College list help for ADHD kid!

[Anonymous]

My two ADHD kids went to GMU and UVA. Ama

[Anonymous]

DS has ADHD and dyslexia. Private school but just 8th grade now. Curious what kind of grades your kids got in HS? Esp UVA? DS wants to be a scientist/MD so you know.. he's gonna need some school with a reputation..

[Anonymous]

23:08 are you OP?

[Anonymous]

To person with kid in MS. Can you afford private? Commonwealth Academy in Alexandria made a huge difference for my ADHD kid. Their mission statement is to help average to gifted ADHD kids (less so dyslexia). Call the head of admissions, Josh, and discuss

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks PP and I not the OP to the PP. we are pretty happy where we are but not at Commonwealth but I know Josh thanks for the suggestion. DS should be OK where he is for HS 🤞 we actually went to preK with his kids!

I think I was just interested in understanding how the OP who had 2 ADHD kids did well enough for UVA as I don't know how we will fare. Just curious . We do a lot if tutoring outside of school and have in school support as well. DS seems to be really making strides since his diagnosis in 5th x

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids both have ADHD. When I first looked into this some of the recommended schools with more robust supports included Hofstra, American U, Marist, U of Denver, U of Conn.

But, DS ended up improving a lot in the last year+ of HS and is now doing well at VT. For a CS-adjacent major, look at Computational Modeling & Data Analytics at VT. It has a pretty high acceptance rate, just need to really like math. It's in the college of science, not engineering so I think tends to be overlooked. They admit only about 100 students per year and I like that it's a smaller program. DS has not taken advantage of any student support services at VT but they do exist.

DD had a lot more ADHD/EF struggles in the latter part of HS and ended up going to a small LAC where it is easier to access support. Early days still (she's a freshman) but she is already finding it easier to manage than in HS since she doesn't have to be "on" in a big, crowded school for 6+ hours straight.

Thanks! We will check that out. DS does reasonably well in math and is doing AP stats this year so he gets a feel for the gateway course into analytics.

DS rejected some of the small school environments that we toured (e.g. Bucknell). He does like groups and a large school environment and I'm hoping he self-corrects during senior year as your DS did.

Honestly, he seems to be doing pretty well. Do not forget about maturity and what a great affect is has on ADD. Both my kids have severe ADHD. Beacause of hooks (different for eaach) they both got into a top 20 very academic school. I didn't think it was right for my first, but it was the best school he got into and he really wanted it. He got a C-, a couple Bs, and a couple As the first semester, a D, 2 Bs, and 2 As the second. Not really sure what his sophomore grades were but I found out this summer that he has a 2.7 overall and 3.1 in his core business major. So, no, he's not doing great. But, he is mostly quite happy. Has made extraordinary friends. Is super healthy and has grown so much. He'll be just fine and he will go through life with a degree from an incredibly respected university. Point is: he should apply to those you listed and all are great universities that will provide outlets for him to find his strenghts and be successful. I would not fall into the trap of one of those schools meant geered for LDs, like High Point, Elon, and even U Denver. They're fine, I don't mean to be down on them, but if your son wants one of those others, he should go for it.[/quote

Elon isn't a school for students with disabilities. But, it does have a disabilities resources office like many other universities. There is no special program for students with LDs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you consider a post grad year at a school like Blue Ridge. He may not be open but would increase his success if he got his executive function elevated.

Have not heard of this. What's the name of the college? I only see Blue Ridge community college and Blue Ridge an technical college in WV when I google.

This is a boarding school in Va that a friend sent her son. I am not sure if they have a PG program but her son went there to work on his executive function (adhd) and is now thriving at a top college with a CS major. This boy was really struggling in hs before he went to Blue Ridge and they really helped him figure out how to manage school/life and she felt it was what got him in track for hs. He is a super bright kid. Anyway..

[Anonymous]

To OP - I'm the dad with the GMU UVA ADHD kids.

