college applications. Either way, she'll present an unusual situation that will require additional explanation.</p>
<p>Might you call the admissions department of some of the schools your d is interested in, and ask them how they'd see your d's situation? Anonymously, if that seems more prudent? Does your GC have an opinion on what would be best?</p>
<p>stormy, first of all, I am so sorry about your D's problems. I think that your D should do what is best for her health. If that is graduating next year and going to college or staying another year and then going, it should be what is the best decision for her. Personally, I wonder if another year to recover might be the best thing. If nothing else, could she do post secondary in what would be her 13 year in school.</p>
<p>Can you afford $2500 for professional college counseling? I think your family would benefit form professional advice regarding special needs students. Check out the national society of consultants: <a href="http://www.educationalconsulting.org%5B/url%5D">www.educationalconsulting.org</a> to see if you can locate a counselor in your area. Make sure that person has a bunch of special needs success stories.</p>
<p>To go one further than cheers, there are some colleges around that deal with special needs situations. In Rochester for example there is the NTID (national technical institute for the deaf) at Rochester Institute of Technology. It's the only one that I know of and it's isn't your Daughters specific issue but perhaps there is someone there that could offer some comments to you regarding special needs in general.</p>
<p>I actually wouldn't recommend talking to people at NTID. Because Deafness is not a mental health condition I don't think they would have any useful information for you.</p>
<p>As you have mentioned that your D was grade accelerated, and then this year has had to make some tough decisions to step back a bit, I applaud the fact that you are supporting D. It is not easy to give oneself permission to step back-and breathe. Sometimes the highly gifted need a chance to know they are loved for who they are and not what they achieve. Based on your Ds list of colleges, do the stats of the accepted applicants allow for the less rigorous courseload? If so, does your D want to finish HS w/her current class, or does she prefer to repeat her Jr. year? What is her preference?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the replies so far. My daughter actually suggested repeating the year. We had a tough meeting with her dean and principal where she was told it would be taking the easy way out to repeat the year, so now she isn't sure. They think her priorities should be to attend school and get a diploma. And they are upset that she is concerned about GPA and getting into college. They are not being supportive at this time. She is most interested in Trinity University in TX and I don't know if they would allow for a less rigorous courseload. Thanks again.</p>
<p>nothing has been more valuable in my college source than a listening ear in the admissions office. it took me awhile to believe this, but admissions committees are people too. call trinity and explain your daughter's situation as frankly as possible. they won't be able to give you a definitive answer, but would be able to shed some light on the admissions process that could help your family decide what is best for your case. best of luck!</p>
<p>Oh gosh. College is number maybe 10 at this point on her list of what matters. Frankly if she just rode amusement park bumper cars that would be OK if it made her feel better. </p>
<p>What kind of mental health issues?</p>
<p>Listen to your heart. You know your daugher best, better then the principle, and if you think that repeating a year would be best for her, then that is what she should do. Especially as she is has proved before her illness that she is a highly capable student. . Heck , many of the prep schools kids do just that, repeat the 9th grade in order to be able to fit more advanced and AP classes onto their transcript. What colleges want to see is the ability to overcome bad grades, and if her GPA goes back up during her [second] Jr and Sr years, it will be in her favor.</p>
<p>"What kind of mental health issues?"</p>
<p>Alumother: Bipolar Disorder</p>
<p>Stormy, my older son (age 21) has had a very bumpy road since he was diagnosed with mental health issues in the spring of his senior year of high school. He was a solid "B" college prep track student, not in AP's or Honors classes like your daughter. He has had constant professional help since that time. He started in college in the Fall of 2004 but withdrew within a couple months to come home as he was not able to cope with the academic pressures and sudden lack of structure that being away at college (and being responsible for yourself) entails. After two years at home, he went back to school this past fall. He is enrolled at a public university which has a well developed program that gives academic accomodations to students with documented psychiatric and ADHD disabilities. He also regularly sees a psychiatrist and social worker/counselor on campus and has advisors in the Dean's office and Access Disabilities office. Even with all this extra time to "get ready" for college, a reduced courseload and a support team in place on campus, he is not succeeding in school and will most likely have to withdraw at the end of this term. He had extensive additional psychological and academic testing over Christmas break which all point to the fact that he is extremely bright but is pulled down academically by his conditions which still are not adequately addressed by counseling and medication. </p>
