Best elite school for Disabilities

AnonyMom
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:04:26 +0000

OK, just looked at your other post, and it seems possible that you are an actual kid asking this question. You seem to be asking not which elite schools are best in terms of accommodating and supporting students with LD’s, but which school would be likliest to see your LD as a hook. Do I have this right?

According to your other post, you have a 3.8, pulled down by a 9th grade year in which you received some low, but not failing, grades. If, in fact, these grades are partially explained by your not having been diagnosed, medicated, or accommodated properly, and after getting appropriate help in your soph year, you pulled things up, then colleges should know this as it will put your freshman year into context.

Beyond this, I’m not sure what you could conceivably do to “exploit” your LD. What do you have in mind? If you self-identify in the admissions process at UC Berkeley (one of the schools you mentioned in your other post), your application will be considered separately, taking the LD and its possible impact on your achievement into account.

But the fact is, you have a 3.8, despite a rough 9th grade year – which a number of schools, including Stanford and Berkeley, won’t even look at – at what you describe as an elite prep school, and a 2040 SAT. These are strong numbers, particularly if you retake and bring up the SAT a bit, or try ACT. If you have genuinely overcome something very challenging to achieve at this high level, you might consider letting colleges know in the additional information section, but remember that GC’s at elite private schools have relationships with admissions reps from elite colleges; if you make something up, the possibility of it backfiring in a way that will be fatal to your application is not inconsiderable.

Also, it is hotly debated whether it’s wise to self-identify in the application process. You should really talk to your GC before you do so, particularly if your exploitation plan involves presenting yourself as a variant of the poor little match girl. My thought is that you have a very decent academic background and numbers, and some EC’s that colleges will find appealing. It seems to me likely that you will screw up your chances of being accepted by doing something weasely in your presentation of your LD, and this seems like a particularly bad choice given your solid credentials.

Also, what is it about your plan to exploit your LD that would make you a “dishonest little hack”? If you really have an LD that has an impact on your ability to function, then revealing that to colleges would not be dishonest. It sounds as if you’re planning to lie about something, and I’m not clear what that would be or how lying about an LD would be helpful in college admissions. What is your thought process here?