What local university for this profile?

[Anonymous]

The honors program at Catholic U might be a very good fit. Small classes, strong in classics, easy commute on red line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here. Thank you for all your advice.

Cost is not a factor.

He would prefer smaller classes with professors that are easily available, because of his learning disabilities.

We live in MD close to DC, near a Red line metro station.

He also has an Asian last name. Are Asian males held to higher standards in admissions, if they want to study Humanities, instead of STEM?

[Anonymous]

You have some good potentials -- UMDCP, UMBC, Catholic are all along this corridor. Or, if he is OK driving across town -- AU, GWu and possible Gtown. And, if he might be OK with living on campus and coming home frequently -- St. Mary's (I understand this is a very nurturing campus).

I would 1) study and retake ACTs, and 2) apply to all of these and see where he gets in, then get more concrete answers about what supports are in place. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't discard UMd because of size. He may be able to test out of some intro classes or take them at MC if he really wants small size. (Plus, many of the intro classes will have large lectures but smaller TA-led classes during the week.) A big university will give him access to excellent professors and graduate-level classes -- and will have streamlined the entire process of getting accommodations.

By the way, make sure you have recentish testing (done in high school) if you are going to seek accommodations in college. Talk to the LD offices now - anonymously - so you know what is expected. That was a recommendation given to me five years ago for my son who received accommodations at NYU.

OP here. Thanks for reminding me about having him re-evaluated!

Yes! I am the poster recommending St. Mary's and schools across the corridor. I have an adhd kid w/ accommodations and was chatting with our Dr. who also has a kid w/ accommodations, and she reminded me that we need to get reevaluated summer before sr. year or thereabouts. that means, w/ Childrens' wait period, requesting the appointment like Spring/Summer of Soph year! Crazy. It's like a year wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are his disabilities such that it would be hard for him to take a full college class load?

OP here. Missed this question. No idea. He's taking 3 AP classes this year, and is managing well, but as I mentioned, does not have much in the way of extra-curriculars, so that he can focus on school. How does that compare to a college load? Obviously this is my eldest, and I did not go to college in this country

A normal college load for a humanities major at most schools is 5 subjects. Four subjects is usually full-time but would not put you on path to graduate in four years unless the student has AP credit, does some summer work and/ or takes a few January intersession courses. The state schools and the not-super-elite privates are usually pretty good about giving AP credit. You can google each college and something like "AP course policy" to see how many credits he is likely to get.

If he is living at home and you are paying out of pocket, he can probably just take 3 classes first semester and see how that goes. For most colleges, about 1/3 of the required coursework over the four years for humanities majors are general education courses. Another 1/3 or so to be courses in the major. First semester, he is likely to take an intro class in his field of interest (history), a Freshman English class and one other class which I would recommend be math or a foreign language since the longer one waits to take those, the more likely one forgets what they learned in high school.

Students who live on campus or are receiving financial aid usually have to be 'full-time' which would mean four classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Professors aren’t trained as teachers and most don’t know anything about learning disabilities. I get his desire for small class sizes and accessible faculty, but it’s important for you to be aware that he may also need/benefit from institutional support/expertise.

It sounds like you are speaking from narrow pool of experience. Modern PhD programs often DO include training in education (even for say, hard science majors).

Also, the Disability Offices at SOME graduate institutions require professors to take training about the different learning disabilities, student rights, accommodations, etc.

Regardless, parents/prospective students should reach out to each school's Disability Services Office, to see their philosophy, how well they are resourced, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

What additional items does Georgetown look for?

Also, is there a difference in the individual attention undergrads receive at all these local unis, or do they even get any? He doesn't want to get lost in the shuffle.

He needs to understand learning how to survie is a critical life skill. That is what colleges are for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

What additional items does Georgetown look for?

Also, is there a difference in the individual attention undergrads receive at all these local unis, or do they even get any? He doesn't want to get lost in the shuffle.

He needs to understand learning how to survie is a critical life skill. That is what colleges are for.

OP here. I know, and he'll get there eventually. Given his LDs and personality, we're looking to ramp up gradually instead of throwing him in the deep end, which might just be a recipe for failing out of college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

What additional items does Georgetown look for?

