<p>If you talk about overcoming dyslexia in an excellently worded essay, you'll make those bleeding-heart leftist college admissions officers melt like butter and offer you a full scholarship to Harvard.</p>
<p>OK. That's obviously an exageration, but it certainly can't hurt to talk about your overcoming dyslexia.</p>
<p>My daughter had her own "disability" to overcome, only it wasn't dyslexia, it was multiplied handicapped, severe language and fine motor delays, sensory integrative dysfunction, etc. (well, the labels kept changing as the years went by). I put quotes around the word "disability" not because I believe the problems don't exist -- it is that they can sometimes be overcome and the word "disability" implies to me that something is permanent.</p>
<p>Anyway, all this ultimately led to her being homeschooled from 7th grade on; the school system was holding her back. Colleges always wonder why and how when they see an applicant is homeschooled. So in her personal essay, she did discuss this. It was done with humor and in an attempt to describe her entire journey. It wasn't a "pity me" sort of thing, but a "this is who I am" approach.</p>
<p>Some very selective schools admitted her (she had the stats and everything; this wasn't the issue). Some others did not. Could the essay have been the deciding factor for both sets of schools? I really don't know. I can come up with other reasons why the places who accepted her did so and the places that rejected her (Penn and Yale for pete's sake -- which reject lots of people) did that.</p>
<p>I suspect that finding a different sort of essay that really makes an applicant come through as an individual -- and writing it well -- is what matters. It isn't the fact that there was a problem that was overcome that is the important thing.</p>
<p>Of course, I say this with no proof. It is only how I would react as an ad comm member.</p>
<p>Most definitely NOT a hook.</p>
<p>One should avoid outright discussion of it unless it's relevant. For example, in discussing your h.s. academic program, if you felt you needed to explain substitution of a level one core subject for a more advanced version. ("Course A emphasizes memorization [or computation], Course B approaches the same subject from a different angle which supports my learning style. I knew Course B would be challenging in a different & more appropriate way for me.") </p>
<p>Similar if you had the option of choosing one less year of a core subject in preference to an add'l (optional) year of a diff. core subject. LD'ers often do better in in-depth courses that are more seminar style & allow for longer assignment periods combined with more creative or self-generated approaches to assignments, as opposed to broad survey courses with much memorization & details to keep straight.</p>
<p>I need to say one thing here:
If any of you are LD'ers, the most important thing in the entire wide world is honesty with <em>yourself</em>. That honesty begins with your college list. There are many colleges which will not support your needs -- & I don't mean just that they won't have good LD staff & policies in the Counseling Center, although that's imp., too.</p>
<p>I mean that there is a virtual absence of other LD'ers in certain top colleges; the expectations will be based on a norm which you will not be able to approach. There are rare exceptions to this; generally those people are, as an earlier post alludes to, Einstein-like: they are exceptionally gifted/brilliant in one particular area, & due to that, have been able to compensate unusually in a way most very-bright LD'ers cannot. Such students, yes, are sometimes admitted (including recently) to top-tier schools, including HYP.</p>
<p>Avoid like the plague any college or U known for grade deflation, esp. in the areas of math & science. Avoid also colleges with rigid demands in breadth requirements, combined with few options in those breadth requirements & gigantic class sizes in those breadth requirements. </p>
<p>So, in drawing up your college list, you should do a little more detailed research than the non-LD student.</p>
<p>If Albert Einstein were applying to college today, his hook would not be his LD. His hook would be his mind, & the product of that mind. His admission advantage over perhaps a similarly brilliant peer from a similar geographic region would be that Albert accomplished with LD as a hurdle, versus his scientific peer with no LD as a challenge.</p>
<p>I wanted to add that I agree with DianeR, & that her D's positive college results prove that one can use the subject of a disability to one's advantage, in the right context. There are have been other posts & threads about this, including in PF (how to discuss it within an essay, & whether to discuss it). Of course, that's slightly diff. than the question on the thread, which is, Whether it's a Hook. But again, if your essay showed that your LD has strengthened you as a human being by yielding insight, humor, tolerance, self-awareness, & a sense of triumph, than those resulting Positives will be seen as the (character) hooks, not the fact that you have LD.</p>
<p>I should say that I have another qualification to add:
There are a handful of colleges/U's that have an open, upfront attitude about LD's in their school (& support for them), & about LD's in admission. You can use various search tools to locate those college names, & they are also listed in certain admission guide books. For those colleges, it would not necessarily be that LD is a "hook," as much as LD not being a Negative. As an applicant, it gives you a certain freedom to mention it if you feel that the mention is relevant or important as an explanation for something. That is as opposed to many colleges for which you might feel inclined to hide or over-apologize for something out of your control.</p>
