Disclosing Accommodations When Applying

[Anonymous]

Why not?

[Anonymous]

The three main concerns with disclosing:
1) Depending on the disability, there may be a stigma and/or assumptions made out of ignorance.
2) There are only so many essays. Is your disability the most important thing you want people to know about you? (Sometimes the answer may be yes, depending on the disability and the impact it has had)
3) If not done well, it can look like you're using disability as an excuse for not meeting the school's regular standards. That's unlikely to land well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The three main concerns with disclosing:
1) Depending on the disability, there may be a stigma and/or assumptions made out of ignorance.
2) There are only so many essays. Is your disability the most important thing you want people to know about you? (Sometimes the answer may be yes, depending on the disability and the impact it has had)
3) If not done well, it can look like you're using disability as an excuse for not meeting the school's regular standards. That's unlikely to land well.

Are these concerns mostly isolated to top 25 schools, which are in the regular practice of looking for reasons/excuses to deny rather than accept? Should a parent or student be as concerned if their ambitions are top 50-100?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The three main concerns with disclosing:
1) Depending on the disability, there may be a stigma and/or assumptions made out of ignorance.
2) There are only so many essays. Is your disability the most important thing you want people to know about you? (Sometimes the answer may be yes, depending on the disability and the impact it has had)
3) If not done well, it can look like you're using disability as an excuse for not meeting the school's regular standards. That's unlikely to land well.

Are these concerns mostly isolated to top 25 schools, which are in the regular practice of looking for reasons/excuses to deny rather than accept? Should a parent or student be as concerned if their ambitions are top 50-100?

If a school is less rejective, number 3 might be less of an issue. But the others are. I'd discuss with your student what their goal is for disclosing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The three main concerns with disclosing:
1) Depending on the disability, there may be a stigma and/or assumptions made out of ignorance.
2) There are only so many essays. Is your disability the most important thing you want people to know about you? (Sometimes the answer may be yes, depending on the disability and the impact it has had)
3) If not done well, it can look like you're using disability as an excuse for not meeting the school's regular standards. That's unlikely to land well.

As far as 2, there’s no reason to use an essay to disclose. A couple sentences in the More Info section is all that’s needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The three main concerns with disclosing:
1) Depending on the disability, there may be a stigma and/or assumptions made out of ignorance.
2) There are only so many essays. Is your disability the most important thing you want people to know about you? (Sometimes the answer may be yes, depending on the disability and the impact it has had)
3) If not done well, it can look like you're using disability as an excuse for not meeting the school's regular standards. That's unlikely to land well.

From your response, I can tell you have zero idea what you're talking about and for that reason, no one should take your advice. If you had actual experience, you would know there is a place in the common app to put this that's not in the essays. And of course it needs to be worded carefully, but that's no different from anything else in the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The three main concerns with disclosing:
1) Depending on the disability, there may be a stigma and/or assumptions made out of ignorance.
2) There are only so many essays. Is your disability the most important thing you want people to know about you? (Sometimes the answer may be yes, depending on the disability and the impact it has had)
3) If not done well, it can look like you're using disability as an excuse for not meeting the school's regular standards. That's unlikely to land well.

Are these concerns mostly isolated to top 25 schools, which are in the regular practice of looking for reasons/excuses to deny rather than accept? Should a parent or student be as concerned if their ambitions are top 50-100?

these are not concerns at all, the PP is ignorant