Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 15:25     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I mean this gently - if she cannot keep up with a quarter system, she cannot go to medical skill and be a doctor. land the helicopter and let her decide where to go to school.


Interesting - I was wondering how someone with a slow processing speed would get through medical school.


A slow processing speed does not mean she is not bright. Otherwise she wouldn't be a straight A student.


I dont understand your comment. To be successful in medical school and to be successful physician, you need more traits than “bright.” It sounds like fast processing speed may be one of the needed traits.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 15:22     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:Does your kid’s school historically send kids to Dartmouth? Ours doesn’t so we didn’t bother.


My nephew goes to Dartmouth and I don’t think anyone from his very small rural public school had gone there recently.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 15:20     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
My kid with adhd is pre med at one of the quarter system schools mentioned. She loves it and it probably works okay with her adhd because she is really itense about stuff and then wants to move on. She is working insane hours, in part because she won’t give up any of the ECs that she enjoys. She really wanted a quarter system school so she could do more, more quickly.

With slow processing speed, it might be tough. The stem classes really do move quickly and are really hard. I think my advice would be different for humanities. I have adhd and always wished I was at a quarter school because after a few months of a class, I was bored with the topic and wanted to move on.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 14:27     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are debating whether or not to visit Dartmouth during our Spring college visit to Boston. DD is a straight-A student with inattentive ADHD and anxiety/on the spectrum. She is looking for an intellectual environment (but not cutthroat). She is super bright and has lower processing speed, and is interested in medical school. I am not sure whether the quarter system at Dartmouth (and also Northwestern) would be a good fit. It is generally recommended that kids with ADHD avoid schools with the quarter system. Should we even visit a school like Dartmouth when we are traveling to Boston? (Asking as we are traveling from the West Coast and Dartmouth is a significant detour).

(Also looking for a school with structured guidance, inclusive clubs, and accepting/nurturing environment).



Is it? Why? I would think shorter terms would benefit those with ADHD


Agreed. My AuDHD child is at WPI, where you take 3 classes at a time for 7 weeks. No time to procrastinate, focusing/balancing fewer classes is much better.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:51     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:Does your kid’s school historically send kids to Dartmouth? Ours doesn’t so we didn’t bother.

Dartmouth will absolutely take a kid form a school that has never sent a kid their before. But generally, they have to have a strong fit and profile (e.g., one of the best in the past few years).
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:47     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
If your neurodivergent kid is looking for a more open, structured environment, would an SLAC that’s strong in pre-med be an option?
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:45     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:We are debating whether or not to visit Dartmouth during our Spring college visit to Boston. DD is a straight-A student with inattentive ADHD and anxiety/on the spectrum. She is looking for an intellectual environment (but not cutthroat). She is super bright and has lower processing speed, and is interested in medical school. I am not sure whether the quarter system at Dartmouth (and also Northwestern) would be a good fit. It is generally recommended that kids with ADHD avoid schools with the quarter system. Should we even visit a school like Dartmouth when we are traveling to Boston? (Asking as we are traveling from the West Coast and Dartmouth is a significant detour).

(Also looking for a school with structured guidance, inclusive clubs, and accepting/nurturing environment).



Is it? Why? I would think shorter terms would benefit those with ADHD
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:42     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Does your kid’s school historically send kids to Dartmouth? Ours doesn’t so we didn’t bother.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:33     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I mean this gently - if she cannot keep up with a quarter system, she cannot go to medical skill and be a doctor. land the helicopter and let her decide where to go to school.


Agree. Medical school is like drinking from a firehose. The pace is extraordinarily fast. I say this as a former ivy student who went to a top med school with 99.9%ile on my MCAT and almost every other test I took. I am a fast processor and it felt like a different level from ivy undergrad pace.

