• Just a note to let you know that I am one tiny step closer to my goal of getting free, quality information and advice about college admissions to every student in the country, regardless of their family background, financial resources, geographic location or attendance at public or private school.

• Huffington Post has just asked me to be a regular contributor to the Education and College area of HP and the first blog was published on May 10th. If you are know of a high school student who could use this kind of information, here is the link to “Top Five Things to Know When Applying to Colleges and Universities.”

• Since the passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, on their admissions applications colleges may not ask if a student has a learning disability. Therefore, students are responsible for informing colleges about their learning issues.

• Each college handles information about learning disabilities based on their own individual policies and procedures. If you have a learning disability and are applying to colleges, the first thing you should do is find out how each school on your college list handles learning issues. You can get this information on their respective websites.

• 1) Some colleges offer very comprehensive learning disabilities programs, which include trained staff people and a very high level of support and services. Other colleges offer
• 2) learning services, which include varying levels of support and services. Many other colleges offer
• 3) accommodations for learning disabilities, and students must take responsibility for arranging them. See Midge Lipkin’s The College Sourcebook for Students with Learning and Developmental Differences for an explanation of the different levels.

• As noted in Part I, “not to disclose your learning issues can be a ‘set-up’ for disappointment and/or failure in college admissions.” Here are some reasons why:

• 1.  To receive a fair and adequate review, you as an applicant need to provide colleges with a clear understanding of how your learning issues have impacted your ability to learn and perform academically, including

• a description of your disabilities and how long you have been aware of them
• what challenges you have faced as a result of having these issues,
• how you deal with and/or overcome your challenges, including what you have done on your own (such as putting in a lot more time than other students), getting educational tutoring and/or taking medication
• what you have learned from the your ld experiences
• what kind of accommodations, if any, you might need in college

This explanation can be in the form of an answer to an application essay question or an addendum to an application or a separate hard copy letter to the admissions office.  Colleges want to know how well a student understands his or her learning issues.

• 2.  Explaining your disabilities is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your positive attitude and coping skills

• 3.  Students are not penalized for disclosing their learning issues; in fact, disclosure is likely to help admissions officers understand less than stellar grades and/or test scores, and especially the discrepancy between a student’s abilities and intelligence and his/her GPA and test scores.

• 4.  If your learning disabilities were not diagnosed until your junior or senior year, college admissions officers should be alerted to any positive changes you made after the diagnosis.

• 5.  In elementary, middle and high school, parents are their children’s advocates regarding learning differences. Once you are a college student, everything that happens around these issues has to come from you, including getting accommodations, connecting with the college learning disabilities center and taking responsibility for any medication you take. You need to learn to self-advocate about your learning disabilities before you leave for college.

• It is very useful to have the educational psychologist who provided your educational testing to write a letter to the admissions offices of the colleges to which you are applying summarizing his or her findings.

• Also, if you have the opportunity to personally visit different colleges, while on campus make sure that you stop by each college’s learning disability center to find out who they are and what they offer students.

• If you are interested in finding out more about what kinds of programs different colleges offer and also how to deal with admissions as a learning disabled student, here are some of the best resources available on the topic:

• Kravets, Marybeth, M.A., and Imy F. Wax, M.S. K & W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities, 10th Edition (College Admissions Guides) 
New York, Princeton Review, Random House, 2010. A book filled with advice to learning disabled students about what to say and do about their learning issues in the college admissions process. Also provides the names of colleges that provide learning services and what you can expect from them.
• Lipkin, Midge, Ph.D. Colleges With Programs or Services for Students With Learning Disabilities (3rd ed.)
 Westford, MA, Wintergreen Orchard House, 2009. By far, the most comprehensive book on what colleges and universities provide students who have learning disabilities.
• You can read part I and part II of this article on the blog, more information here: Part I and Part II.

• Based on a long conversation with a mother on the phone the other day, I am thinking that her kid might have some learning issues. According to mom, he is an A student, but is a slow reader, has difficulty focusing on work, takes more time than others to complete homework, has particular problems with foreign languages, almost always underestimates the amount of time that it takes to complete tasks, and often doesn’t finish tests and other things that have time restrictions. The mother wants to know if I think she should have her son tested so that he can get extended time for the SAT and other tests.
• What I said to my friend was that based on what she told me about the student’s symptoms (albeit third hand), I would suggest that the mother at least consult an educational psychologist about whether her son might benefit from some testing, regardless of whether the information would lead to extended time for tests. I explained that it is very important for students (and their parents) to sort out any kind of learning deficiency while students are still in high school. The earlier, the better, because if learning disorders are found, there is still time (and while the parents have some control over their children’s choice of actions) for students

1. to learn how to compensate for their learning issues and/or
2. get educational therapy and/or
3. special tutoring and/or
4. possibly begin using prescribed medications to control their symptoms depending on what the educational test findings are.

It is very important for parents to choose a highly qualified, very experienced, positive psychologist to do the testing, who writes clear, articulate testing reports and who has the ability to explain those reports in writing to college admissions and/or learning services.

