U of Chicago & Mudd - Experiences?

<p>Does anyone have experience trying to get disability accommodations at these schools: University of Chicago & Harvey Mudd? I have posted on their forums, but response has been light to none, so thought someone out here might have experience. My D has been accepted to both, and is weighing her decision. She has a non-verbal learning disability first observed in testing in second grade, then fully diagnosed in 9th grade. She had been a good student before that, but took off like a rocket once she got appropriate accommodations for her disability.</p>

<p>Her accommodations include extra time on tests in math or sciences that are math-intensive, either extra "white space" between problems on test or at least extra scratch paper during the test, and using a laptop for note taking (which wasn't really an accommodation at her high school, as they all had school-issued laptops and were expected to use them in that way). She is thinking about a Physics major, although epidemiology also calls...</p>

<p>My questions aren't about how to request the accommodations (found those websites). But more about the culture around this at U of C and Mudd. Does anyone have any personal experience with this (student or parent)? Were needed (and previously used) accommodations granted without a huge hassle? Both say on their website that the testing has to have taken place in the last 3 years -- hers is four years old, are we going to have to spend another thousand on testing again? (Yes, I know the disabilities office will ultimately have to tell us, just wondering if anyone else bumped into this.) When you/your student needed to use the accommodations (say, in a physics class), were the professors professional and okay with dealing with this?</p>

<p>She is also in at Swarthmore, and I got a couple of great responses from a parent and a student with LDs there, really put my mind at ease. But not so sure about these other two... any help would be great! I will be calling their offices this week, but was hoping to find some personal experience. We were at accepted students days at Chicago this week and I asked an admissions guy about the disabilities office (thinking about stopping in) -- first he said something about talking to the housing people. When I explained I meant a learning disabiity, he said, "Well, there isn't really an 'office', I think there is a person, and it is probably best to reach them by phone." He seemed a little baffled, which I do not take as a good sign. I mean... this is a campus with 5,000 undergrads, and I suspect a good number of them are 2E.</p>

<p>I sent you a PM a couple days ago - did you get it?</p>

<p>Yes, thanks, and it was helpful! I can’t reply to PMs yet, not enough posts. I am hoping to find a few more people, especially with learning disabilities. Just thought someone out on this forum might have had some other experiences.</p>

<p>Have you yourself had frank discussions with Student Services staff regarding your daughter’s LD disabilities, needed accomodations, and likely academic concerns? I’ve come to learn that Student Services staff are comfortable speaking to parents directly, and working cooperatively with student and parents to address issues. Don’t skip this step; you’ll learn a great deal about the folks who would be monitoring your daughter’s accomodations, and you want to confirm that there’s a degree of “belts and suspenders” interest in their students too. </p>

<p>I’d think that Mudd professors would be quite comfortable with quirky kids; I’m less certain about UoC professors - and I would make a point of checking into this. I’d strongly encourage going back to UoC campus and meet face-to-face with Student Services folks, given the odd answer admissions gave you. I won’t assume that there’s a number of “twice-gifted” students at UoC.</p>

<p>To get accommodations, usually a student needs to apply at Student Services for requested accommodations, including submittal of all required paperwork and educational evaluation reports, and THEN receiving approval for accomodation, which is THEN conveyed to professor, sometimes by SS and sometimes by student delivering SS paperwork to professor directly. I’d strongly recommend understanding individual school’s procedural requirements BEFORE committing to that school, and submitting all request-paperwork PRIOR TO first semester arrival if at all possible.</p>

<p>I did stop in at Mudd and chat with someone in the Dean’s office about it (they are the ones to talk to there). They said her accommodations are reasonable to request, and we should submit her 9th grade test results. They explained the process for getting accommodations and how it works with professors, and it does sound like there are other kids there getting similar ones. So I am feeling fairly comfortable about that. Will also try to do that at her last school visit later this week.</p>

<p>I can’t go back to U of C for a face to face meeting this month; the experience I had with admissions happened at her accepted students visit last week. And it is a plane flight away. I am going to call the disabilities “person” and talk to them on the phone (found U of C’s website in spite of admissions’ ignorance). And this was not a student, but an admissions staff member I was talking to who didn’t know anything about it. I still think there are a lot of 2E students there (historically “quirky” but briliant has defined U of C), but also possibly a culture where they are expected to just “figure it out” (and struggle a lot) without much support from the school. And even if the school does have a process, I suspect there are a lot of profs who may not want to follow it and may look down on kids who request them.</p>

<p>I’m very familiar w/UoC, and know both students and alumni. I wouldn’t term UoC students as “quirky” in the autistic spectrum sense of the word, but rather as “quirky” as in “unusual esoteric interests” and “not a stereotypic party-hard student, but rather a focussed student with strong study skills and intellectual inclinations”.</p>

<p>I’d also not expect UoC professors to be empathetic towards a special needs student.</p>

<p>I’ve had several long conversations myself with Student Services staff members concerning our DS prior to applications, because I wanted to confirm “good fit” as well as a “commitment to advocate for SS students”. Be sure to confirm what UoC offers to special needs students, how difficult it is to obtain approval for accommodations, whether those students tend to graduate on-time, transfer out, etc… and how receptive professors are to the accommodations you expect to request. If you hear hesitation or a relative lack of familiarity or advocacy, be concerned.</p>

<p>I also made sure to privately talk with several professors during each college visit, outside of DS’ presence, to determine acceptance-level for “special needs” students like our DS. Many schools are quite welcoming, but I wouldn’t simply expect that at every school it’s so. STEM schools have a reputation for being particularly welcoming.</p>

<p>im a curious parent of a child who has been diagnosed with adhd. although he is only in his sophmore year, we are discussing our options as to whether or not he wants to disclose his disability on the applications he will submit.</p>

<p>i would just like to know, if when you applied, did you fully disclose the disability? or did you choose not to mention it and are just planning on getting resources when they start school?</p>

<p>we are just so struggling with whether or not we should disclose. there are so many mixed messages/info out there…i wish someone could just tell me straight up.</p>