My ds is a sophomore who hasn’t had a great two years academically. His GPA is about a 2.8. His weak subjects are religion (Catholic school) English and foreign language, but he does very well in math and science. He has recently been diagnosed with ADHD but doesn’t use medication. We are working with the school to see what we and they can do to help him succeed. He knows he has to improve those grades and we are hoping he can be somewhere above 3.0 by end of next year. He is taking more science and math classes that really interest him and is planning on studying with Kahn for SAT prep.
We have a short list of schools with varying selectivity in the northeast (Alfred, Clarkson, Gannon, Manhattan, University of New Haven, Wentworth, and Western New England) Wondering if there are any other options for him outside that region that we should be looking at, especially as some may of those might come off after visiting. He wants a small school (less than 5000 ideal) and is interested in mechanical or chemical engineering or industrial design. Obviously something not very selective. Anyone have any suggestions?
What state are you in? Have you checked your own state’s CC-to-StateU system? Look to see which of the CCs have formal articulation (guaranteed transfer) programs for engineering. If he wants to live on campus for all four years, many states have at least one CC with on-campus housing.
As for the newly identified LD, take another look at the public schools in your area. Often they have stronger Resources programs for students with LDs. Transferring to public school would also get him away from the religion classes that he’s not doing well in.
There are lots of colleges like SD Mines, NM Tech, Alabama and Mississippi publics, etc. that are not hard to get into. But cost may be an issue at some of them, especially if his stats are not scholarship-worthy.
Totally agree with #2 – A number of kids with LD’s do very well starting slow at community college. Even if th etotal campus population is large, class sizes are small. Check out the services for kids with ADHD. My daughter worked in the disability services office at her community college and believes the services there were better than the services available at her 2000-ish student population LAC.
The other suggestion is to look at engineering schools at universities known for strong disability services. My go-to list is the schools for students with strong learning support for LD’s on the College Transitions Dataverse website. (Can’t post link because there’s also a blog on the site so they don’t allow it here.) Some of the schools on the list look selective, but talk to learning services before you scratch them off the list. They may have different admissions requirements for those who are coming to enroll in their learning support program.
I would also try to stay somewhat close to home, in case there is a need to intervene. Sometimes it is a struggle to get college students to use the supports they need. A lot of self-advocacy is required, and if that doesn’t happen, parent support can sometimes help.
Get him on a formal IEP or ADA 504 program, then he can take any standardized test untimed, without of course the colleges knowing and gets some services at school. The advice to use the support/disability offices is a good one, he may need these services at the local CC or any 4-year and they can ensure he be allowed to take untimed tests in college, which will help, especially in non-stem classes. Many professors or teaching assistants can also provide extra help. As others have posted, I would not venture too far from home, but if you want to consider something small and techy, Rose Hulman in Indiana is good. Good luck.
Thank you all so much. Great information here. @Larkin29 he does not want any 3:2 programs but thank you for responding. @ucbalumnus not sure about costs yet. We are okay with our EFC now (our daughter is heading to college this fall) If that stays the same, we should be okay. I’ll run NPCs at all before applying. @happymomof1@cfsnowy@Erin’s Dad he really wants a small school. We are in CT and I did notice in @AroundHere’s link that UConn is one of the schools listed on that site, so maybe we will take another look there. It’s literally in our backyard. The dataverse website is a great resource–thank you!
We will take a look at Shippensburg, Michigan Tech, Pitt-Johnstown-thank you for those suggestions.
@theloniusmonk we are definitely looking at other options for school next year. Our public is tiny (40 kids per class) and the offerings are very slim. It’s also not ranked great. That is why we sent him to the local Catholic. They do not have to provide accommodations because they are private, but they are willing to do what they can. Rose Hulman looks great but pretty certain it’s out of reach for my son.
Glad the list was helpful. Even if you don’t go to one of the schools on the list, clicking on all the links will give you a good feel for what a strong learning support office looks like.