<p>Theoretically, that list might include NYU Gallatin, which attracts LD'ers due to the heavy individualization of its program. (Since it's predictable that a certain critical mass of LD'ers will be among its applicants, it wouldn't be necessary to hide one's condition.) Whether Gallatin is successful in its approach to LD'ers once they arrive there, is another question. I have no knowledge of how those students do there, whether they're supported, whether the program there is really good for them. I similarly wonder whether Brown, with its liberal program options, attracts more LD'ers as applicants than other competitive U's, for example. But keep in mind that LD'ers often need <em>more</em> structure, not less, even though they need flexibility within the structure. They certainly need tracking, guidance, intervention. And I don't know how Gallatin & Brown do in that regard.</p>
<p>This goes back to honesty. Think about this. If you were in a chair, would you apply to College X if it had few ramps, few elevators, just to prove that you could handle it? You could, of course. But an admission result will be a dubious prize if you cannot function optimally once admitted. I mean "you" generically, not addressed to any poster.</p>
<p>The huge & important difference between LD as a disability & ANY physical disability or difference -- is that LD pertains to the intellect & that academia is an intellectual realm. That makes it harder to come to terms with on a personal level. People have no trouble understanding that Stephen Hawkings has a brilliant mind, or that Stevie Wonder is a brilliant artist, because the realms of their affliction are separate from the realms of their achievement. </p>
<p>LD is not about how bright you are, but "how" you are bright. So choose to apply to those colleges which will respect the different way you receive & process data, & perform intellectually. If any college really would see LD as a stand-alone hook, then by definition there would be few LD'ers there. That would probably not be a college supporting your intellectual needs, because the college would probably not be very invested in such students.</p>
<p>Again I will reiterate that it might be better to leave it up to the GC or other person writing a letter of recommendation. The admission counselors want to see you have character. When too much about the problem is emphasized, such as in an essay, it starts to become all you are known for. You don't want to appear like you are always making excuses for yourself. It's best to appear equal to or superior to others applications, and have someone discretely mention what you have overcome.</p>
<p>And I might mention that some of the character traits of some posters on page one are exactly the type of character traits that admission counselors are trying to ascertain.</p>
<p>The way I understand the OP, the dyslexia has been completely overcome and is no longer a factor in her friend's educational ability or needs.</p>
<p>Speaking of Brown, that's where my daughter ended up. She is past the accommodation stage, though. She was more attracted to the school for what she could study there and what she didn't have to study. She could manage in about anything -- she just wanted to make the choices. This ended up being one of the critical factors in selecting Brown over Chicago -- she figured in the latter, she would spend about two years studying stuff she didn't want to take. We tried to do a comprehensive, college-level core curriculum during high school.</p>
<p>Since this is the one Ivy that did accept her, I wonder if Brown does have a different sort of attitude than Yale and Penn (hiss -- reject my daughter, will ya!). I believe there is a book by two former LDers that went to Brown and made good.</p>
<p>As I mentioned, I do dislike the "disability" label though since it seems so permanent. My daughter had delays and deficits, but they got remediated. She couldn't get language the usual way; it had to be taught specifically. With M&Ms ... But the public school system wouldn't teach grammar or vocabulary past the rudimentary level, so I had to step in. They also followed constructivist pedagogical methods in the regular education classrooms she finally reached by middle school, which don't suit her. Fortunately, colleges don't use them; they just teach the material involved, so she does just fine.</p>
<p>I do wonder how many "learning disabilities" end up being a function of the way teacher's colleges insist teaching should be done. Fortunately, not many professors in college have that sort of background. OK, my personal bias about pedagogy is coming through now ... if constructivism works for you or yours, that's great. The rest of us can read Hirsch and shake our heads at the foolhardiness of it all.</p>
<p>But about everyone on CC comes from the population that can cope with constructivist methods. So I am SO not preaching to the choir on this one, I suspect. I should just shut my mouth :)</p>
<p>Can emotional disturbance be considered a learning disability? My brother had a psychological evaluation in high school that determined he was emotionally disturbed. Ever since, he has been given unlimited time to complete exams--including standardized exams.</p>
<p>Anyone can't get an 800 on SAT I math with unlimited time shouldn't be admitted to any college.</p>
<p>RCD,
I agree with your posts 26 and 27.
