Wow… Thanks for providing so many strategies. At this point, I believe I should trust DD’s instinct (She wants to be accepted for what she is able to do, so she thinks there is no clear upside explaining what she can’t do).
I can’t comment on the essay, as others have said, it depends how the essay turns out. I would like to believe that admissions doesn’t discriminate on the basis of a disability. But I do want to say that some of the advise to focus on small LACs goes against what I have seen. I ended up at NYU and as a person with a learning disability, it was amazing. There was a large (well-funded) center that provided advocacy, interfaced with professors for accommodations, handled any issues that came up, provided weekly sessions with a learning specialist, etc. I had a friend at Colby college with a lifelong major medical condition (cut and dry, no diagnostic ambiguity possible type) that got a failing grade on an assignment because she was hospitalized with a life threatening complication and the professor said missed tests could not be made up for any reason. Now, this is clearly covered by ADA and had this happened at NYU, the disabilities service office would have jumped in and dealt with it. I had issues with one professor saying my accommodations were unfair to other students, and they were as in my corner as a well-paid lawyer and totally took care of everything. Colby however, could not figure out who their single appointed ADA person was for a while, vaguely referred to the professor’s ‘academic freedom’, that the professor’s syllabus had a ‘disclaimer’ about no make-ups for any reason, etc. It was a pretty cut and dry issue legally, yet required spending thousands on lawyers to educate a small and under-prepared school. Just keep in mind that smaller is not always better.
I don’t have Asperger’s and I am not applying to any schools of Ivy level but I do have hearing loss and I am planning on writing my essay on that using CA prompt 1. I am focusing on positivity and how having hearing loss has made me a strong self advocate. If your daughter is comfortable with it, I would say go for it but focus on positivity or what it has taught her so it does not sound like a pity story(advice from my AP lit teacher on any college essay). Good Luck!
My son has T1 diabetes, a hearing loss, a math disability, and a vision disability. I also mentioned his eye surgery and ear surgery. Further, on the mid-year report, I submitted a copy of the testing (via the Common App) that showed his math disability. Lastly, I submitted a letter from his ophthalmologist that talked about the success of his eye surgery. My son also wrote an essay about how he overcame painful shyness through his cello playing. So we definitely gave schools a lot of ammunition not to admit my son if they so chose.
I felt it important to mention them because there were real reasons why his coursework was less rigorous until his senior year and why he had “holes” in his academics.
He was a very uneven candidate, but I don’t believe it hurt him to mention all of these things because the main story of his life is persevering and overcoming. He only applied to two Ivies and was accepted by one of them. He did not get into any of the other schools that admitted under 18%, though he was waitlisted at three of them. He was admitted to all schools to which he applied that admitted over 20%. We were amazed that he even got into this one Ivy since his transcripts were quite weak and his test scores while good, weren’t tippy top. We were thrilled with the results of his applications.
I do know a friend whose son wrote about his Asperger’s in an essay. He was also a Questbridge applicant. His original test scores were weak except for a very strong showing in math. He retook them and got better scores. He was not accepted to any selective school, but is happily attending UAH on a full tuition scholarship. I can’t say if the essay hurt him or not.
My gut instinct says it’s ok to talk about some disabilities but not others. Definite no-nos are things like depression, IMO. I just don’t know enough about Asperger’s to know whether or not it’s considered an off limits topic. I wouldn’t think so, but who knows.
This is a list of colleges which have support programs in place for students with Aspergers: http://www.collegeautismspectrum.com/collegeprograms.html
They are not Ivy League, but your daughter has come a long way with small classes and support. She might want to at least consider schools which offer her the major/majors she wants at a place which also has a built in support program. RIT has amazing facilities for students who thrive with technology and/or the visual arts. Very competitive Film/Animation program, one of the most competitive game design programs, highly ranked program in computer security, etc. You can see majors listed here: http://www.rit.edu/emcs/admissions/pdf/Majors%20and%20codes.pdf
It is also highly regarded as a co-op school. The following is their list of what students in different majors can expect to earn on a co-op, as well as what they can expect to earn in their entry level careers: http://www.rit.edu/emcs/oce/student/salary (I wish that every school had such a chart on their site!)
College Confidential has discussed RIT’s strong program for Aspies in the past: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rochester-institute-technology/1477221-rit-and-the-autism-program.html
RIT’s Spectrum Page: http://www.rit.edu/studentaffairs/ssp/
RIT also offers generous merit aid which your daughter would qualify for: https://www.rit.edu/emcs/financialaid/table_merit.html
My daughter is not Aspie, but does have an LD. I liked the supports in place, as well as the fact that it would be fairly easy for her to get home from Rochester.
I actually agree with Hannah too. At least for a kid who doesn’t balk at writing. It was all we could do to get my oldest to write one set of essays! My younger son had several ideas for essays which seemed plausible. It wasn’t until he actually sat down and wrote them that he actually figured out that what we originally thought was the best approach wasn’t working. It ended up being a terrific “what was your favorite EC and why” answer though. I agree with Shawbridge by and large, but you’ll notice in the end his son did write about his LDs and got into some very good colleges.
This is not for the OP, but may help others reading the thread, my younger son had some mild LDs for which he had a 504 plan in middle school. He hated the accommodations so much that he decided to drop them for high school. It almost certainly cost him a few points in his GPA as he could have used extra time in his math oriented courses and it had a lot to do with his Latin difficulties. He did not mention it, but he asked the GC to include in her recommendation that he wasn’t using accommodations he was eligible for. We didn’t see her letter, but I assume she did.
I second the process of writing multiple drafts and select the ones that define the students the best. In general, I would NOT build essays on the LD and reluctantly allow others to write about it. On this note, please make sure to discuss this issue at length with the GC and teachers if they plan to discuss such element. INSIST that they have free reins to discuss performance but NOT the freedom to discuss the LD without your editorial approval. Simply stated, you do not want someone to disclose things you have not approved.
