@Determined27 How many ACP classes is your son taking per semester? I assume that you are talking about IU’s Advance College Project classes, no?
Great to hear. He’s obviously very well organized, determined, and a pro at handling stress.
I was mistaken he is not taking ACP he is taking three College Prep courses and one AP course. While I want him to do go to a good College and we can agree NESCAC schools are I want him to be able to to play College football but also be able to thrive academically. He suffers from Processing and Language delay. Works his butt in the classroom. He seeks out help whenever he needs this and from research this kind of help is available . It is either look at these schools or D2 schools he is also being revruited by Bentley Universiy. very confusing time.
just curious why if people have direct knowledge or students are at certain schools they also dont name that school I understand confidentiality and all but would be nice for people to know which schools are better at helping students in certain areas
@determined27, I think you are focused on the right things and asking the right questions. Your son is an excellent athlete and a hard worker. He also is dealing with some LD that you are concerned, legitimately, could make college academics challenging and the goal is to have him end up where he will thrive, not struggle to survive.
I would suggest that if you have questions about support at particular schools that you post in those forums. But even better, have that discussion with the coaches and ask them to connect you with the right resources at each school. My guess is that some are better at supporting some types of differences than others. My guess is that most are probably good if you need an accommodation such as extra time on tests. I doubt than any have restrictions about taking notes on a laptop. But as the support becomes more individualized, the differences are likely to vary more from school to school.
This is also why I suggested that you understand graduation requirements. I know that some (Tufts and Colby come to mind) have foreign language requirements, so if those are going to be particularly challenging (vs simply distasteful) for your son, you may want to rule out those schools. It doesn’t sound like math would be an issue for him, but for other students, it could be.
The reality is that while the NESCAC is an athletic conference, the schools vary in lots of ways so the recon you are doing is going to be key, school by school.
1 Like
Deleted
That’s kind of you to say. However to call him “well organized” would be um, not accurate 
He also feels stress (what college student trying to get good grades doesn’t). But – despite his learning difference, he’s very bright, and that’s why he’s able to do well in college. In fact he’s doing much better at a much more demanding school (college v. high school).
That’s why I don’t believe one can generalize about college/kids w/learning differences/athletes. I agree with those saying the OP has to research the schools and figure out which are the best for his son. For example, we looked at schools with small campuses because my son struggles w/organization/the details of daily living, and the less he had to negotiate the better we thought (he’s on the Oxford campus of Emory). He applied to Colorado College b/c he and we thought that the one class at a time would be a great fit for him. (unfortunately he was denied). So you really have to tailor the search/application process to the kid.
2 Likes
One issue could be how many rigorous courses your son is taking. If the school offers 15 AP courses and he only takes one, that might cause concern at some colleges. Others have already said these schools are rigorous. He will be doing challenging courses and have a lot of work. If the school doesn’t offer many rigorous courses, his app will be considered with that in mind.
Your son should understand that if he attends a NESCAC school, he will be working really hard. I suspect his teacher recs will be very important. Colleges will look at those recs to see if they think he can handle the work.
Posters can remain anonymous if they choose. There are only 11 NESCAC schools, and you can assume that people have referred to most of them here. Also assume that all of them will be rigorous, though probably Connecticut and Trinity are a little less so. I’m guessing that possibly Williams is the most academically intense, but it’s very hard to get in.
All good points so far. I think it’s a valid concern whether or not he’s getting himself into a situation that makes his academic life too difficult and therefore miserable. I’d raise it with the coaches. If they don’t know anything about campus resources or have any experiences with similar athletes, that’s a clue that the fit might not be great.
I also wouldn’t limit myself to NESCAC for D3. There are great D3s outside of NESCAC—Carleton, Pomona, etc—and also a lot of great schools that aren’t considered ‘elite’ but can provide an outstanding student athlete experience. And the D2 options are certainly worth exploring.
One factor you might want to consider is the possibility of using summers to take courses. Some athletes do that to reduce course load in season, in particular if labs are involved. So you might explore a bit to see if a few gen Eds can be taken at a local college over the summer and credits transferred. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing it’s not a realistic option at some of the NESCACs but might be at D2s.
Great to hear. He’s obviously very well organized, determined, and a pro at handling stress.
[/quote]
Athletics can help with the organization. My daughter was always a hard worker (very slow reader so put in lots of hours) but study tables helped her become very organized. She knew her practice schedule, her class schedule, when projects were due. She didn’t have to worry about meals or chores or travel to schools and back like she did in high school. College courses were harder than high school, but she had a lot more time.
