@gallentjill Yes, it was really yucky. Parents knew the head GC and managed to make it go away. Plus, there was a lot of “cooperation” going on, 1st period Bio kids would tell 4th period Bio kids what was on the test, then the 4th period kids would cram. A big public school so teachers were overworked and not in a position to write new tests for each period of Bio etc. There was some karma, as a former student was suspended/expelled from their college when it came out that the college student was now writing high school papers for pay for juniors and seniors, and the high school students got Fs.
And yes, doing Adderall without a diagnosed need for it is like doing “speed” back when this middle aged mom was in college. Not pleasant – I’m told, really – worst I did was take too many caffeine pills and think I was having a heart attack.
I would find that very off-putting and self-righteous. An intelligent, engaged student can surely find a more creative way to highlight her accomplishments! That sounds like an immature playground taunt.
And if your child really is in an environment where many kids feel they need drugs and SAT coaches to do well, please make sure she knows that is not the norm. There are kids all over the US who get top scores and grades the old-fashioned way.
To the OP. It sounds like you are proud of your kid’s honesty and integrity. That could make for a good topic for an essay and definitely something for a teacher rec or counselor rec to comment about. But if you have to denigrate others (even if they deserve it) to raise yourself up, that’s not gonna give your kid a good look in the process.
One thing about this process, is that it is not completely fair. There will be kids with lower scores and grades than your kid, or kids who use some type of connection that may get into a school that your kid doesn’t. You just can’t control that, and it is part of this process
And where would you stop if you went down this road? My kid did it without Adderall, and he took no prep courses, and we are not wealthy, and he is first generation college, and English is not his first language, and we do not have a stable home life so he has to cook his own dinner and take care of his little sister and protect her and he may as well be homeless, etc… Experiences and advantages and hardship shape each of us.
I don’t think adcoms read applications with the presumption that kids did drugs. Writing an essay like that would be like “I did the same thing every other applicant claims to have done.”
@gallentjill A lot of kids take it for standardized tests.
I just want to say that there is no shame in getting some help studying for the SAT or ACT. Our school system had a policy of deliberately not teaching grammar. I am not exaggerating. They believe that all language should be learned “holistically.” Well, my daughter took the pre-act and I realized that she had no idea how to use basic punctuation like commas and semi-colons. We found a local person to give her a little help and her score on that section went from a 26 to a 35. She just needed a little guidance to remedy a real lack in the educational system. It was not very expensive and I don’t think any less of her for needing help. The kid who works hard to master a subject is not somehow lesser then the kid who can do it with no effort.
I don’t think Adderall actually helps people without ADHD. It just makes them feel like they are doing better. (At least, that’s what I’ve read). But I wouldn’t advise writing such things in an application unless you want to signal to the AO that you have a major chip on your shoulder.
And I agree with gallentjill about the studying. SAT review classes have been a thing for ages. I was not fortunate enough to be able to pay for them when I was in high school, but my ex husband did invest in personal tutoring for our son. At first I thought it was ridiculous, but now that his score could make him eligible for a lot of merit aid, I think it was a very good investment. And my son worked his butt off studying for the SAT. Yes, he had the benefit of a tutor, but he did all the heavy lifting. It was his butt in the seat every weekend taking a practice test, reviewing at home, and preparing for each weekly session. He earned every point of that score.
Well, there is still the social injustice of some kids being able to afford SAT tutoring and others not. There was a NY Times editorial written a few months ago by a kid who trained himself to do better on standardized tests because he had no money for tutoring…and frankly, I think colleges probably eat that up. But, as some of you are pointing out, maybe it’s best for a kid to just be himself or herself and not shame others for (or be ashamed of) taking advantage of tutoring if it’s affordable. I think vistajay made this point extremely well: experiences, advantages, and hardships shape each of us.
@artkidsparent in the world of social injustice, the ability to pay for a local person to come in and help with the ACT a few times or take a Kaplan class is a drop in the bucket.
We are by no means wealthy, and my kids have had their share of obstacles and tragedies to overcome, but they also had music lessons, summer camp, camping trips, exposure to theater and art, a loving safe home, a good school system, no worries about where the next meal was coming from, educated supportive family and on and on. I think colleges are smart enough to recognize that the accomplishments of kids from truly disadvantaged backgrounds are harder won and may mean more. That is why they take those things into account. But on its own, the fact that one kid had no help with the ACT and another did is not that important.
In addition, with regard to the Adderol, I believe the vast majority of high school kids take it because of a true need. They are remedying a deficit, not gaining an advantage. Most would far rather not be on any medication. You might as well write an essay about how you were able to take the entire test without glasses.
This is kind of a backhanded slap at kids with learning disabilities who take Adderall. And have you or your partner ever helped your kid with homework? Then she’s getting more “coaching” than some kids from first gen families get. Your post strikes me as pretty arrogant.
I would advise against writing that in an admissions essay, it is a back handed way of denigrating others. As
a parent of a kid who has ADHD, I can tell you that the medication doesn’t give him an edge on others. It levels the playing field for him. Methylphenidate calms my sons down so he can stay on task in school. His grades and test scores have a always been high. The medication stops his need to be constantly on the move.
Be grateful for what you have. The medication has no magical power to grant high grades and scores. The student has to work pretty damned hard for it.
Tell your kid to find something positive to say, or stick to schools that don’t need essays if this is the best idea they have. Writing the essay you suggest would likely put the application in the deny pile.
@intparent, I don’t think you read the first part of my OP, in which I say that I respect the fact that some kids have legitimate reasons for taking Adderall. You can’t call my post arrogant if you don’t read the whole thing.
Also, have any of you seen the Netflix documentary “Take Your Pills”? It’s an affirmation of what I’d already heard about kids without ADHD taking Adderall in order to focus better and stay up later doing homework.
I think there’s a difference between discussing the issue of kids without ADHD taking Adderall to focus better and the issue of writing in one’s college application essays, “Hey, look at me, I don’t take Adderall.”
“Take your Pills” is a lopsided documentary. It’s clear the the director had her destination in mind when she wrote it. She presented only one side of a very complicated story. It takes a long time to find the right drug and dosage that works for children with ADD/ADHD. Many parents (me included) start that journey very anti-drug. We tried all sorts of things for a few years trying to help our son, which likely set him back somewhat. Not intellectually - his grades were always high, as were his standardized test scores. He’s tested at the 99% percentile since kindergarten, and he’s been in a G&T program throughout elementary school. For him, his issues affected his ability to control his behavior at school when he was younger, and it seriously impairs his ability to stay organized. His impacts were more on his social and emotional well-being and not much at all on academics. I wanted my son to feel good about being in class with his peers and being able to sit in a class and not be a distraction for others.
The director took none of that into consideration. In previous decades, many kids who had ADHD or other learning disabilities were shuffled off to special education, or just labeled troublemakers and sent down the remedial education route for life. Thank God we don’t do that anymore.
I hope that if a student was myopic enough to write such an essay that it would be read by someone who has ADHD and succeeded with the aid of stimulant meds. And the essay got put in file 13. Seriously bad idea. Think about your reader.
As a parent of a child with asperger’s and adhd (most times they are co-morbid), this post is truly sad. Yes, you are right that an essay of that topic would say much about your child. And it would open a spot for my child who has never cheated, never had the benefit of a peer study group, has worked his heine off against all odds, to earn that spot.