To tell or not to tell, that is the question

<p>I would like to hear from anyone that would have any information on how Colleges look upon a student applying and lets them know about the Disability of ADHD? Also, providing optional information on ACT and SAT profiles regarding the disablility. Could it help or hurt the chances of acceptance? If a student has a good gpa but poor test scores and has also taken a rigorous high school curriculum such as AP, Honors and some Dual Enrollment courses all while having ADHD but wasn't diagnosed until the Senior year of high school. </p>

<p>Do we tell or not?</p>

<p>Every student is different, but in your case, I’d say, “Don’t tell.” </p>

<p>My D has been on an IEP for years and I’m debating it. My biggest concern is how our high school is going to explain why they waived her foreign language requirement. </p>

<p>The only reason I can can see to divulge a disability is if the student wants to continue receiving services in college. I don’t think many schools would lower their admission standards because of a disability, if that’s what you’re asking.</p>

<p>No not lower their admission standards but as part of keeping up with the trend of “a very diverse student population.” I have been told by the high school official that handles these types of issues that my d is “an over-achiever” based on the type of curriculum she takes and knows her time and effort towards maintaining the GPA is much much much more than another student on the same track.</p>

<p>Why don’t you post again and rephrase your question? Ask if others think that ADHD or learning disabilities could be viewed as diversity by admissions. Or you could ask if it would be a benefit if that high school official wrote a recommendation letter stating his/her feelings about your d’s effort if that’s something you’re considering.</p>

<p>You raise a very difficult question. </p>

<p>My personal theory on this is that you should only reveal an LD under very limited circumstances. In terms of colleges seeking diversity through accepting LD students, or thinking it’s even more meaningful that a partiular student has done so well despite an LD – I don’t think so. I think it is much more likely that the diagnosis will worry the college and that it could be stigmatizing. </p>

<p>In terms of revealing because you want to continue to receive services in college – No. You do not have to reveal during the admissions process in order to avail yourself of services once accepted. The process of receiving college-based services starts when the student walks into the support office, finds out what documentation is needed, provides the documentation, and is then granted the needed services or accommodations. (My kid did not reveal and has been receiving excellent services since freshman year from a support office that didn’t blink when he showed up on their doorstep.)</p>

<p>My thought is that you only reveal when there is a clear upside to doing so. For example, let’s say the kid had a very rocky sophomore year before being tested and diagnosed and receiving services and learning to adapt, after which the kid’s academic performance improved. The kid’s GPA is brought down by the pre-diagnosis, pre-treatment and accommodation period. In this situation, I’d have the GC explain, very briefly, emphasizing the kid’s motivation and current ability to function at the level the college is looking for. I would also reveal if the ETS denied accommodation on SAT’s, particularly if this is a kid who has done very well with accommodations for many years, has had the same diagnosis and needs for many years, and the ETS pulled its ever popular “we don’t have to accommodate if the kid can do average work at the national average without accommodation no matter how severe the LD” thing. Again, in this case I think I’d have the kid’s testing psychologist as well as the school explain that the unaccommodated SAT’s do not demonstrate the kid’s actual ability and knowledge – as reflected by the kid’s grades and rank in the high school. (I would also call a lawyer, but that is another topic.) </p>

<p>If you are fortunate enough to have a kid like the OP’s who has been able to do well in advanced classes without accommodation, but standardized test scores are a problem, there’s a dilemma. I’m not sure what I’d do. (I don’t suppose your kid is interested in any of the increasing number of SAT optional schools, is he?)</p>

<p>In terms of how colleges look upon LD students in the applicant pool, just remember that the reason the ETS lost in federal court and is no longer allowed to earmark exams given with accommodation is, at least in part, that the court was convinced that earmarking the exams was stigmatizing and a disadvantage to the LD students who were seeking admission.</p>

<p>I was given the impression from my daughter’s guidance counselor that she is going to reveal my daughter’s ADHD and that she thinks it is a “myth” that colleges shouldn’t be told in advance of admissions. I didn’t even know it was legal for Counselors to reveal it. Everything I’ve read says to reveal it after admitted but before enrollment. I have serious doubts revealing it would in any way help her application and don’t understand why her GC thinks its necessary. She is not in the tip top of her class but her GPA is a 3.86 and her ACT a 35 and she has taken Honor and AP classes. I think my daughter would have done better in school if she was not ADHD - she has been penalized for careless mistakes - not turning in the right work, forgetting to get things signed etc…but she has done just fine considering how much more time it takes her to finish things and how difficult it is for her to stay organized.</p>

<p>with a 3.86 GPA and a 35 ACT she would have done better? Sounds like she will have no problem…</p>

<p>Another thought that was actually presented to us: There are certain colleges (albeit lower tier than manyamile would be shooting for) that have first year fee-for-service programs that assist those with LD/ADHD…in the current economic climate, said colleges may be more amenable to accepting said students if they thought that these programs would bring in extra revenue…</p>