@Determined27, we don’t know your kid, so we have no idea whether he will be admitted, whether he is a good enough football player to be a recruit and whether he has the academic skills to handle a NESCAC college Are NESCAC schools academically demanding? Sure. Does that mean that they are not right for your kid? Who is to say?
Usually it is the coaches and the adcom that are to say, so I highly recommend having your son reach out to all the NESCAC coaches, but also to the range of other D3 schools that will provide a great education. A number of the NESCACs have become test optional. However, if test scores end up as you predict, it might be a tougher go at Williams, Amherst and Tufts. Some of the NESCACs may reach down to the C band for football slots, but they will expect the recruit to be an impact player. Only you and he can judge whether or not that is the case. I will say that Wesleyan has a pretty good football team of late.
The advantage of reaching out to a range of college coaches is that it helps direct the process. Coaches are not going to recruit a kid who won’t get in, and they certainly don’t want a recruit for only two years because he isn’t going to be able to do the work. Adcoms as well are fairly astute at assessing GPAs over a range of high schools. A recruit won’t pass the preread if the adcom doesn’t think it is going to work. Just put your big toe in the water and try to gauge the temperature. Best of luck.
He is taking On AP MAth I was confused and had to research he is not taking and ACP. He is taking College prep and One AP class
High Schhol goes like this second hardest school in State Coolege prep (CP) , Advanaced Prep (AP) and Honors which is honors courses
In my area, AP refers to “Advanced Placement”. Is your son taking AP Calculus now or is AP Math something different than AP Calculus?
If your son is spending a lot of time on his high school classes, and they are mostly college prep and not honors classes, I think that he would have a very difficult time with the course load at the NESCAC school I am familiar with. (Williams)
Advanced Placement we are also looking hard into the CT Schools Weslyn and Trinity. I figured the Williams and Amherst schools he would not be considered because of test scores and academic rigors. However the smaller schools like Wesleyn , Trinity , Bates , Colby , Tufts may [ossibly work but as has been explained I think that The Coaches will ultimtely be able to swade us in a direction
Tufts and Wesleyan are actually the two largest NESCAC schools.
Other schools and conferences to consider:
Dickinson and Gettysburg in the Centennial Conference
St Lawrence in the Liberty League.
An interesting option might be Wabash – all men’s college about 30 minutes from Indianapolis, Indiana – we know several students there who have flourished, and the administration is very effective explaining how the college specializes in educating college age males and can bring out the best in them. A very competitive D3 football program.
While we did look at some schools in that area my son wanted to stay 1-3 Hours away from home. I appreciate the input though.
@Determined27 I’ve just gone through the college recruiting process with my daughter, so I know this can be a very stressful experience! One of the best pieces of advice I received was to make academic factors the top priority. After all, every student-athlete is one injury away from being just a student. Your son first needs to find a school that he loves which will provide him with the right amount of academic support and challenges.
Your absolute best resource for this will be his his school guidance counselor (GC). And because you are only considering local schools, his GC should be very knowledgeable about the academic support and requirement that exist at these schools. A GC at your high school will also fully understand how rigorous his course load has been and what it has prepared him for.
But even more importantly…your son’s GC will have insight regarding your son’s specific learning challenges and strengths. That specific knowledge really will be the key to identifying the best academic matches for your son! (Posting here on CC will only give you generic answers.)
I would strongly suggest you and your son set up a meeting with his GC. If you can, also include a person from the Special Ed staff that knows his strengths and weaknesses well. Nailing down the right academic fit is critical for any student in selecting a school, but this selection seems even more important for a kid who is not a typical learner.
Once he creates a list of schools where he can be happy and thrive academically, he can narrow the list to teams that could provide the right athletic home. My daughter is a typical learner, but approaching the college recruitment process this way, helped her put her priorities into perspective. She was able to narrow a list of 27 schools down to 2 “perfect fits” and 1 “maybe.” (She’ll be attending her top choice this fall as a student athlete and is confident she’s found the perfect college for her.)
Best wishes & good luck to you and your son!
I get what you are suggesting, @LolliCoomassie , but our hs GC knew nothing about the schools that my daughter was interested in and had NO idea which schools were an athletic match or if they even offered the sport (UF does, the other publics do not). The GC didn’t even know much about the private schools academics and never made any suggestions to either of my kids about colleges, but just assume everyone will go to a public school.
We had to do all the footwork ourselves. Really, the only help we got was from D’s club coach.