• Sometimes educational testing results lead parents applying for an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 Plan for their child from a school, which allow for services and accommodations that help the child to succeed in school. However, a student does not need to have an IEP or 504 Plan in order to have his/her learning disabilities to be taken into consideration as a part of the college application process or to gain access to college learning services.
• Both the College Board Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) and the ACT Services for Students with Disabilities require documentation (testing) by a qualified licensed diagnostician (usually an educational psychologist) in order for a student to qualify for extended time and/or other accommodations.
• Students also need to have a formal diagnosis of a learning disability by a qualified, licensed diagnostician within three years of applying to a college in order for that information to be taken into consideration as a part of the college application process.

• Definition of Learning Disability (LD, also called a learning disorder, learning difficulty or learning difference):

• Attention disorders (Attention Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• ADD and ADHD are brain-based disorders characterized by poor attention, distractibility, and/or hyperactive, impulsive behavior.

• Auditory and visual processing disorders
• Two common learning disabilities are auditory (when a person has difficulty making sense of or analyzing information taken in through their ears) and visual (when a person has difficulty making sense of information taken in through the eyes) processing disorders.

• Dyslexia (Reading Disorder)
• Dyslexia is a learning disability in which a person has difficulty reading and/or understanding written words.

• Dyscalculia (Math Disorder)
• Dyscalculia is a learning disability in which a person has difficulty learning and understanding mathematical concepts and solving mathematical problems,

• Dysgraphia (Writing Disorder)
• Dysgraphia is a disability in which a person has difficulty forming letters, keeping them within a confined space and expressing thoughts in writing.

• Nonverbal Learning Disorder
• Nonverbal learning disorder is a developmental disability, which is characterized by such symptoms as getting lost, forgetting to do homework, being unprepared for class or tests, having difficulty following directions, misunderstanding teachers and peers, having problems with fine motor skills. (Adapted from http://www.ldonline.org/, http://www.ldaofky.org/Learning%20Disability%20defined.pdf)

1. Providing and requiring remedial education for students who need extra work in reading, writing and math.
2. Offering experiential learning, that is, learning from experience rather than (or in addition to) from textbooks and lectures.
3. Requiring new students to attend orientations, including how to use the library and academic and support services.
4. Providing and making sure students take advantage of test preparation materials and resources.
5. Encouraging students who work and/or have dependent children to consult faculty about how many courses to take.
6. Offering student success courses that teach such things as time management and good study habits.

• BEGIN PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR COLLEGE LIST.

With a list in hand, start researching colleges by reading the various guidebooks, including The Fiske Guide, The Insider’s Guide, and/or Colleges That Change Lives. You can also go online to see what students have to say about colleges on www.unigo.com and www.collegeprowler.com.

• SIGN UP FOR THE SAT I, SUBJECT TESTS AND/OR ACT TESTS that will be given in March, April, May and June.

• PUT TOGETHER A FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR ACTIVITIES RESUME.

• Recently, some assorted pieces of information have come to my attention recently through the National Association of Admissions Counseling (NACAC):

• B.  PERSONAL ESSAY:

1. Please write an essay (250-500 words) on a topic of your choice or one of the options listed below. This personal essay helps us to become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores and other objective data.  It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.
2. Your Common Application essay should be the same for all colleges. Do not customize it in any way for individual colleges. Colleges that want customized essay responses will ask for them on a supplement form.

• C.  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Please upload a document here if you wish to provide details of circumstances or qualifications not reflected in the application. (No word count)

Application essay writing should first start with the question you are answering and also pay close attention to the character and/or word count you are given. College admissions people are very picky about your answering their specific questions and following their directions. In a future blog piece, I will tell you how to collect personal stories that will make great content for your application essays, as well as step-by-step directions for how to make essay writing easy, effective and even fun.

Sophomores and freshmen should know that there will be a completely new Common Application, including new essay questions, beginning 2013-2014.

I also posted a college admissions to do list for Juniors so be sure to check that out. And please let me know if I can help create a to do list for something specifically related to College Admissions.  You can find adMISSION POSSIBLE on Facebook and on Twitter at @admissposs.

• Begin thinking about what you want to do this coming summer. Colleges are just about as interested in what you do outside of school and with your summers as they are in your academics. Make sure you choose something you really enjoy.
• During school breaks and while on vacations, swing by any colleges that are nearby just to have a look at what different colleges are like.

• Take stock of how you are spending your time in and out of school. Is there anything you want to add or eliminate from your schedule? Make sure that everything you do is either something you enjoy or “counts” academically.
• Decide whether you want to take any Subject Tests for advanced classes in which you are enrolled. The possibilities are:

1. Literature
2. US History
3. World History

Mathematics & Science

1. Chemistry
2. Biology E or M
3. Math Level I
4. Math Level 2
5. Physics

Languages

1. Chinese w listening
2. French
3. French w listening
4. German
5. German w listening
6. Italian
7. Japanese w listening
8. Korean w listening
9. Latin
10. Modern Hebrew
11. Spanish
12. Spanish w listening

• Begin researching and making contact with the best test tutors in town so that you will have a place with one of them next year. If you want recommendations, let me know.
• Make sure that you are signed up for AP tests that are given at your school in May if you happen to be taking an AP course right now.

• Attend the National Association of College Admissions Counseling college fair at the San Diego Convention Center March April 26 or in the city in which you reside.

• Finalize your summer plans.
• Carefully choose your next year classes, taking into consideration the rigor of the program and balance in your life.
• Take the AP test for any AP class in which you are enrolled.

• Ace your Finals.