Need help - do we disclose or not

Applying to College
1

My D’s stats are:
Caucasian, private school, MA resident
School does not rank, but she is #2

Don’t know her exact GPA, but grades are all A+, A and A-. Courses are Honors and AP as much as is available. Next year (senior) she will be taking AP Calc BC, AP Eng Lang & Lit, AP Spanish V, French III, US History (the only non honors or AP), Honors Anatomy & Physiology (1 semester), and Communications (1 semester).

SAT I: Reading 710, Math 720, Writing 650 (73 mc, 5 essay)
SAT II: Bio 720, Math II 700, Spanish 740
AP Eng Lang & Comp: 4

ECs: (plus a few other minor things)
Theatre (cast & crew) for 10 years
Singers (chorus by audition)
Varsity Lacrosse (9,10,11, 12)
Varsity Field Hockey (9, 10, & 12)
SANE (Students Against Nature’s Exploitation) (9,10,11,12, pres. 12)
Language tutor - French & Spanish
Math tutor
As Schools Match Wits - academic competition team: (11,12)
Mathletes - (11,12)
Sunday School teacher (9,10,11,12)
JSA (Junior Statesman of America) (10,11, 12?)
Hospital Volunteer (1 summer - 100 hours)

Awards: Cum Laude Society (11,12), Mt. Holyoke Book Award, Level 4 National Spanish exam – 7th place in MA, French National Exam Level 2 – 5th place nationally (others previous years). Mass Mutual Academic Achiever (10, 11, 12)

D has ADD and OCD. She does not and has never received any accomodations at school. Her standardized test scores are really effected by this and do not reflect her true ability because she is never able to finish. Also, her writing skills are excellent, but not on standardized tests (time again).

She is looking at LACs in the northeast: Middlebury, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Mt. Holyoke and quite a number of others (has yet to finalize list). She also is very interested in Dartmouth.

My question is: should we be upfront about her ADD and OCD? Would this help or hurt her chances of acceptance? She does not need accomodations and the purpose of disclosing would mainly be to explain her test scores. Also she is somewhat awkward socially and I’m not sure how she comes off in an interview. Her meds have helped her control everything and her problems now are really just disorganization and some things take her longer because she gets distracted sometimes. Would schools look at this as – look how much she is able to accomplish with these obstacles? – or we don’t want to take a chance on her?

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<p>I think her scores don't have to be explained because they are quite good and compatible with these schools. If it was my kid with this profile, I would go ahead and have her explain it on one of the smaller 'Additiional Information' sections. But you need not worry that there is a question of taking a chance. She has clearly proved herself capable already, so no issue of taking a chance here. She might want to be just a little mindful of considering how she would come across as contributing to the community, but not overly much.</p>

<p>Her academic and stats are a bit better than my pvt school dd's with similar challenging class mix, and scores tiny less but not significant and she had very good results at similarly selective schools and is going to Brown. She had a hook, though, and it's hard to say how much this weighed, but probably quite a bit.</p>

<p>Anyway, your choice to mention or not. If it leaned any direcion, I think it leans the side of kudos to her accomplishments.</p>

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<p>Other than Dartmouth, her scores are in range for these schools and I wouldn't mention issues unless you think they will be mentioned in the school report.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input. I have been obsessing about this -- partly because she doesn't have a hook.</p>

5

<p>Your first post. Welcome to cc.</p>

<p>I'm just a junior mom, but it is my rookie opinion that:</p>

<p>unless 1) your D feels the condition(s) has had a positive impact on her growth and enlightenment (and therefore she could write a great app essay based on it) or 2) there's a box to check for that or 3) a senior cc member (with bloody fingertips) comes up with stats showing it works to your advantage as an admission "tip" factor or 4) you could get a lot of scholarship money due to it</p>

<p>No reason to disclose.</p>

<p>Your daughter is awesome. IMVeryHO those schools are realistic reaches for her. Don’t spend another dime or spec of energy on the testing thing. Her scores are great. Her record speaks. She needs to articulate her awesomeness in her essay. (check out carolyn’s webpage <a href="http://www.admissionsadvice.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.admissionsadvice.com&lt;/a> for insightful and concise essay advice). Help your D work it. In the process she will process just how awesome she is. And then guess what. No matter where she is, she will thrive.</p>

<p>And above all else. She needs to fall in love with a safety. </p>

<p>Enjoy the ride!</p>

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<p>Thanks, YoMama. We are working on helping her find a safety that she really loves. I read the post from Momrath about safeties and felt it was very good advice. </p>