First of all, while it's on the top of my head because of the post above, do look at the fifth year programs offered by a lot of boarding schools. Initially, these started as a way for foreign students to study here for a year and take advantage of the private boarding schools' college placement systems. We looked into Hotchkiss for one of our children but ended up deciding against it.

Another good boarding school for ADHD kids is Cardigan in NH. https://www.cardigan.org/.

And if you don't want to do a fifth year, then a gap year for maturation might be helpful. Only you can tell what is right for your child.

Another option we almost did for the male was military boarding school. At the end we didn't do it but we toured Fork Union Military School three times. Fork Union has the one subject system that forces the student to - duh - focus only on say - algebra - for six weeks. Then on to the next subject. I know of a number of ADHD boys that this has worked well for. Fork Union has a fifth-year plan. At the time we toured that seemed to be largely athletes trying to get their grades up to enter big-time universities to play football. But call and ask. Fork Union has a lot of built-in structure, which is good for ADHD.

ADHD DS went to the McLean School then public in VA on an IEP for ADHD/Anxiety/Aspergers. He was accepted to the comp sci program at GMU. He had some difficulties at first working things out with the Disability Services office. We had to have him sign a FERPA waiver so we could help. GMU wanted new testing because his was e years old (another $4K but better to known its coming). The office had then (this is six years ago) so much turnover that DH never seemed to get any traction, although he did get time and a half, etc.

In sharp contrast, the UVA Disability Services office was extremely well run and DD had to use it only a few times. But DD's diagnosis was only ADHD and Anxiety. The GMU program may have changed dramatically since our kid's time there. We also paid an additional $6K a term for an autism program that just didn't work and wasn't well run.

(to be continued)

[Anonymous]

(back again)
If I had to do it over I might look more closely at High Point instead of GMU but we couldn't afford it at the time. High Point (and smaller slacs) can be more supportive. I know several ADHD kids that have done very very well there. If money is an issue, talk to their financial aid office about merit monies.

There are many books out now on evaluating a college's disability services. The ones mentioned in those books that we toured off the top of my head as being good for ADHD kids included Elon, Gettysburg, Pace, Randolph Macon, Dickinson and Drexell. Denver too (yes, you said too far). GMU had the particular programs that DS wanted so that was a one and done. Much has changed in the field so even after you've mastered the book, get online at College Confidential and Reddit and ask other parents. There are also ADHD Parent Support Groups on Facebook.

What really worked for DD (re your question about UVA) was getting her into Commonwealth Academy early enough that they could work with her to show her how to structure her time, focus, read, outline, write essays, papers etc. Once she discovered she COULD do it, she wanted to excel at everything and took off. It sounds like you are now going into senior year of high school so that won't work for you, but if you know JOsh, call him and ask him about the colleges that C/A is sending kids to now. I just checked online to see if there was a list of colleges but couldn't find any info.

What significantly helped both ADHD kids get into college was that they tested well on the ACT. Both were in tutoring at the time and "those in the know" said the ACT was the better test for ADHD types, which turned out to be correct. I don't know if that is still the case. You need to have your child take both and see which they do better on and focus on that test. Or go test-optional if you can if testing is not a forte.

If you post your question in the Special Needs forum, you will get LOTS of helpful suggestions from parents you have been where you are now. Best of luck. If I didn't cover something write back.

[Anonymous]

Here's a sample book I found just by googling. There are MANY out there. Be sure to buy one that is recent or updated because there college admissions keeps changing fast. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/kw-guide-to-colleges-for-students-with-learning-disabilities-8th-edition-college-admissions-guides_princeton-review_imy-f-fox/335615/item/10057969/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax_high_vol_frontlist_under_%2410&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=&gclid=CjwKCAjwpJWoBhA8EiwAHZFzflqWaLdPBlv06-CZ0vC12r8lKN2TW9JjrBw8TpyAuVJo0Mqxv-5BjxoCYK4QAvD_BwE#idiq=10057969&edition=8977228

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(back again)
If I had to do it over I might look more closely at High Point instead of GMU but we couldn't afford it at the time. High Point (and smaller slacs) can be more supportive. I know several ADHD kids that have done very very well there. If money is an issue, talk to their financial aid office about merit monies.

