Building a list- so much reading for dyslexic kid

[Anonymous]

Maybe consider programs designed to support students with learning differences.

https://www.salt.arizona.edu/

[Anonymous]

I might add in Conn College and (Hobart) and William Smith.

They are smaller - but I think might be interesting to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing wrong with you doing a lot if the initial legwork here, especially in light of learning differences. Consider that some pay a college counselor to come up with an initial list. It’s ok if it’s not the student doing all the work.

As a parent, you may need to guide her re: prioritizing preferences and balancing needs and wants. You’ll want a school with a helpful disability office, and you might need to deprioritize mid-larger size.

That said, many Jesuit universities (and some other Catholic schools) are mid-sized and near/in cities. Lots of atheist, non-Christian students at these schools.

Consider Loyola MD, St Joseph’s in Philly, Seton Hall, U Scranton. Her grades are excellent, but her rigor is lower than many college applicants. She’ll have good options, but don’t be afraid to help with the research.

I was going to say Loyola/St. Joe's/Scranton! Great fits for this kid.

[Anonymous]

Another school that might hit a lot of notes would be Loyola New Orleans - marine bio concentration, great city, good size school, (below 5K but not tiny, and near other schools), strong performing arts, but not a theater conservatory school, so would be easy for a non-major to participate in theater. Not seasonal, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing wrong with you doing a lot if the initial legwork here, especially in light of learning differences. Consider that some pay a college counselor to come up with an initial list. It’s ok if it’s not the student doing all the work.

As a parent, you may need to guide her re: prioritizing preferences and balancing needs and wants. You’ll want a school with a helpful disability office, and you might need to deprioritize mid-larger size.

That said, many Jesuit universities (and some other Catholic schools) are mid-sized and near/in cities. Lots of atheist, non-Christian students at these schools.

Consider Loyola MD, St Joseph’s in Philly, Seton Hall, U Scranton. Her grades are excellent, but her rigor is lower than many college applicants. She’ll have good options, but don’t be afraid to help with the research.

I was going to say Loyola/St. Joe's/Scranton! Great fits for this kid.

St. Joe's and Scranton aren't really known for environmental stuff, but otherwise, I agree. I think she'd like them!

[Anonymous]

For a lot of what she is looking for (except for size) college of Wooster checks the boxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are starting the process of building a tentative college application list. We have visited campus types, we have a decent idea of where her GPA and test scores will land and her course of study is increasing in difficulty. She has been reflecting on her best fit characteristics for schools.

But the actual research process looks like a stack of phonebooks dropped on her desk. She is trying her best, but I've noticed the colleges she reads about first each night are more likely to land on her "possible" list. Is there any more tech-enabled way to do this? I am dreaming of a searchable database with things like "undergrad teaching focused", "small class sizes for entry level classes" as searchable fields.

Even an ebook version of the college guides that support screen readers would be helpful. I feel like I am missing some simple solution. The college counselors said the reading is part of the effort and to ask the special education team. The special education team hasn't had a student like her so they suggested community college she only gets extra time accommodations at school).

Her stats/ interests are as follows:
-3.8 GPA will have 1 AP senior year
~1200 SAT
-2 years foreign language
-will complete precalculus in HS but also considering statistics class if available (due to dyscalculia)
-Undecided major, interests include media/ communications, history, theater, forensics, marine biology, intends to go to grad school
-wants undergrad teaching focused school
-smallish class sizes for entry level classes (20-30)
-reasonably sized university (at least 5k students)
-opportunity to participate in/ do research
-writing center available on campus
-would prefer city, but access to city ok
-seasonal variation
-opportunity to do theater as non-theater major

Does she have any interesting or compelling ECs? Public or private school? School with known grade inflation?

Her ECs are theater (major play or musical each year), track and field athlete, thespian honor society, history honor society, and she is a social cause activist (started neurodiversity club, active in women's rights club, and also volunteers to help impoverished nearby school and replant coral reefs). She is hoping to create a dyslexia VR simulation her senior year, but that is a huge project and I don't know if it will be possible.

We are military posted overseas, so she is in a private international school. That is part of the issue, most of the students are gunning for top colleges and DD isn't after that. I am sure there is some grade inflation happening, but the bigger issue is that she isn't taking the AP classes that many of her peers are. That is absolutely the right choice for her, and we are very proud of her hard work and achievements. But it will be tough when she is compared to her peers if they apply to the same school.

We are hoping by helping her create a good possible list and then she can tell her story. Then she will be able to find a good fit where she will continue to grow and learn. She has her dad's post 9-11 GI Bill, so private schools are possible, depending on the cost.

I'm working on a spreadsheet design now. The videos are a great idea.

I was a similar student and loved UMBC- especially the research opportunity part but with GI bill, she has financials to cast her net wider

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will you be living outside the country while she’s in college? Keeping her geographically close to a source of support (relative, family friend, grandparents) would be my #1 concern when sending a kid with some SN abroad to college. I would prioritize that above all else. It is going to be a big adjustment and TBH from your post you guys don’t know much about the landscape and she’s likely to have challenges.