LD'ers who have not "overcome" their condition are still somewhat marginalized in society, and in higher & "lower" -- haha -- education. This is evident in many quarters, but also from the prejudices & misunderstandings demonstrated previously on this thread. As I favor greater awareness of the different manifestations & outcomes of LD (there are about 7 diff. kinds of dyslexia, for example), I tend to also favor freer discussion of it, but not necessarily inclusion within a college app., depending on the info being sought & the college being applied to. And for reasons you, I, others have noted.</p>
<p>Diane, I do understand what you're saying & you were right to point out the diff. between having overcome a challenge & dealing with a sustained challenge. So, sorry if I seemed to be hijacking. It's just that (1) you can bet the bank that <em>current</em> LD students who are or will be college applicants, are reading this thread; my comments tend to be more oriented toward the variety of students -- LD and non-LD-- that need guidance & info, because probably more than half of all h.s. students get insufficient info and/or bad guidance; and (2) college admissions, given how numbers-impacted it has been recently, & will be through '08 minimum, is far more oriented toward The Prize than the personal result 4 yrs. later. Nowhere is this more true than on College Confidential.</p>
<p>If a student has a challenge of any variety, a challenge that will indeed continue in college, that student would be well advised to focus on the institutions that will support that challenge or at least not present further hurdles in that same area. The reason is simple: regardless of how legally protected you are, with whatever documents, you are on your own (mostly) when you arrive on that campus. If you are not 18 on your arrival, you will be soon after that, in the vast majority of cases. You will be viewed by your college as independent & legally self-sufficient. Mom and Dad will not be there to advocate for you, & in most cases will not have intervention status.</p>
<p>And I also agree with you, Diane, on the college vs. primary approach to pedagogy. That college approach is luckily operative at my younger D's h.s. (LOL: I'm sure you can't tell that I have an LD child.) And for this reason, she has been able to compensate & achieve maximally with enormous effort & with a horrendous (non)-sleep cycle. However, keep in mind 2 things, for such students: (1) that very ability to compensate further clouds the existence of the ongoing impairment, keeping them in denial & from receiving the help they're entitled to; (2) college courses, depending on the course & level, often present fewer opportunities for grading. The fact that college might be a similar format to her h.s. does not comfort me. When, in h.s., she performs magnificently on her lab write-ups (98% vs. the 60's for her classmates), lab performance, comprehension in class, but bombs on the multiple-choice test (a nightmare style of test for someone with her variety of LD), she has the previous elements to balance her grade. High school courses <em>usually</em> are not "weighted" as much with regard to tests & finals as many college courses are.</p>
<p>As to Brown et al.:
One of the reasons that racial minorities pushed so hard for integration is that they knew how important familiarity was to the process of acceptance into full mainstreaming. They knew that a critical mass of a minority population within an environment would have the added value of educating the majority. It may be that colleges with more open, liberal curricula & configurations end up attracting more LD'ers, who thereby end up being more supported by the fact of their sheer greater numbers. (Back-dooring their entitlement.)</p>
<p>Anyway, congratulations to your daughter. Plenty of non-LD'ers choose Brown for precisely the reason your D did, of course.</p>
<p>I don't disagree with you at all, epiphany.</p>
<p>willtopower17 (a Nietzsche fan, huh?),</p>
<p>Usually emotional disturbance is not considered within the definition of "learning disabilities," even though it is a disability that affects learning. The Learning Disabilities Association of America puts it this way:</p>
<p>"A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. The disability may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations. ...</p>
<p>Learning disabilities should not be confused with learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps; of mental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantages."</p>
<p>Thank you, Diane. Yes, I am a fan of Frederick.</p>
<p>Willtopower, Emotional Disturbance is a specific category of disability separate from learning disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) outlines separate categories of disabilities such as specific learning disorder, autism, emotional disturbance, traumatic brain injury, speech/language, other health impairment, etc. Students who have an emotional disturbance that interferes with their learning can get accommodations through an IEP which is probably what your brother has in order to give him extra time. So to answer your question, yes, ED is considered a disability, but not classified as a learning disability.</p>
<p>That is exactly what he has--an IEP stating that he is emotionally disturbed and qualifies for unlimited time when taking exams, including standardized exams.</p>
<p>eulenspiegel,