How are things working out for your daughter? My gifted daughter also has Asperger’s Syndrome. She was diagnosed last year, right after we moved to another state in the middle of a quarter. Not ideal timing, but unavoidable. My daughter did very well on the ACT : 36 English, 35 Reading, 35 Science, and 31 Math. She chose not to divulge her Asperger’s in her applications. She has 2 scholarship offers from smaller liberal arts colleges, and has been deferred at one Ivy League, and at one other top tier college. Her weighted GPA is 4.14, unweighted 3.8, lower than your daughters. My daughter has some executive functioning issues which resulted in grades that are not commiserate with her testing scores. If she does not like a subject, she will not spend an inordinate amount of time in that subject researching or studying. On the other hand, if she is interested in it she can be hyper focused. I am curious as to when your daughter was diagnosed. As I am sure you know, Asperger’s in high functioning females is usually diagnosed late, if at all, as their symptomology may not be glaringly apparent. This is what happened with our daughter, even though I expressed my concerns to her pediatrician when she was 6 years old. Had we known sooner we could have had supports in place for her all of these years. This college application process has been a nightmare, agonizing over whether or not to divulge her diagnosis prior to admission. Once admitted, my daughter will need supports in order to be successful. And that will be a whole new battle! Not looking forward to it!
I’m not to sure about this. Really, the purpose of the essay is tell the admissions committee who you are. The best description I ever read was this: The essay should capture who you are so well that if the student dropped the (unsigned) essay on the floor at school and a random person at school picked it up, that person would immediately know who it belonged to.
Anyway, I am sure OP’s daughter is done with her essay(s) by now. Let us know the outcome!
One of my sons has dysgraphia. A friend who works in admissions, but not at a school he was applying to recommended not mentioning it unless it is necessary to explain anomalies in his record. Pick a path and don’t look back. We chose not to mention it, and are very happy where he chose to matriculate. However our approach may have negatively impacted his chances as we chose not to address an anomaly in his record.
It is a personal choice. If he is comfortable discussing it, if it helps to explain his academic record, if he feels it is an integral part of who he is then mention it. My S grew up with learning issues and chose to disclose (it was briefly noted in his essay and we signed a waiver which allowed his GC to discuss it in her recommendation) and it did not hurt him. Agree wit the comment that you make a choice and never second guess yourselves.
By the way, just an update. My daughter did a good job in writing strong essays. I thought everything was going fine, but she is doing very poorly with Alumni interviews. She is a very concrete person (think Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory…), so even though she is passionate about learning – she is not very knowledgeable in how to handle this type of situation. I even hired a consultant to coach her, but it did not help very much.
NO, don’t mention it, unless you really have to.
If you decide to mention, empathize that the student is well adjusted and doesn’t need any special accommodation. Just IMHO.
OP,
My introverted son had some very “meh” interviews. I would say his Penn interview was particularly bad. His blood sugar was high, he was tired and didn’t want to go, and it only lasted about 20-25 minutes max. They also had nothing in common as she was a doctor and he was applying as a Fine Arts major. He was admitted anyways. All is not lost with a bad alumni interview. My oldest thought his Princeton interview went terribly and he was admitted. He later saw her at an admitted students event, and he swears she was looking at him, wondering how he got in! 
Hang in there. Your dd sounds great to me.
I wouldn’t worry too much about interviews. My son had a fabulous interview with Georgetown (rejected), a meh interview with Tufts (accepted). Older son, who is very introverted, very techy, told his Harvard interviewer (a lawyer) Harvard wasn’t his first choice and they accepted him anyway.
The Ivys are a long shot for all applicants. Make sure she is also looking at the advantages of other schools on her list too. If she leans toward math/sciend like “Sheldon”, a small STEM school may be the best fit.
I just would like to provide some additional feedback about my DD’s progress. She decided to write to write about her disability but in a vague, generic description. Then, she simply explained her many achievements, and ended explaining how fundamental was to find the right mentors, people who could guide her – and how she desired to be the same to more people. She got a likely letter from an Ivy School, and she was admitted in every other school she has applied so far.
I still have the feeling that Ivy Schools are actually very sensitive to what they may perceive as a mental health issue (Autism). I think the strategy my DD used was a good fit for her case. She would provide some information, but not necessarily describe everything. If any school wants to refuse her because of that, then I certainly believe it would not be a good environment for her anyway.
I think one problem of holistic process is how the schools can always find some reasonable ways to weed out candidates that may have struggled with one thing or another. On the other hand, I strongly believe any environment would be really enriched by having these kids around. It would be really comforting that colleges could be really active in saying they are actually willing to recruit successful candidates with autism.
My D also has Asperger’s and chose to fully disclose it in her main Common App essay since she feels that it’s so integral to who she is. While she didn’t apply to any Ivy’s, she did apply to a few other top schools, as well as several other schools. She was admitted to all but one (8 out of 9), so her essay didn’t seem to hurt at all and makes me very encouraged that the schools she was accepted to are willing to have students with all types of disabilities on their campuses. @PentaDad, I strongly agree with you that any environment would be enriched by having these bright, interesting, quirky kids around.
Every year there are posts on CC from students / parents who report that a roommate is “odd,” doesn’t engage in normal social banter, doesn’t say hello or goodbye, may need to be reminded to bathe regularly, is visibly uneasy when the roommate invites friends over, etc. This quite naturally causes a lot of angst for students. Given that such behaviors are more often found within the autistic / Aspergers communities, I can see why colleges hesitate to say they want more students who fit that description.
Once again PG demonstrates her intolerance of difference.