<p>It is NOT legal for the GC to reveal. It is not up to her. There are laws in place that guarantee your daughter’s confidentiality with respect to any sort of medical diagnosis. (The lawyer for your school district will be well aware of this.) And it doesn’t matter if this is a public or a private school. The GC is welcome to her opinion about the reasons for not revealing being a myth; she is not welcome to violate the law by acting on that opinion. You might want to chat with a lawyer or with the Dept. of Education Civil Rights Division for your region. Obviously, you don’t want to alienate the person who will be writing your D’s recommendation, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit by while she breaks the law to your daughter’s detriment.</p>

<p>And IMHO, with a 35 ACT and such a high GPA, there is nothing to be gained by revealing. Your D has the stats to be in the running for top colleges despite her LD. What is to be gained by revealing here? Moreover, if your D has a dianosis with a need for accommodations, you do not have to pay the college to meet those needs. And many, many colleges offer a wide array of support services as part of the cost of tuition.</p>

<p>I think in her heart of hearts the GC believes that ADHD extra time accommodations are an unfair advantage? … but what can you do - this person could write worse things - if I challenge her.</p>

<p>I, too, wonder what there is to gain from mentioning this. It’s not like schools are looking for LD kids to recruit - I don’t buy into them looking for diversity in this way. If mentioned at all, it would be in the context of overcoming a roadblock or to explain some weakness on the application (such as no foreign language or weak ECs).</p>

<p>That being said, DS (with an Aspergers diagnosis) did mention it in most of his essays, but was careful to say it does not define him. In his case, we felt the issue was still important enough that the college would want to know about it, with the thought that he didn’t want to go to a school which wouldn’t want him if it knew about it. If they wished to disqualify him because of it (illegal, I know, but still…), he’d be better off not going there.</p>

<p>Also, on our visits, we made it a point to talk with disability services, as their interaction with him would be an important part of his success there. So, even without it being in the application, if they could put 2 and 2 together…</p>

<p>The result? With a 3.98 GPA and 2350 SAT (w/extended time), but little in the way of ECs, he got accepted to 5 less selective schools and was waitlisted at Northwestern. He ended up at Bradley, where we were most comfortable with the disability services office. Who knows if it made a difference at Northwestern? We/he had already decided it wasn’t the best fit, and revealing through visitation helped put him in a place where he’d be more likely to be successful.</p>

<p>You would think Northwestern would have taken him - but I am so glad to hear he found so much success! I’ll research Bradley. </p>

<p>I think most parents with bright LD kids are going to choose the less stressful, less competitive environment for their kids when it comes time to commit. I would hate to have my daughter get into a super selective school and then not be able to handle the pace along with the independence. That being said, there are a few more selective schools that might be a better fit for her than smaller more traditional colleges. She will thrive having open discussions, reads and comprehends quickly and does well on big papers, projects and tests. It is the little grades for busy work and memorization assignments that hurt her now because she spends too much time on them or not enough. Her LD is such an important factor in our choice of a college that it doesn’t need to be revealed by her High school or worried about by a college. We have no intention of putting her somewhere that she can not handle.</p>

<p>Wow all of these post are so helpful. I too was thinking of not telling until necessary. My d’s GC also has offered to write a letter explaining an exception should be made for a student that has good study habits and a desire to succeed. With a late diagnosis, it is almost too late to get the Extended time for ACT and SAT. We are still dealing with the approval process. The test scores may not be there for acceptance to a college of her choice. Hence, the dilemma. Could telling help?</p>

<p>I tend to agree with the point manyamile made that parents want to put their child in a position to succeed. If your D (like my DS) has to put in extra time to keep up with the daily busywork of a class, then even if they’re succeeding in top-level courses in HS, the demands of college might overwhelm them. Not only are the academic demands greater, but time management becomes more important, and (especially for Aspergers kids) the social side of things is a challenge for most every freshman.</p>

<p>Revealing a disability to explain a shortfall such as lower than expected test scores MIGHT get them into a more selective place (though as mentioned earlier, they won’t lower admission standards). The unintended consequence is your child may then be in over their head. Finding the balance to find an appropriately challenging situation is what makes college selection so important for kids with a label.</p>

<p>If the college of your choice is less likely to accept your daughter without an explanation of the lower test scores, and you’re confident she’d succeed there, then my bias would be to reveal the ADHD diagnosis and let the chips fall where they may. That’s assuming there’s somewhere else she’s likely to be admitted on the basis of her rigorous course load, good grades, and (likely) positive GC recommendation (with or without revealing) - a good bet. As I said, though, I feel the most important aspect of choosing a college is appropriate supports, and you can’t get a good feel for that without sitting down with someone from disability services.</p>

