My son has an Asperger’s-type profile. He is academically capable of good work as long as he has access to some academic support and (ideally) smaller classes. He has successfully gone away to many overnight programs over the years–including one on a college campus–but they have all been small and nurturing. I wish he would consider doing a gap year program to allow for some more social-emotional growth. However, he is set on going straight to college. Any specific recommendations, especially within the Northeast? I am ideally looking for a place with accessible academic support, other quirky kids and a welcoming enough atmosphere that would make it hard for him to get lost in the shuffle. Specific supports for autism would be great. He enjoys theater and says he is interested in majoring in marketing (TBD.) His grades are pretty good but not to the level of the most competitive colleges.
I would also be interested in hearing about gap year programs that worked well for others, in case my son comes around to this idea.
My son also has Asperger’s. We are seriously considering Ursinus College since it is small and seems to have very supportive students and faculty. My son definitely needs to mature a bit but I don’t think a gap year will really help. We will travel to PA for a second look and tour of the Ursinus campus this Saturday. We just toured Rutgers today and even though it has a support program for students with HFA we felt that it was just too large for him.
We would need more info to help narrow things down, what colleges are affordable, the type of schools you’re thinking, northeast is pretty broad, are you looking at LACs because of the smaller classes and support, quirkiness? Anyway Princeton Review has a good book on colleges for kids with learning differences, not sure I can link it here, but google those terms and you’ll get the link to it.
McDaniel College has very strong disability services for people with learning differences through its SASS Office. (SASS = Student Academic Support Services.) There are different levels of service available depending upon the student’s needs.
One other cool thing that McDaniel does is that it has a special early orientation for SASS students called Step Ahead. I think it’s nice for students in this population to be able to move in early, get acclimated, and get to start forming bonds before regular orientation starts.
Thanks so much for the idea. Theloniusmonk, to answer your questions: I am not especially focused on cost since I know–from when my daughter applied–that it is hard to predict how things will go with financial and merit aid. I am willing to look at schools in all price ranges. I think a liberal arts college would be ideal since my son is somewhat uncertain of what he wants to study. As for location, we would love to see our son within 4 hours of home (Boston area), but the more important thing is finding a good fit. Hope this helps!
His grades are pretty good but not to the level of the most competitive colleges.