your recent post contradicts your earlier ones & also sounds pretty intolerant. Unlimited time on a standardized test does not necessarily privilege an LD'er over a non-LD'er (with limited time). The former will have processing & data-separation challenges with regarding to the test content & format, no matter what, no matter the time frame. Some LD'ers will have maxed out their ability to perform on a standardized test within the normal 3-hr limit, or even within 2.5 hrs; others will need 4 hrs. to determine what they can & cannot do on the test. It varies by individual. LD'ers tend to have add'l anxiety (about time frames) beyond what many non-LD'ers have when it comes to testing. There is no evidence that accommodation or "extra" time necessarily advantages an LD'er when it comes to score result vs. non-accommodated students. Only that the "extra" time enables them to perform as well as they could. Show me an accommodated LD'er who has scored 800 on the SAT. That would be a First. They're usually lucky to score 500, whether they have 3 hrs. or 5 hrs. or 15 hrs.</p>
<p>Correlations between high school academic records (GPA & level of coursework), and standardized testing, are shaky to begin with within the non-LD student population. The difference when it comes to LD can approach absurdity. Even most colleges, including the top ones, admit the lack of correlation between SAT I scores and college work. </p>
<p>"Should not be admitted to any college" reveals amazing ignorance. However, what such students should do is definitely not enroll in programs characterized by a combination of challenge in the area of the LD'er's weakness, plus an emphasis on time deadlines & volume of production. That would be academic suicide. THat's why college choice is so important, & researching the details of the differences. Counseling dept's in some colleges offer advising as to course choice; offer tutoring; offer appropriate testing accommodation, etc. College students with an array of LD issues might want to consider spreading out their undergrad career in 5 yrs as opposed to 4. To have them "not go to college" is not what society needs or what they need. And that's aside from the fact that many of them have IQ's above 140 & are multi-talented.</p>
<p>I can tell you, I have a physical disability (a chronic illness that caused me to be bedridden throughout junior high & high school), and I wrote about it in my college app essay. In some ways, it was to explain some things - why some grades weren't in yet, and I didn't have a lot of ECs, but still had good grades in honors & AP courses. I started out by saying something along the lines of 'Most people who have spent five years of their life in one room have been kidnapped, I have spent five years of my life in one room due to chronic illness.'' or something along those lines. I got a lot of compliments on my essay, and got a full tuition scholarship to one school, which really pursued me. I went there for a year but transferred to The College of New Jersey, and just graduated cum laude from TCNJ in August. I'm now applying to post-bac premed programs. I will agree with people that if you write an essay about disability, don't use a negative/depressed tone, keep it upbeat or optimistic, even if what you went through was depressing, focus on what you learned from the experience. I focused on what I had gained from my experience. I would also point out that often applicants with a disability who had accomodations on standardized testing, such as extra time, that it will be noted in the report that the person had accomodations, and so the school will often be able to discern that the student has some kind of disability, so addressing it in the essay can be helpful. I'm applying to post-bac premed programs and wrote about it in my essay for those, and one of my letters of recommendation is from my own doctor who became my mentor, and focused on how I had overcome so much and was now trying to help others with similar problems. I'm waiting to hear from some schools but got in to Harvard Extension School Health Careers Program and Rutgers already. I know for medical school at least, one of the books of essays said many applicants write about having a family member with an illness or disability (doubt there are as many who had a disability themselves, as it's harder to get there if you have a disability, so having one yourself may make more of an impact than writing about a family member) and they say if you do it badly, it can hurt you but if you do it well, it can help and be powerful. Have a lot of people read it, and see whether the person comes across as upbeat, or negative, etc. Feel free to email me at <a href="mailto:Beth_W@ix.netcom.com">Beth_W@ix.netcom.com</a> if you want to discuss things further.</p>
<p>Beth</p>
<p>Vey nice of you, Beth.</p>
<p>I have Adhd eventhough not LD(i used to think they were the same thing now im in ad/hd and LD programs they put them in different catergories) I do admit im in to talking i dont run around like a crazy maniac... I go to a private school near my house..for kids w/ LD adhd or they just dont like to work(or theyre depressed but thats rare in r school) and i had a bad last year(horribly in math which is normal for a lot of kids w/ LD 65 average!) biology and english= 70s Global which im very good at= mid 80s... and i was exempt at my school from a language last year...this year the only thing im having trouble at my new school is spanish but here was my midterm grades:
Spanish: 95(a big shocker)
Global: 80(my best subject got the lowest m'term grade!)
English: 82
Bio: 89(took it over b/c even tho i passed i felt like i could do better and i had the chance to take it over!)
Math: 85...so obviously im doing better! my quater grades r ok im bringing them up this quater</p>
<p>I swear about 1/4 of my teachers claim to have dyslexia. The only that it came through on was my chem teacher who did problems all the way through and found she put 13 instead of 31.</p>