<p>My reason for mentioning my son's situation is that I just want you think first about your daughters's individual situation and be sure she is ready for college. And if she is, be sure that she has all her help resources lined up at the school she will attend. She will need them. I would have done things differently with my son back in 2004 and not felt so compelled to send him off to school. All his school life he had been preparing to go to college. When things went downhill for him in his senior year we did not really stop to consider that this plan had to be modified. It is really hard because all his friends were going away to school so he felt he should also. As a parent, it is something you want so much for your child. There are no easy answers but just take this process slow and with much care. And listen to the professionals who care for her. If they have misgivings about her ability to go off to school when she graduates, as hard as it is, listen to them. It is really hard to face my son's disappointment that he has "failed again". I will work hard to help him get the professional help and support he needs to succeed in his life and someday, perhaps, go back to college. As a parent, it is the least I can do for him. </p>
<p>I wish you and your daughter well as you work through things.</p>
<p>I am sure you agree that your daughter's medical issues are far more important than anything related to college several years down the road. All decisions should be made with this in mind and in consultation with her treating physician.</p>
<p>I have first hand experience with the consequences of mental instability with a brother being bi-polar.</p>
<p>If class scheduling is in any way contributing to her anxiety or treatment do whatever is necessary that will help. I can offer no other specific advice than that.</p>
<p>All the best to her and your family.</p>
<p>original, I do agree that her health is most important. My daughter, though, is stressing about college. If she continued in a normal path, she would be applying next year. I like the idea of her repeating junior year, as she really hasn't gotten to do it. It was the principal who gave us trouble about this. It is hard to tell a teen not to worry about college when doing well has been her focus for many years.</p>
<p>I'm a psychologist who has worked with people with bi-polar disorder, both on an inpatient and outpatient basis. In some ways, it's better that the condition has emerged while she's still at home rather than on a distant college campus. Your daughter needs to know she has all the time she needs to achieve stability and finish high school. Her dean and principal are obviously ignorant about this condition. She might be better off in a school where the administration is more interested in her well-being. Repeating a year sounds like a great option in her case and she shows more insight than her school's administrators to be considering it.</p>
<p>For some people, the first medication they try is quite successful in helping them achieve stability. For others it can take a lot of tinkering, mixing of medications etc. to get to a more stable place. The changes that happen during adolescence can add to the challenge of achioeving stability. The absolute LAST thing your daughter needs is pressure.</p>
<p>I think she's wise to be looking at CTCL kinds of schools for the future. Many of them seem to be particularly nurturing and supportive places. If there's a good one close to home, all the better.</p>
<p>But the focus for now should not be college, imo, but finding a stable place emotionally and trying to maintain that. Best wishes. Keep getting the support you need as well. This is as tough on family members as it is on the person with the disorder.</p>
<p>Please excuse me if I tell kind of a scary story from my past about why young women should maybe be kept close to home with bipolar disorder.</p>
<p>My best friend in high school, beautiful, spirited, charming, developed bipolar disorder somewhere in her last year of college. She came to New York where I was living when she graduated. Her family had a lot of resources, they rented her a beautiful apartment on the East Side.</p>
<p>Living alone in Manhattan was just too much for her. She stopped taking her medication. A few months later I got a call from her dad in California, telling me to please go to her apartment and stay there until he arrived. </p>
<p>She was in the middle of a manic episode, and had invited a homeless man to come live with her, and said she was going to marry him.</p>
<p>Well, the dad arrived and took her home.</p>
<p>However, 10 years later she died of AIDS. Contracted possibly from the manic liason.</p>
<p>I realize that this is a weird and extreme story. It is true however. I am not remotely saying that this might happen to your daughter. Only that until she has had the time to come to understand both her disease - which will most likely be quite manageable in time - and the pressures of life away from home, I wouldn't rush toward college.</p>
<p>Thank you for everyone's input. I think, after talking again with my daughter, I am going to go above the principal to the district office and find out about doing another year at the high school. I think I needed the push of other people telling me it isn't a bad idea, like the principal indicated. Thanks also for sharing personal stories, as it is helpful to keep everything in perspective.</p>
<p>My feeling is the principal is perhaps more concerned with the graduation rate in the high school ,rather than your daughters situation.
If she has expressed a desire to "do over " junior year,
I think that should be a strong consideration.
Its my experience, that kids don't "suggest" things, until they have thought about it long and hard.
I know kids who have taken the whole year of junior year off ( in high school) and went back, because of similar issues. It made a huge difference.</p>
<p>Stormy,
Good luck to you and your daughter.
I was wondering, if the present HS administration is not so supportive, is there another school in your area your daughter could transfer to?
And has your daughter considered the social implictions of remaining at her present school a year behind her peers? At some small schools this may be an issue.</p>
<p>I am not implying she shouldn't repeat junior year, I think that sounds ideal, I just wonder if there is an alternate location.</p>