Anonymous
02/03/2026 18:08
Subject: If every kid is doing the same damn EC
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do kids with disabilities have any advantages in good college admission? I am not talking about only adhd diagnosis, what if they have autism, dyslexia, epilepsy or other diagnosis with IEP? What if they overcome their physical/mental/intellectual disabilities, and they have great GPA, decent sports, volunteering and EC?
I have smart kids with multiple medical/learning disabilities. Every college counseling professional I have encountered advises not to disclose disabilities and medical issues in applications because there is inherent AO bias against kids with learning and medical issues. I hate that in principle, but we followed that advice for my younger kid. (We were more transparent with my older kid, who landed at a target-safety.)
So while my younger kid's chronic medical and learning issues are the most significant daily hurdle for sure, they are not included in the applications. Nevertheless, the kid has gotten into some highly selective schools EA. It has been a really tough road though.
There is deep resentment and suspicion of anyone who gets any accommodation these days by some people (usually really ignorant/angry types) and there also is no consistent institutional support for kids with special needs in secondary/higher education so there is also unfortunately meaningful opportunity for fraud/abuse by unethical gunner types. Parents with special needs kids either need to shell out significant money for private specialist support and/or private advocacy, fight for publicly available resources, or live without support.
The accommodations topic is really attractive clickbait for journalists. There was a thread I think I saw earlier about Stanford's high % of students getting accommodations. Usually there are at least a couple of parents on these DCUM threads who brag about their kids not taking accommodations despite having a DX. To each his own, but I think that's so bizarre. It's like telling someone who needs glasses to man up and squint.
While I'm grateful that more medical research and tools are available now than even 10 years ago, I really wish that educators had more training on the varied ways that people learn and that our schools offered more innovation in teaching than adding extra time. But schools often seem like factories trying to crank kids through the educational production lines as cost-efficiently as possible. With teacher flight post-COVID and this current administration's cost-cutting environment, high schools and colleges are strained, to say the least. So my kids will take the accommodations they can.
The perk of all the nonsense and headwinds though is that these SN kids become really tough and resilient. The downside is that all of it is an energy suck and can be a thief of the joy and simple pleasures of being a teenager. My kid often needs weekends to rest and recover from the week.
Thanks for your post. Our DC has medical/learning issues, but chose to disclose because of absences due to the medical reasons. Felt like not addressing that elephant would have been worse than disclosing. Managed to be accepted at all schools applied to but also did not aim particularly high. Pressure cooker places would not have been a good place for someone who, as you say, often needs rest after a long week.
Anonymous
02/03/2026 17:59
Subject: If every kid is doing the same damn EC
Anonymous wrote:What is the latest on doing an internship while in HS? Is it looked upon more favorably than a part time job or a time intensive volunteer activity?
Both an internship and a job or internship and volunteer.
Intern in summer.
Anonymous
02/03/2026 17:24
Subject: If every kid is doing the same damn EC
The reason for AO bias is because of cheating and not genuine cases like yours.
Anonymous
02/03/2026 17:07
Subject: If every kid is doing the same damn EC
Anonymous wrote:Do kids with disabilities have any advantages in good college admission? I am not talking about only adhd diagnosis, what if they have autism, dyslexia, epilepsy or other diagnosis with IEP? What if they overcome their physical/mental/intellectual disabilities, and they have great GPA, decent sports, volunteering and EC?
I have smart kids with multiple medical/learning disabilities. Every college counseling professional I have encountered advises not to disclose disabilities and medical issues in applications because there is inherent AO bias against kids with learning and medical issues. I hate that in principle, but we followed that advice for my younger kid. (We were more transparent with my older kid, who landed at a target-safety.)
So while my younger kid's chronic medical and learning issues are the most significant daily hurdle for sure, they are not included in the applications. Nevertheless, the kid has gotten into some highly selective schools EA. It has been a really tough road though.
There is deep resentment and suspicion of anyone who gets any accommodation these days by some people (usually really ignorant/angry types) and there also is no consistent institutional support for kids with special needs in secondary/higher education so there is also unfortunately meaningful opportunity for fraud/abuse by unethical gunner types. Parents with special needs kids either need to shell out significant money for private specialist support and/or private advocacy, fight for publicly available resources, or live without support.
The accommodations topic is really attractive clickbait for journalists. There was a thread I think I saw earlier about Stanford's high % of students getting accommodations. Usually there are at least a couple of parents on these DCUM threads who brag about their kids not taking accommodations despite having a DX. To each his own, but I think that's so bizarre. It's like telling someone who needs glasses to man up and squint.
While I'm grateful that more medical research and tools are available now than even 10 years ago, I really wish that educators had more training on the varied ways that people learn and that our schools offered more innovation in teaching than adding extra time. But schools often seem like factories trying to crank kids through the educational production lines as cost-efficiently as possible. With teacher flight post-COVID and this current administration's cost-cutting environment, high schools and colleges are strained, to say the least. So my kids will take the accommodations they can.
The perk of all the nonsense and headwinds though is that these SN kids become really tough and resilient. The downside is that all of it is an energy suck and can be a thief of the joy and simple pleasures of being a teenager. My kid often needs weekends to rest and recover from the week.
Anonymous
02/03/2026 14:26
Subject: If every kid is doing the same damn EC
What is the latest on doing an internship while in HS? Is it looked upon more favorably than a part time job or a time intensive volunteer activity?
Anonymous
01/14/2026 23:14
Subject: If every kid is doing the same damn EC
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Which EC is everyone doing?
NP: varsity sports (non-recruit), club leader, Debate/Model UN, student gov, music/band, robotics/science fair, volunteering (animal shelters, church, or hospital)
None of those are impressive.
Kid at Ivy.
I take it that you, as an adult, do all this and more in addition to your FT job?
What a douche.