<p>absolutely brilliant replies, and on the whole much more helpful than the college counselor that the private school uses who spoke to a small group of us last night (and left me feeling very depressed.)</p>
<p>Reed has been perfect for my friend’s brilliant, classically dyslexic Aspergery daughter, they have almost literally saved her life and sheparded her through undergrad years. I can’t imagine CMU, they rejected my other son with a zillion AP’s and 750 math SAT and good recommendations…</p>
<p>I am, however, cheered by spending some time on our county’s community college website. They are consistently rated #1 or in the top ten in the country. They have many transfer programs, as well as 2 year programs, in engineering and computer sciences… and claim to have a high transfer rate into top engineering programs including our state flagship school, MIT, RPI, Georgia Tech etc (not necessarily my kid, but it speaks to the quality of the program. They also have a computer gaming program, that can be a 4 year program in conjunction with a 4 year college. Their math dept has sufficiently upper level math for 2 years.</p>
<p>So I have decided to consider the CC our “Stand-by” plan… thus helping to alleviate my stress. Over the next year my son can change the plan, reject it and substitute another one, etc etc – but I have explored this enough to feel it is a decent baseline. I was amazed at how much my other son grew during the college search and app process, I am sure this one will too, and whether this is the final plan, or he applies and gets into RIT/Reed/State U etc, who knows yet.</p>
<p>My son’s eyes just lit up (with relief?) when I told him about the CC (and gave it the seal of approval… he has high standards) and heard about open enrollment and NO ESSAY.</p>
<p>Re his special needs: his dyslexia is very atypical (per testing) and he gets by in school with nothing that resembles a formal accommodation. Yet, everyone who deals with him accommodates him all the time – he is infinitely logically, terribly formal, avoids in person social interaction, overly literal, a creature of rigid routine, marches to his own drummer, intolerant of fools, lazy thinking, stupidity, inconsistency and injustice. He has an anxiety disorder (duh) of great magnitude. He has already asked if he can do all his college counseling by email.</p>
<p>Enough from me. Your comments are helpful and supportive. Much thanks.</p>