Last Minute College Decisions

College admission letters and emails have been received. Financial aid packages have been offered. Most students have made up their minds and sent in their deposits for their place in next year's freshman class. But, for some students, the decision process is not complete. What might be the issues that would keep a student undecided until the very last minute?

First, it is important to know that almost all colleges comply with the Mandatory Practices of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), which include:

[Colleges] agree  they will permit first-year candidates for fall admission to choose among offers of admission and institutionally-affiliated financial aid and scholarships until May 1, and state this deadline explicitly in their offers of admission, and not establish policies nor engage in practices whose effect is to manipulate commitments prior to May 1.

May first is next Monday, leaving almost no time left for students who have not yet made up their mind. And why would a student still be undecided about their college choice? There are several reasons why this might happen. 

• Students whose first choice(s) did not offer sufficient financial aid to make their favorite school a practical financial choice might still be speaking to the Financial Aid Office, trying to improve the package offered to them. If they have already gone through this process, they might still be exploring family resources (grandparents, perhaps) and other ways to help make up the tuition gap to allow them to accept the offer.
• Family issues can upend even the best thought out plans. A "local" choice can become long distance (and possibly less desirable) following an unexpected family move. Death or divorce can change both the family arrangements and available resources for some students. These graduating seniors may need all the time they can get to figure out their next steps. 
• Health issues - medical or emotional - can arise that may impact a student's decision. A flare up or sudden onset of either kind of condition can mean that college enrollment may need to wait a semester or more.
• The "once in a lifetime" opportunity. Some fortunate students may have a last minute option to do something truly special -- travel the world, join an orchestra (or a rock band, ballet company, or Broadway production), work on a science project -- that might make it worthwhile for them to postpone their enrollment. 

For those students who are not simply undecided, but who may have be faced with one of the situations described above, the best path is to immediately contact your desired school's Office of Admissions and see if postponing your enrollment for a year (or a semester) is possible. This is less likely to be granted if your postponement is due to financial reasons. But it never hurts to ask. Why ask? Because deferring enrollment has important benefits, including not starting the application process over again and knowing that you will be admitted when your period of deferment is over. 

And what about students who are torn between two or more acceptances and are waiting until the last minute to make up their minds? It isn't easy to decide, but they should know that more than one-third of college students transfer to another school.

Choosing the College that Fits

The school year is well underway and high school seniors are busily considering the next stage of their lives. That means it’s time for them to think hard about where they want to be next fall. We’ve written in the past about the value of a college education, when to start planning for college, and how to navigate the world of FAFSA and student aid. Today we’re going to take a slightly different angle and consider the biggest question of all – how do I choose the school that’s right for me? Is there even such a thing as a “good school” or is it just a “good fit”? So much of our work here at The Yellin Center focuses on matching a learning environment to each individual student’s needs. The post-high school years are no different; every student has unique needs and expectations when it comes to higher education. 

There are a few questions every student needs to ask her- or himself before setting off on the four-year journey to a bachelor’s degree. First and foremost, we should take some time to reflect on who we are as individuals and why we’re going to college in the first place. If the first answer that comes to mind is “I have to go to college to get a job that pays well and offers stability” that’s fine, but put that thought on the back burner for just a moment. What else do you want to get out of your education? What else would you like to experience or accomplish? Perhaps there’s a particular area of study you want to explore, or a big project you’d like to become involved in. Different universities and colleges offer very different experiences. For example, your blogger chose to attend a small women’s college with no sororities, a very active student government, and a deliberate focus on developing engaged citizens. This was after spending my freshman year at a large public university with strong Greek life, huge lectures, and a focus on research. Neither campus was better than the other, but it was clear which was right for my individual needs and aspirations.

Another question to ask yourself is who you want to surround yourself with. Research has shown that classrooms full of people from all different backgrounds do more to push their students to higher levels of thinking. That means that the most comfortable campus isn’t always the one where we’ll thrive the most. Ask yourself how you feel about entering a situation where you’re forced to think differently and form bonds with people from different cultural backgrounds, races, faiths, and political ideologies. How does a specific school stand up to our expectations of diversity? On the other hand, some of us really benefit from the comfort of being close to home, surrounded by other students in similar situations. Do you feel that you would benefit more from engaging deeply in a community you’ve grown to love, such as what you might find at a local school or community college? Or do you want to dive head first into the unfamiliar and challenge yourself to see the world from a different perspective? Maybe you fall somewhere in the middle. Take a few moments to consider your own limitations, aspirations, and expectations.

After considering these questions, it’s important to take into consideration the preconceived biases we already have about colleges and universities. First and foremost, we need to fight the inclination we have to equate the relationship between a school’s “ranking” and the quality of education we can get from a school. Instead of relying on one publication’s ranking system, decide what’s most important to you and build your own ranking system based on those criteria. Another resource that may lead you to schools you had not considered is your high school guidance counselor. Connect with current and former students of colleges you’re interested in to get a feel for the rigor of the classes, the nature of the instructors, and anything else that you have deemed important. And remember – you can build a challenging, rigorous course load at any school. It’s more important to find a campus that offers the types of classes you want to take and a variety of degree tracks you’re interested in. It’s normal and expected to explore a few different paths before choosing a major, so try not to lock yourself into a school that doesn’t provide wiggle room for exploration outside of what you think you want to do. We’re not the same people at age 18 as we are at age 20, so we can’t expect to stick to a plan we made our senior year of high school. 

