My son has adhd and has been accepted at San Diego State and Chapman. He likes both equally. Not sure if the small school outweighs any other factors. San Diego state seems more fun and more diverse and perhaps less academically challenging though with large classes. Chapman seems like a school for the rich but with lots of nice people and lots of personal attention from
Professors. He is uncleared so looking at rankings of specific majors is not helpful. He comes from a very small private high school which we were not thrilled with. Thanks for any advice!
It really depends on the kid, of course! My adhd son did better at a small school – there was less red tape/administration to navigate, and it’s harder to fall through the cracks.
assuming they are cost comparable, I’d probably favor the private school experience.
Years ago, SDSU had a party reputation but that has significantly changed. SDSU has a high bar with entering Freshman GPA’s. They are not going to provide an easy time with academics, so don’t let the current “atmosphere” suggest that their academics are anything less.
According to the Common Data Set (CDS), rigor and academic GPA of the high school is a very important factor in the selection process:
Percentage of all enrolled, degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who had high school grade-point averages within each of the following ranges (using 4.0 scale). Report information only for those students from whom you collected high school GPA.
| Percent who had GPA of 4.0 | 33.8% |
|---|---|
| Percent who had GPA between 3.75 and 3.99 | 31.5% |
| Percent who had GPA between 3.50 and 3.74 | 19.6% |
| Percent who had GPA between 3.25 and 3.49 | 9.6% |
| Percent who had GPA between 3.00 and 3.24 | 4.1% |
| Percent who had GPA between 2.50 and 2.99 | 1.2% |
| Percent who had GPA between 2.0 and 2.49 | 0.2% |
| Percent who had GPA between 1.0 and 1.99 | |
| Percent who had GPA below 1.0 | |
| Totals should = 100% | 100% |
| Average high school GPA of all degree-seeking, first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted GPA: | 3.82 |
|---|---|
| Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted high school GPA: | 100% |
Also, SDSU has a lot of school spirit. The students are happy there and collaborate in teams, working well together. It’s a great school. @Gumbymom has a son who graduated from SDSU and a niece there. She can give you more info on SDSU.
Will you be contacting the SDSU Student Ability Success Center for ADHD services? (Notetakers, computers, anechoic classrooms). https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/sds/
They do provide help.
Chapman is a smaller, private school. It might work better for him if he needs a smaller campus. Contact their Student Disability Center:
Just did Preview Day at Chapman and feels like the perfect size (10,000) it’s not like it’s super small. Yet being a private institution with greater funds you have small class sizes and lots of help when needed. Met personally with the Director of Disability Services (wish it was called Ability Services) and was the most friendly, easy going guy who made it seem easy to get accommodations approved and help when needed. Think your student needs to decide but I don’t think disability services should factor in. I think it’s more do you want to be in big lectures or small classes with more attention from professors?
Thanks for all the input. I do think both schools are really great schools. They are so different but it may be coming down to class size vs more social/Club opportunities.
My son would be accessing services - extra time on tests and tutoring and office hours. If he goes to sdsu, he would ask to be able to sit up front. One thing I liked about Chapman was the impression I got that there would be more discussion and interaction even in the general courses so there is more than one way (lecture) of obtaining information. Also, I believe they require attendance for class participation grading.
It is such a close call. Sdsu is significantly cheaper for us, but we can swing either. We also spoke with someone at each of the schools during open house about accessing services, and they were both really nice and welcoming. Any input on the tutoring quality and availability at these schools?
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