Also, is there a difference in the individual attention undergrads receive at all these local unis, or do they even get any? He doesn't want to get lost in the shuffle.

He needs to understand learning how to survie is a critical life skill. That is what colleges are for.

OP here. I know, and he'll get there eventually. Given his LDs and personality, we're looking to ramp up gradually instead of throwing him in the deep end, which might just be a recipe for failing out of college.

Has he done an overnight at a small liberal art college fairly close to home like SMCM or St Johns?. The thing is as a commuter, there's a better chance you're a bit MORE lost in the shuffle, disconnected from your school. You can be proactive and go to office hours for profs etc. but it's harder to feel like you belong to the school community. But at a nurturing small school he might find more of a home-away-from-home.

[Anonymous]

I'd suggest SMCM. Very small, very quiet setting.

[Anonymous]

Remember that every 10th kid in college reports a learning disability, so he will not be the odd man out.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/college-planning-with-learning-disabilities/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Professors aren’t trained as teachers and most don’t know anything about learning disabilities. I get his desire for small class sizes and accessible faculty, but it’s important for you to be aware that he may also need/benefit from institutional support/expertise.

It sounds like you are speaking from narrow pool of experience. Modern PhD programs often DO include training in education (even for say, hard science majors).

Also, the Disability Offices at SOME graduate institutions require professors to take training about the different learning disabilities, student rights, accommodations, etc.

Regardless, parents/prospective students should reach out to each school's Disability Services Office, to see their philosophy, how well they are resourced, etc.

Nope. Drawing on a multi-generational, multidisciplinary pool of experience that includes a current STEM student in a program that sees itself as including teacher training as part of the PhD. Not that it matters since we both seem to agree that OP should check out institutional resources rather than assume that individual faculty and scale/course size will meet her DC’s needs.

[Anonymous]

I would also think really hard about whether the live-at-home-and-commute model is really what you need, especially if it's a big school with big classes. He might be better served going to a SLAC that's not too far away and that has a supportive environment. A lot of the not-so-selective SLACs, where he would be a match, work very hard to meet the needs of all kids, including kids with disabilities. With a 9-1 or 10-1 ratio, no TAs, and formal supports, that might really be a better fit than you are anticipating. Just my two cents. Going to college as a commuter sounds really, really challenging.

If you're full-pay, then it would also probably be worthwhile to hire a college counselor who has expertise in this area.

[Anonymous]

We've been very happy so far with our HFA son who just started at UMBC. He is living on campus, but it seems that there are tons of commuters and many (most?) of the kids seem to go home on weekends. He does and I was worried it would make him stand out but when I go to pick him up the campus is deserted. He said his other suitemates go home too.

I've been impressed with his disability office and their support. He hasn't needed anything from them since school started -- we check his email and help make sure that he's following up on things and that's pretty much the biggest issue, but they indicated that more support could be provided and that's a relief. His classes are much smaller than I had expected -- three have 20ish kids in them.

We thought about having him commute but he doesn't drive and via public transport it was too complicated and time consuming. There's plenty of parking it seems. The bonus is as a DC resident you'll get $10K for the tag program so that's definitely nice. He's a very strong student and seems reasonably challenged and to like his classes. We're still working on encouraging him to be more social, but he seems happy and comfortable enough. I definitely recommend it!

I also like St. Mary's but obviously he couldn't commute.

I hate that we have to monitor his email, but checking it makes him anxious so that's the thing that works for now. He tries to check it everyday but gets stressed by it so we will continue until he can get a little more able to handle it. I say this just to say that we know our kiddos and that they can go to college but might need us to step in a little more than for a non SN kid. I can't begin to help him with his academics, but having a disability that makes communication a challenge gets in the way sometimes!

[Anonymous]

Georgetown has earned it's poor reputation for accommodating even simple LDs and the School of Foreign Service in particular is extremely inflexible on courses, transferring credits and other accommodations that are easy to get at other colleges. My information is very up to date, and I'd look elsewhere. With your son's many strengths and a thoughtful parent like you I'm sure you'll find a great match.