This is one of my biggest concerns. We should be back in US, likely either in DC or possibly OH. We do have supportive family in NY, SC, MN, and FL. My parents have offered to move back to west coast if she really decides she likes Oregon (early marketing mail) if we can’t get back to US.

We would like her near an airport, but she is a traveling pro, so complicated connections don’t phase her. And it sounds like I should be researching Yellow Ribbon program details for the NE and Midwest SLACs.

I really appreciate the advice. Navigating the gradual release of control is much different for the college application process than for her other academic activities.

OK, this is helpful. If this were my kid, I would focus on schools within an easy drive of DC or Ohio or the area where you currently have a really supportive family member living. I would rule out schools in places like Oregon unless your parents are already moving there. Don’t make life over complicated. What your daughter wants is widely available and dozens, maybe hundreds, of schools fit the bill.

Just an observation as the parent of a freshman. You say complicated travel connections don’t phase her, but school breaks are not that long. My son is arriving home tonight for Thanksgiving and has to be back by Sunday night. Fall break was the same. You really want her to be close to someone.

[Anonymous]

Your approach is terrible and will bring nothing but frustration to you both.

As the adult who will be responsible for paying, you and your spouse need to sit down and figure out your budget including travel costs.

Then narrow down how realistically far from home you and your child want to be. Then consider culture and size of school and school location - very rural , suburban, etc , Christian school ok? schools with big greek life and small student population? etc

Use online tools to narrow down choices

Has your child had specific reading instruction for dyslexic students preferably by a private provider bc schools generally provide poor remediation. If not do that now. Also get access to audiobook services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will you be living outside the country while she’s in college? Keeping her geographically close to a source of support (relative, family friend, grandparents) would be my #1 concern when sending a kid with some SN abroad to college. I would prioritize that above all else. It is going to be a big adjustment and TBH from your post you guys don’t know much about the landscape and she’s likely to have challenges.

This is one of my biggest concerns. We should be back in US, likely either in DC or possibly OH. We do have supportive family in NY, SC, MN, and FL. My parents have offered to move back to west coast if she really decides she likes Oregon (early marketing mail) if we can’t get back to US.

We would like her near an airport, but she is a traveling pro, so complicated connections don’t phase her. And it sounds like I should be researching Yellow Ribbon program details for the NE and Midwest SLACs.

I really appreciate the advice. Navigating the gradual release of control is much different for the college application process than for her other academic activities.

OK, this is helpful. If this were my kid, I would focus on schools within an easy drive of DC or Ohio or the area where you currently have a really supportive family member living. I would rule out schools in places like Oregon unless your parents are already moving there. Don’t make life over complicated. What your daughter wants is widely available and dozens, maybe hundreds, of schools fit the bill.

Just an observation as the parent of a freshman. You say complicated travel connections don’t phase her, but school breaks are not that long. My son is arriving home tonight for Thanksgiving and has to be back by Sunday night. Fall break was the same. You really want her to be close to someone.

Adding, I know many students go away far from home and just stay on campus through shorter breaks, but I wouldn’t underestimate how nice it is to have the option of going home/to a family member easily. Especially freshman year.

[Anonymous]

For helping your daughter research schools, we took the Fiske Guide and flagged schools that we thought might be fits. Not all of the schools are going to be in Fiske - do not take this as it will not be a good fit.
A few resources for finding these schools: recommendations on DCUM
Use ChatGPT - put in a profile like you did here or look for schools similar to a school that you liked
schools that your DD has talked about

We probably came up with a list of 30+ schools and then started narrowing it down.

Niche (online) is good as it tells a bit about the student body. My DS looked at Niche to see what the most common majors were - I looked at it to get a sense of the student body

After we shortened our list - dove deep into resources on line like the common data set and the online sessions the colleges offered.

[Anonymous]

This doesn't help with the processing all the info problem, but another college suggestion: my artsy dyslexic niece thrived at Warren Wilson College.

[Anonymous]

For processing information - we used a shared google document and created a table with one column college name - another column for links for the college - another general notes - why it might be a school to explore and a final one with a "decision" - I want to learn more or not interested.

This way you can all be on the same page and see where things are.

[Anonymous]

Dayton
Loyola
Providence
St joes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing wrong with you doing a lot if the initial legwork here, especially in light of learning differences. Consider that some pay a college counselor to come up with an initial list. It’s ok if it’s not the student doing all the work.

As a parent, you may need to guide her re: prioritizing preferences and balancing needs and wants. You’ll want a school with a helpful disability office, and you might need to deprioritize mid-larger size.

That said, many Jesuit universities (and some other Catholic schools) are mid-sized and near/in cities. Lots of atheist, non-Christian students at these schools.

Consider Loyola MD, St Joseph’s in Philly, Seton Hall, U Scranton. Her grades are excellent, but her rigor is lower than many college applicants. She’ll have good options, but don’t be afraid to help with the research.

I was going to say Loyola/St. Joe's/Scranton! Great fits for this kid.

+1 I was also thinking Jesuit schools make sense for this profile.

Also, I found the lists at Collegexpress to be a helpful starting point. https://www.collegexpress.com/lists/explore/?chapter_id=104§ion_id=181