Need more time for the ACT or SAT?

If you’ve been diagnosed with a learning disability, you may want to consider requesting special accommodations when you take the SAT or ACT. Depending on your learning disability, accommodations could include extended time to complete the test, testing over multiple days, access to an audio DVD, or a specific seating arrangement. Students with ADHD, for example, may be able to take the test with extended time in a room with fewer students. There’s no additional charge to complete an accommodated test, and because college admissions committees don’t know when tests were taken under modified circumstances, you shouldn’t hesitate to request accommodations if you need them.

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Choosing the right college location: How independent are you?

Yesterday, I began this series with a general introduction to how students with learning differences can begin their search for the right college. Today, we are going to focus on location, location, location!

Moving away from home can be challenging for all students regardless of whether or not they have a learning disability.  However, some students with specific learning challenges may experience higher levels of anxiety and may not yet be prepared to live independently. Determining whether location of the college campus should be a priority in selecting a college is dependent on several factors.  Consider the following questions:

  • How independent is your student now?  Does she independently manage her responsibilities or does she need adult guidance?  Does she independently manage things like cooking, doing her laundry and managing her finances?
  • Is the college located in a small town or in a large city?  How will this impact your student’s decision?
  • If your student chooses to live at home, how far of a commute is it to the college of her choice?  Is public transportation available?  Can she access it independently?
  • Does your student want to live with a roommate or does she prefer to live alone?
  • Is your student able to say no to peer pressure?

Your answer to these questions will help you evaluate your student’s level of academic and social independence.  Beyond this, also consider things like accessibility to medical providers, access to transportation, and your student’s ability to maintain relationships with family and friends within a specific mile radius.
Look for the last installment in this series tomorrow.  I’ll review the importance of evaluating career goals and how they play a part in selecting the right college for students with learning differences.
Heather Creech
Expert in College Placement for Students with Learning Differences
 
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Social Stereotypes and Campus Life–Carnegie Mellon University

College campuses have social stereotypes:

The geeky, intellectual campus.

The very conservative campus, both socially and politically

The earthy-crunchy campus where veganism is common

The laid-back, middle-of-the-road, “I-don’t-take-life-too-seriously” sort of place

The quirky campus full of off-beat individuals


Carnegie Mellon University has a reputation for attracting intellectually-intense math and science geeks who are studying computers, engineering, or likely both.  Students have sallow complexions from too many late nights in the lab or the library, and they think a social life is sitting next to someone while in the computer lab working on their problem sets.

Actually, CMU is more diverse than that.  It has a renown drama school and and excellent College of Fine Arts.  So there are plenty  of artsy-fartsy types, too.

Part of my job as a counselor is to visit colleges and investigate for myself the degree to which these stereotypes are true. And sometimes you just have to ask a student (or two or three or four) to get an idea of the sort of student who would be happy on that campus.

So I did.  I talked to a student about the stereotypes, and here is what he had to say.



Mark Montgomery
College Consultant



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Class of 2013 Mindset List

Every year Beloit College releases a “mindset” list of interesting cultural tidbits that have influenced the students entering college this fall. Not only does this list make me feel older ever year, but it always makes me wonder how the heck they research this stuff?
Some of my favorites from this year’s include:
They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
Someone has always been asking: “Was Iraq worth a war?”
Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
And…. There has always been blue Jell-O.
To find your favorites from this year’s list go to: https://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2013.php
Katherine Price
Educational Consultant

Do Your Students Get Into Their First Choice College?

Parents call  me nearly every day to ask about my services.  Understandably, they want to know about my success rate.  Here’s the usual question:

How many of your students get into their first choice college? Choose the right college

Many college consultants tout a “success rate” based on whether students get into their first or second choice college.  But this is a tricky statistic to report and impossible to verify.  For example, if a student enters my office with a GPA of 3.1, no honors courses, and an ACT composite of 27, eagerly reporting that Harvard is his first choice, my reporting statistics are immediately in trouble.  After a process of counseling during which the student redefines his own educational success differently, the student’s first choice may change—in which case I might be able to recover my statistical success rate.

But then there are the students who even after hours and hours of counseling refuse to believe (like the student above) that first-choice Harvard is out of reach.  While I’m confident about the low statistical probability that this client will somehow sneak through the gates of Harvard Yard, it is not for me to deny the student his right to apply.  Perhaps this student needs the rejection letter in black and white to even consider other options.  So I would go ahead and let the student cling to the dream, and even help the student through the process—even as I communicate my doubts and ensure that the student is applying to other excellent colleges that I know he will learn to love—but only after Harvard rejects him.  But how would I report this student statistically?  Harvard is his first choice.  He didn’t get in.  Does that make me a poor counselor?

Just as all college counselors encourage their clients to take statistics published by the colleges and universities with a grain of salt, I encourage you to approach placement statistics published by independent counselors with the same skepticism.  College counseling is about developing an individualized educational plan for each young man and woman who comes in my door.  Virtually none go away unhappy with the outcome.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant


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College Fit: How Does the Shirt Look on Me?

Shopping For Colleges Is Like Shopping For Clothes: You Gotta Try Them On

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