There are many books out now on evaluating a college's disability services. The ones mentioned in those books that we toured off the top of my head as being good for ADHD kids included Elon, Gettysburg, Pace, Randolph Macon, Dickinson and Drexell. Denver too (yes, you said too far). GMU had the particular programs that DS wanted so that was a one and done. Much has changed in the field so even after you've mastered the book, get online at College Confidential and Reddit and ask other parents. There are also ADHD Parent Support Groups on Facebook.

What really worked for DD (re your question about UVA) was getting her into Commonwealth Academy early enough that they could work with her to show her how to structure her time, focus, read, outline, write essays, papers etc. Once she discovered she COULD do it, she wanted to excel at everything and took off. It sounds like you are now going into senior year of high school so that won't work for you, but if you know JOsh, call him and ask him about the colleges that C/A is sending kids to now. I just checked online to see if there was a list of colleges but couldn't find any info.

What significantly helped both ADHD kids get into college was that they tested well on the ACT. Both were in tutoring at the time and "those in the know" said the ACT was the better test for ADHD types, which turned out to be correct. I don't know if that is still the case. You need to have your child take both and see which they do better on and focus on that test. Or go test-optional if you can if testing is not a forte.

If you post your question in the Special Needs forum, you will get LOTS of helpful suggestions from parents you have been where you are now. Best of luck. If I didn't cover something write back.

OP here. Thanks for the comprehensive response and advice! DS took the SAT once and scored 1500 ( I think that's 97th or 98th percentile) and the feedback I got at several places was that it was on the high end relative to his GPA and that there was no need to take it again. Even if I sign him up for the SAT or ACT, I don't think he'll prep anyways (just like the first time), especially with the heavier workload and college apps. demands. If he had the grades for UVA level schools, we may have pushed him to retest but that's not the case unfortunately..

I don't know Josh. I think someone else asked about their middle school kid, seemed to claim they were me probably in error, and seemed to know Josh but will reach out to see if he can point us to the right colleges.

[Anonymous]

I recommend you look at Rochester Institute of Technology and Ithaca. Both are generous with aid and have strong adhd supports. You’d have to look at the CS major information at each but I assume RIT’s is strong at least.

[Anonymous]

Another senior parent looking at High Point for ADHD kid. She is high achieving but has had a lot of support in HS including private tutoring. Some people will say nasty things whenever it is mentioned here, but they have a lot of support available should it be needed and overall a very positive environment. We liked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recommend you look at Rochester Institute of Technology and Ithaca. Both are generous with aid and have strong adhd supports. You’d have to look at the CS major information at each but I assume RIT’s is strong at least.

+1. I’m the long-winded dad from above. We toured Olin and RIT and liked both. Also Purdue and Georgia Tech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recommend you look at Rochester Institute of Technology and Ithaca. Both are generous with aid and have strong adhd supports. You’d have to look at the CS major information at each but I assume RIT’s is strong at least.

+1. I’m the long-winded dad from above. We toured Olin and RIT and liked both. Also Purdue and Georgia Tech

Another interesting choice to consider is WPI. It's a 7-week quarter system, so they take 3 courses at a time, and they go really fast, so there is no time for the ADHD mind to procrastinate and get behind (could be good or bad for a given kid; disaster if they don't keep up, of course). Also they have been serious about hands on, project-based, cross curricular learning since the 70s, which often is good for an ADHD kid, and certainly is excellent for engineering. I don't specifically know about their support programs, but they have them. Harder to get into than the above, but OP's kid's stats are good (they don't look at SATs though).