Greetings -
Looking for college recommendations for my insanely intelligent son with average grades (i.e. - 3.0 GPA, give or take .25) and average SAT scores (610/550/580 R/M/W (on his first & (so far) only writing this past November).
Happily, there’s a 780 score on the World History SAT subject test to indicate potential.
My boy has been diagnosed as having the symptoms of Asperger’s (soon to be known as the Syndrome formerly known as Asperger’s) and ADHD, tho’ these characteristics don’t typically leap out upon meeting him. More likely, the impression he gives is that of a bright & perceptive young man — [b]if[/b] he’s engaged.
We’re working with the high school college counsellor, and looking at a number of schools on the Colleges That Change Lives list.
I’d welcome hearing about college successes (or college issues) from folks (and parents of folks) having a profile similar to my son’s.
Thanks kindly,
- expat
Greetings! I can appreciate what you are asking about here (on numerous levels) because I am a mother and I also have been diagnosed with Asperger’s and ADHD. I have three teenagers and I have similar questions regarding their upcoming college endeavors. There is much to consider in what you are asking about, but of course everything will depend most on your son’s preferences and choices. I think very small undergraduate colleges are best, and I went to Occidental College. However, I still found the emotional and social adjustment an impossible adjustment to make. Even with therapy; my symptoms of depression and anxiety were too severe for necessary life adjustment. So, my experience was one I wish I could re-write rather than something I would like to do again. As a parent, I look at my daughter who is turning 17 years-old, and she also has ADHD and Aspergers; and I see her as more academically ready for college than socially or emotionally ready for a new environment that will place demands on her she may not be capable of meeting. In other words, when I went to college, I myself found achieving excellent grades easy, but I found being around people and my perceived “social difficulties”, to be absolutely impossible.
Given that flexibility and social relations arn’t easy skills for people with Aspergers, I consider this to be a really hard time for anyone with this diagnosis, to say the least. So my goal with my daughter is to support her in regard to the choices she has made regarding the colleges she will apply to, and she has picked a number of small liberal arts colleges, but my focus will be on her emotional well-being rather than college per se. I say this because the experience of completeing high school and moving on to a college will likely be a crisis for her and dealing with that far exceeds dealing with any academic issues of academic preparedness,college admission, or academic success in a classroom. I am encouraging her to apply to college as close to home as she willing to, and my goals for her are her positive emotional and social adjustment, regardless of her academic or career choices. I want her to know that her family is her source of support and she will need it.
May I ask whether your son is currently receiving any type of accomodations in school? And how do you see him as doing now, socially and emotionally, rather than academically? The grades and SAT scores sound as though he is thinking about what colleges he would be accepted at, but does he have specific goals for himself right now in regard to college and does he have any career goals or interests at this time? The more specific the goals are, the less chance anything could get in the way of those goals; and of course what those goals are determine what his current educational plans should be. What suggestions did the high school counselor have?