Completely disagree. Yes, it is a ton of work and extremely fast pace, but the difference between an individual entering undergrad and leaving undergrad should be pretty dramatic, and you're becoming an adult developmentally. Every MD professor has received a firehouse education; most quarter systems professors have never gone to a college with a quarter system, and this affects the teaching. There is no evidence that students on the quarter system do better than those on the semester system when they arrive at Medical school. There's nothing wrong with having a slower, more solid foundation.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:30     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:We are debating whether or not to visit Dartmouth during our Spring college visit to Boston. DD is a straight-A student with inattentive ADHD and anxiety/on the spectrum. She is looking for an intellectual environment (but not cutthroat). She is super bright and has lower processing speed, and is interested in medical school. I am not sure whether the quarter system at Dartmouth (and also Northwestern) would be a good fit. It is generally recommended that kids with ADHD avoid schools with the quarter system. Should we even visit a school like Dartmouth when we are traveling to Boston? (Asking as we are traveling from the West Coast and Dartmouth is a significant detour).

(Also looking for a school with structured guidance, inclusive clubs, and accepting/nurturing environment).



OP, most of the parents opining in the thread do not have neurodiverse kids, and there is sadly a lot of ignorance about neurodiversity in this forum and generally. I'd recommend contacting the disability offices at NU and Dartmouth and asking about support services there and ways to learn about the social environment.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:29     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
The DD can do well in many areas where processing speed is not a vital element of doing the work. Unfortunately medical school and, for example, being an air traffic controller aren't among those areas.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:23     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are debating whether or not to visit Dartmouth during our Spring college visit to Boston. DD is a straight-A student with inattentive ADHD and anxiety/on the spectrum. She is looking for an intellectual environment (but not cutthroat). She is super bright and has lower processing speed, and is interested in medical school. I am not sure whether the quarter system at Dartmouth (and also Northwestern) would be a good fit. It is generally recommended that kids with ADHD avoid schools with the quarter system. Should we even visit a school like Dartmouth when we are traveling to Boston? (Asking as we are traveling from the West Coast and Dartmouth is a significant detour).

(Also looking for a school with structured guidance, inclusive clubs, and accepting/nurturing environment).


I fit this exact profile and went to a school on the quarter system and it actually worked better for me. Because of the shorter terms, there were always deadlines in sight so I wasn't able to drift for weeks before catching up. DC who is a junior at Dartmouth says it's a collaborative intellectual environment - even among pre-med students which often isn't the case. Yes, visit! It's a lovely campus and she will either fall in love or you can cross it off your list. Best of luck!


Same. It was hard but I think it was better for me because of the novelty of getting to try so many more classes. My brain loves learning new things and the more frequent change of pace was good.

I am pretty organized, though, thanks to a particular teacher who helped me realize what I needed to keep track of my school assignments. I can hyper-focus on subjects that interest me, so a college with a broad course offering without a lot of boring pre reqs was good.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:17     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:I mean this gently - if she cannot keep up with a quarter system, she cannot go to medical skill and be a doctor. land the helicopter and let her decide where to go to school.


Agree. Medical school is like drinking from a firehose. The pace is extraordinarily fast. I say this as a former ivy student who went to a top med school with 99.9%ile on my MCAT and almost every other test I took. I am a fast processor and it felt like a different level from ivy undergrad pace.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 13:13     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I mean this gently - if she cannot keep up with a quarter system, she cannot go to medical skill and be a doctor. land the helicopter and let her decide where to go to school.


Interesting - I was wondering how someone with a slow processing speed would get through medical school.


A slow processing speed does not mean she is not bright. Otherwise she wouldn't be a straight A student.


Come on, we all know straight-A kids who have 1300, 1200 SATs. 40% of public HS down the road graduate with unweighted 4.0 (that school gives 4.0 for any grade 90-100, no 3.7 for A-). Straight A means nothing. OP did not say AP scores or SAT scores and most importantly did not say if extra time was needed. MCAT does not allow that, and mid 1400s typically correlates to an average-ish MCAT score. The students who take the MCAT are skewed far toward the top 10% of all 4-yr college students.
Anonymous
Post 11/30/2025 12:46     Subject: Is it worth visiting schools (ie Dartmouth) that have quarter system for neurodiverse DS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I mean this gently - if she cannot keep up with a quarter system, she cannot go to medical skill and be a doctor. land the helicopter and let her decide where to go to school.


Interesting - I was wondering how someone with a slow processing speed would get through medical school.


A slow processing speed does not mean she is not bright. Otherwise she wouldn't be a straight A student.


Sometimes parents greatly exaggerate this. It may just mean average processing speed compared to above average on other subs scores. Also processing speeds sub scores can be unreliable.