LD + low gpa = ok?

<p>i had a talk with my mom about my LD and how it would affect my college choices. she said i should look for colleges that are known to be helpful and accomodating to LD students, but i said i did not want to limit myself to some 50 or so colleges just based on a LD that really only affects my organization and grades. </p>

<p>she also said that top colleges may even look past my low gpa ~3.2-3.3 if i have a tested and documented LD. is this true? is there even a part of the app for this, and do colleges see the LD and lower the acceptance requirements to accomodate it or something? </p>

<p>im not trying to sneak myself into an ivy or anything, but it would help to know whether LD has any affect at all in admissions, so i can have a better idea about my reaches/matches/safeties, etc.</p>

<p>my parents seem to think i can get into some top colleges but for some reason i can just "rule out california" because im not in state. also they think that no college in california would ever be affordable or give aid at all. </p>

<p>with a 3.3 gpa (3.6 if freshman yr is not counted, for uc's) and a 31-32 on act, are there not very reasonable chances that i can get into some california state and private colleges?</p>

<p>I can't answer most of your questions, but I would suggest that private schools in California are just as likely to provide financial aid as those elsewhere. The UCs are not OOS-friendly.</p>

<p>If you are being accomodated for a learning disorder it is possible that you will not get special consideration for a relatively low (but only here on CC) gpa. Remember that the accomodation is supposed to level the playing field; to take the disability out of the equation. So if you have the appropriate accomodations the college might believe that there is no functional performance difference between your LD (but accomodated ) child and a non-disabled applicant.</p>

<p>Just saying, it's possible that college might view it as an explanation for a "low" gpa. Does that make any sense?</p>

<p>A college will not automatically "look past" a low gpa due to a learning disability; you must still meet the same eligibility requirements as other applicants. The law is that they cannot discriminate or deny admission based on a disability not that they give you preferential treatment. Schools look at many factors, not just gpa when looking at applicants and the schools most likely to "look past" a low gpa may be those 50 or so that are known to be helpful and accommodating to students with LDs. It is very important that you are clear on your priorities when selecting a college--what is more important, that you get accepted into an Ivy or that you succeed in college? I would definitely recommend that you look closely at what kinds of services each school can provide that you are applying to.</p>

<p>There is no Affirmative Action for students with disabilities, as they aren't considered URMs...</p>

<p>There is no Affirmative Action for students with disabilities, as they aren't considered URMs...they aren't sought for the PC "diversity" they provide to a campus.</p>

<p>i was never thinking they would give affirmitive action...</p>

<p>but high test scores and low gpa would normally be frowned upon...i was just wondering if the low gpa can be somewhat explained by an LD, that it wouldnt look so bad maybe.</p>

<p>My S had a lower GPA (3.5 weighted) that he'd like & than his high test scores would otherwise indicate (NMF). He & his recs explained the lower grades because he had frequent & extended absences due to chronic medical condition. He was accepted by a good # of the schools he applied to & given substantial merit aid. I think the schools may have been a bit more lenient about his lower GPA because of the explanation he & his teachers & counselor gave (don't know for sure because who ever knows that is said/done with adcoms).</p>

<p>He's very happy at the U he chose (USoCal) & fortunately hasn't missed a day of classes yet!</p>

<p>yes absolutely you should try to explain discrepancies between GPA and test scores and recs should help to do this. I believe some of us were just a little concerned from the wording of your post that you perhaps felt that all schools would you treat you the same or that you maybe thought an LD in and of itself was some sort of "hook". </p>

<p>My ld S also had a similar GPA, and SAT scores that were poles apart (580 V, 770 M; 30s on the math and science parts of ACT but only 26 on reading) and he also ended up with a good merit scholarship (at Northeastern University in Boston). And in his case, disclosing his disability did not help him get into the honors program at our state U which was the only way he would have gotten any merit aid from them, because they are so big. But because of his disability we tried to be somewhat selective of the schools we looked at and looked mostly at ones that were either closer to home, smaller in size, or are known to be better for LD students (NEU is actually none of these, but we hope he will benefit from co-op and hands-on learning). </p>

<p>I cannot say much about UCs since we were never looking in that direction and it would have been oos (and therefore never expected that they would give much aid). However, UC Berkeley has been mentioned in other posts as being a good school for students with LDs. But you obviously have a very good chance of getting into many good schools, just keep your options open.</p>

<p>I'm really fired up reading this thread. Please visit <a href="http://www.spedwatch.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.spedwatch.com&lt;/a> to understand the very real civil rights issue LDs and access are becoming. IDEA is in effect to <em>ASSURE</em> that, with accomodations, students become educated.
No college can legally turn away a student who can do the work with accommodations soley for that reason.<br>
This is the next big thing in the URM/civil rights/diversity movement and it's about time.</p>

<p>P.S. The correct URL for SpedWatch is <a href="http://www.spedwatch.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.spedwatch.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>The Princeton Review has a guide called "The K&W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities" that had lots of information on what colleges take into account- you should be able to find it at a library. It shows in detail what different colleges look for and their admissions criteria for students with LD, and what services they provide- there are hundreds of colleges in this book.</p>

<p>I'm dysgraphic and add; SAT 770m 680r 610 writing 33 act (only 26 on writing), and 3.6 gpa (weighted). I did not mention on my apps that i'm ld; although both the act and SAT listed special testing acomidation.</p>

<p>I've gotten into USC, UCSD, UCD, Santa Clara U, and CSU Sac. I agree with u for wanting to go to school in CA. the grass is greener there, the ppl r nicer, and the weather is better. good luck</p>

<p>I will finish with around a 3.9 (not counting transfer work) at my school but if I can't pull up a bad grade to a B in a class I'm in now, should I explain that my diagnosis of AS interfered with that particular class? I have A's in every other course I am taking there except for one, which was a B+.</p>