<p>D also is starting to work on her essay and hasn't come up with anything yet. We'll check out carolyn's webpage.</p>

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<p>(I just realized after I hit Post that maybe it's against the rules to post with link? If so, I apologize for my lapse. I think we are supposed to point to profile right?<br>
Anyway sorry.)</p>

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<p>My daughter had similar statistics, and is also ADD. She also has ADHD, has difficulty concentrating, and is also awkward socially.</p>

<p>She wrote good applications, with good essays, and got excellent recommendations. She was accepted in all of her safety/match schools. She did not interview at any of the schools to which she was accepted. She did not get accepted to her reach schools, and she did interview at these schools. </p>

<p>I never thought about this until I wrote the paragraph above, but perhaps she should not have interviewed at her reach schools. I thought interviews would help her, but she does have social issues, and perhaps the interviews hurt her. But no matter.</p>

<p>I believe that the school which she plans on attending would be considered a reach for most students, a top 15 USN university.</p>

<p>Your daughter will be fine. Just make sure that she applies to some safeties that she would be happy to attend (good advice for everyone). We were not married to any of the schools to which my daughter applied, and she would have been happy at any of her choices.</p>

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<p>momobsessed, my opinion is purely emotional; I have no direct experience with ADD or OCC, but I'd say disclose. Your daughter has remarkable achievements. I would think the colleges would like to know the obstacles that she has overcome. Maybe her guidance counselor could mention it in his/her recommendation. Also, her English or other humanities teachers should stress that she is a fine writer despite her test results in that area. If the adcoms see it as a problem, it's better to know upfront rather than later when it really may be.</p>

<p>I'd also recommend that she take a look at Williams because of what it offers in theater, music, nature and athletics. Her scores are a bit on the lowside, but her profile is so right otherwise. They don't interview so that won't be an issue. It's also a very friendly and nurturing environment.</p>

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<p>LooseCannon, thanks - it is good to hear from someone who has been there. From the sound of it, you didn't disclose her ADHD to explain the social awkwardness(?)</p>

<p>I was wondering the same thing about the interviewing. Our D has had 3 so far (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby) and its hard to know if they hurt or helped. But if a school strongly recommmends interviewing, I think we have no choice because otherwise it might count against her. She has not, nor have we, mentioned her ADD or OCD.</p>

<p>So far we have looked at about 14 schools (although not any real safeties) and she is pretty much happy with all of them -- part of this is her indecisiveness -- but I am hoping that will mean she will be happy wherever she is accepted.</p>

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<p>momrath, thanks for your insight. I have read many of your posts and appreciate opinion and viewpoint. I was leaning towards having her disclose for the reason you mentioned -- she has overcome some very big obtacles to achieve as much as she has and be involved in so much. Also it would explain her low scores. But its hard to know if that's the best thing to do, so of course I keep stressing over it.</p>

<p>Actually, she did look at Williams (last summer) and liked it. I didn't list it because there were too many to list. They're having a special program for prospective students on August 5th which we will probably attend. Not the best time to look, as they will be rolling out the red carpet -- however, they're having sample classes which should be interesting.</p>

<p>My concern is also that she has too many reaches or matches on her list and not enough safeties. So, we're trying to add some safeties -- looking at F & M, Dickinson, and Skidmore. She's interested in majoring in Biology (not premed) and foreign languages.</p>

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<p>If she's willing to look outside the northeast, Carleton, Macalester, Grinnell, Kenyon, Oberlin might give her safteties especially since they draw fewer students from the NE. I realize having her further away might be a little scary but one of the things that impressed both my S, junior at Grinnell, and my D, incoming freshman at Kenyon, about these schools is their strong sence of community.</p>

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<p>SRMom3 - we thought about looking at some of those, but she really wants to remain closer (within 5-6 hours). And we like the idea of her being closer also. We are lucky that being in the Northeast we are so close to so many schools.</p>

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<p>I'd say disclose, since from looking at comparable test scores on this forum, your D's scores are phenomenal. Disclosing her disability could help her a lot in the admissions process.</p>

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<p>momobsessed, It's a difficult decision. Might be a good question for a professional college counselor or anonymously to an admissions rep.
At any rate, it's wonderful to have such positive response to her visits -- on all levels of selectivity. That's half the battle won.</p>