<p>The consensus is not telling unless you have something to gain. My position is you gain a LOT by visiting, which (usually) means revealing (hmm… just had the thought of visiting under a pseudonym. Not sure I like the implications, though). You have to decide if you get more by telling the school straight up what the situation is and whether you trust the school to use that information fairly for both themselves and your child.</p>

<p>My oldest is a high iq dyslexic and dysgraphic…amazing test scores and very good (NOT straight A) grades. She decided, as we left it up to her, to reveal her dyslexia in her essay since it is such a movie of the week success story…it really is, in her case. She was accepted everywhere she applied except for one, most with merit money, where it was offered. She decided to put in the essay because, “I only want to go to a school where they know the whole story and still think I can do well there.” She believed she would be selected out at schools uninterested in working with dyslexics and that would be much, much better for her. In the end she actually made her selection based on who was the easiest to work with with dysgraphia (which requires certain technologies) and even ruled out her original first choice because the disability people didn’t return an email asking whether they thought it would be a good idea for her to take the honors program offer. So, I think it depends on where the kid is with themselves in relationship to the fact of the learning difference. D honestly sees it as an advantage in many areas and said so in her essay. Good luck to you on figuring all of it out, though. If I’d have had to choose FOR her, I don’t know what I would have said. :)</p>

<p>My son disclosed and had to because his HS path – not taking a foreign language and partial homeschooling – was chosen in part due to his dyslexia and processing speed issues. But, he had 3.98 UW GPA and 2320 SAT/35 ACT and got in to several very good schools, but was rejected at two that would likely have been bad choices (Princeton, my alma mater, and Yale). I loved Princeton but don’t think it would be a good school for dyslexic kids but was a little surprised that he didn’t get in (I’d given it a 50% probability). There are other schools to which he never applied to (e.g., Columbia with its rigid curriculum) because of the basic incompatibility.</p>

<p>If he did not need to disclose, I would have advised him not to do so. Let them accept him based upon his record and then evaluate how they would handle him.</p>

<p>I would then have done what we did – upon admission, we visited the schools that accepted him that were highest on his list and met with the heads of disability services at each. As an applicant, we got fairly generic answers at a couple of the schools we talked with, but got much more useful answers when the rubber hit the road and we could say, “I’m admitted and am deciding which school to attend. Here are my neuropsychological test reports, here are the accommodations I’ve gotten in HS, here are what I think I’ll need in college. How would you handle these issues (e.g., foreign language requirement, extended time, notetaking, …”) There were big differences in approach among the schools that I don’t think we would have learned about as easily when my son was a prospective applicant deciding whether or not to apply.</p>

<p>I too have been debating this question.</p>

<p>I had originally planned to leave the “additional information” section blank on my Common App/other apps. However, I feel that my transcript warrants an explanation.</p>

<p>9th and 10th grade, my grades were B’s with a couple of A’s scattered. In 11th grade, I had straight A’s all year. I don’t want colleges to think that I just decided to get serious about school because I knew it was time to apply to college.</p>

<p>I was diagnosed with ADHD in between 10th and 11th grade and I was put on medication starting 11th grade, which is in part why my grades were so much better. I think it would be good to mention that.</p>

<p>However, I’m also applying to top-tier schools and I’m afraid that they might see this as a “disability” or idk that they’ll see me as a liability. Which would SUCK.</p>

<p>Should I include this or not?</p>

<p>My son has an ADD diagnosis, but has a B+ average in school without an IEP or other accomodations. Should I let him fill out the paperwork and go thru the steps so he can take the SAT with extra time? If one does this, is there some sort of asterick or note next to the SAT score so colleges know the student took the SAT with an extra time accomodation??</p>

<p>^^No, they do not note that the student had extra time, but understand, from what we have been told, it is EXTREMELY difficult to get an extra time accomodation without having one in place at school…</p>

<p>I think mentioning my ADD and my dyscalculia helped my admissions. However my grades backed up that the ADD did not affect my academic performance even if it did make things more challenging for me, and it proved that the dyscalculia only affected my math and I was finished with math before coming to Umich. I think it gave me a bit of an edge to be able to say yeah, I have these disabilities, but I overcame them and am already well accustomed to overcoming obstacles other students couldn’t dream of. I spun it so I sounded like I was a harder working student for everything. However, I guess it depends on the circumstances.</p>

<p>RE: taking SAT with extra time for accomodations. I guess what I am asking is, should a student with a B+ average ( mix of regular and honors classes ) with currently no IEP plan or accomodations at school, ask for them his junior year so he can take the SAT with extra time?? We have not told the school to date, because we didn’t want our child to be 'labelled" and feared what a GC might write on an application. Are we being silly here? Should we tell the school so our kid can get the highest score he can on SAT??</p>