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<p>momrath, Yes, I have been thinking of asking an admissions rep, perhaps at a school she has less interest in or anonymously as you suggest might be even better. I did ask the college counselor at her school, and she was not help at all.</p>

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<p>I have Asperger's Syndrome and a low attention span on top of that (I've been suspecting that I have ADD as well but my parents refuse to get me diagnosed as they think it will be of little help). While my college application process has ended prematurely as I got into an early entrance program, I do realize the dillemma of disclosing a mental condition (Many Aspies don't think of "disorders" as actual disorders but rather as merely different ways that the brain processes information).</p>

<p>I applied to many summer programs and an early entrance program. I only got into one summer program and the early entrance program (I didn't disclose Asperger's on either application because I disclosed Asperger's on my first two summer program applications and got rejected by both. While they probably would have rejected me either way, I was really really stressed by that time). I disclosed Asperger's later for the summer program when it asked for medical information (after I got accepted). There wasn't an extreme need for me to disclose my Asperger's for most of my applications because I had decent grades and test scores, but few extra-curriculars (but there was for my first two for summer programs for reasons mentioned below). I also contacted a professor for a research project , met him face to face, and he's willing to offer me one - and I didn't disclose Asperger's. Now I'm really disinclined to disclose Asperger's for future applications to undergrad research programs and grad school - even though it has made me an extremely inefficient worker because I'm so distractable.</p>

<p>Now the thing is - even if your D has done well in high school - colleges may think that your D might still struggle in college as it's going to be a much more difficult workload + living away from home + a lot of other ways of adapting. And some college admissions people may think that people with different mental states would have greater difficulty with adapting to new situations and consequently be more reluctant to accept people with different mental states. </p>

<p>Hmm... Difficult question. I would definitely disclose a mental condition if the person has some glaring weaknesses (in my first two summer applications, I had no choice but to ask for a rec from a teacher with a class where I had mental breakdowns. And since the teacher told me he would disclose my anti-social behavior, I pretty much had no choice but to disclose Asperger's). .But if there are no glaring weaknesses, then disclosure might not help as much. Though I do understand the advantage: that a person has overcome barriers to overcome the condition. Maybe disclosing Asperger's is a different matter than disclosing OCD/ADD because people with Asperger's get frustrated and depressed more easily than others and some people may interpret Asperger's as beneficial because it makes people more focused - although my extreme distractability has prevented me from that and the transitory nature of my obsessions. One person at collegeconfidential did experience rejections from his safeties including a state school because he disclosed his Asperger's (I'll try to find a link to it).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/60036%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/60036&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In any case, I wouldn't disclose a mental condition to safeties because you don't want to take risks with them.</p>

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<p>I think I'd hedge my bets. Disclose to some, keep quiet to some. As long as you're applying to several schools your daughter likes, this may be the smartest strategy.</p>

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<p>We consulted 2 counselors (private) when my oldest with ADHD applied to college. The advice we got from both was not to disclose. There is no incentive for private colleges to work with your LD child. State schools do have a responsibility and need to accomodate, but privates don't and the assumption may well be that the student will have difficulty. Let's face it, they areaccepting and churning out high achievers,nothing in their model seeks diversity of ability, and if you start out by making excuses for lesser achievement, it's hard to think it will help.</p>

<p>My son BTW, is doing great in a very competitive major at a top UC. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Simfish and kirmum, thanks for sharing your experience. I think we will not disclose. kirmum, I think you expressed it well when you said that privates don't have any incentive to work with an LD child. We recently visited Williams for an open house and I spoke with an Admissions Director there. I figured it would be anonymous enough because the crowd was huge and my D was in a sample class and not with me. I asked the Director if they would factor in her ADD when looking at her test scores (because her other stats are good) and she unequivocably stated NO. She suggested that my D take the SATs again and hopefully raise her scores, and even suggested that she get accomodations to have more time, as apparently the colleges have no indication if a student has had accomodations. THis will probably not work for my D, as she has never had accomodations, and would probably get rejected since she has been performing well otherwise academically, if not socially). </p>

<p>More importantly I learned from that encounter the negative attitude of the Director. I got the impression that even though they are required not to discriminate, they would have doubts about my D succeeding in college. Like simfish said, they have doubts about such a student being able to deal with the academic pressures, and living away from home, new situation, etc. THere is really no incentive for them to accept such a student when there are so many qualified applicants.</p>

<p>Simfish, I am glad you were able to get accepted to an early entrance program, and I think you are right to perhaps not disclose for future research and grad school applications.</p>