After reflecting on your needs and considering the academics, look into the available extracurricular activities and clubs. When you’re not studying, how do you want to spend your time? What campus activities would you find most rewarding? Is it important that there’s studio space on campus? What about research opportunities or professional organizations? Again, the best source of information is often current students. The college website is a good starting point for information, but you won’t really know a place until you’ve heard first-hand accounts. You don’t have to visit every school you’re interested in, but make sure your top few contenders are on your schedule.

Finally, consider any special needs you might have, like accessibility issues, a learning disability, or ADHD, that interferes with your learning. If you make use of testing accommodations, or class modifications like recording lectures or receiving a copy of the notes, make sure to contact the school’s office for students with disabilities to get a sense of how effectively they operate and how supportive they are of student needs. Don’t stop there, though. Reach out to students and instructors to get their take on these issues as well. Some campuses are more open and supportive than others. For more information on navigating life after high school with a disability, check out the book by Susan Yellin, Esq., the Director of Advocacy and Transition Services here at The Yellin Center.

Picking a college or university that fits your needs takes some time and willingness to explore, but it’s well worth it. All those little details add together to make up some of the most rewarding years of your life.

Gallup on What Makes a College Degree “Worth It”

A majority of people in the United States believes that it is important to get a college education. For one thing, adults with only a high school diploma earn, on average, considerably less than adults who graduated from college. Perhaps more importantly, a more advanced degree also allows graduates more choices about the jobs they take and the lives they lead. The perception that college is critical prompts ever-rising numbers of young people to drive themselves into heavy debt to attain the goal of attending college. But is it really worth it?

The results of a recent study by Gallup provide some interesting answers. The Gallup-Purdue Index collected information about 30,000 college graduates in the United States, going beyond just salary to measure the subjects’ engagement in their work, the extent to which they thrived socially and financially, their sense of purpose, and even their physical well-being. The results indicated six elements of emotional support and experiential learning in college that are correlated with long-term career and life success.

These experiences impact graduates’ lives so heavily that Gallup calls them the “Big Six.” Adults who report experiencing all of the following six elements in college perform better on every measure of long-term success than graduates who missed out on these experiences. In college, successful adults generally report:

1. Encountering a professor who made them excited about learning

2. Working with professors who cared about them as people

3. Having a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams

4. Working on a long-term project

5. Placement in a job or internship where they applied what they were learning

6. Being extremely involved in extra-curricular activities

The difference between the outcomes of graduates who experienced all six elements versus those who experienced none of them is nothing short of astonishing. For example, results indicate that 82% of Big Six graduates felt prepared for life after college. In contrast, only 5% of those who had none of these experiences felt prepared. Sixty-five percent of employees whose college experience contained all six elements reported being engaged at work while only 25% of those who experienced none of the elements did. Keep in mind that the adults polled are all college graduates.

In light of these results, Gallup’s Brad Busteed, executive director of Education and Workforce Development, advocates adding graduation requirements that would prompt colleges to provide students with experiential learning and supportive relationships in addition to traditional coursework.

College hopefuls, and their parents, should read the original article and view the results in detail; careful selection of a school that can provide this winning formula could make all the difference.

Photo credit: State Farm via flickr cc

High School Athletes: Thinking Ahead to College

Applying to colleges can be an overwhelming proposition for most students, but those hoping to play sports in college have an additional series of factors to consider. This is especially true for students hoping to play for universities and colleges known for their academic standards, which tend to allocate fewer resources to athletic recruitment. However, athletic skill can be powerfully influential in the admissions process, so it's worth students' time to learn about the process and develop and implement a strategy.

First, students should familiarize themselves with the National Collegiate Athletic Association's many rules and regulations. Athletes should check with the Eligibility Center, where they can learn what criteria they must fulfill to play college sports. They can also download a helpful guide for college-bound student-athletes from the website. Finally, they should register for the NCAA to begin making themselves visible to coaches.

Most high school students don't launch seriously into the processes of researching and applying to colleges until at least their junior years. But, according to Amy Rader Kice, assistant dean at St. Edward's University, athletes need to get moving sooner. Rader Kice writes that coaches often begin contacting highly promising athletes during their sophomore years, and many athletes know up to a year in advance which school they'll be attending and representing. It may be best to start narrowing down a list of schools during a student's freshman year of high school, then initiating contact with coaches the following year.

Marketing one's self as a college-level athlete is a lot like applying for a job. Because NCAA rules limit the amount of contact coaches can have with prospective college athletes, students should initiate contact themselves; there's no penalty for that. Again, this is particularly important for students who want to attend academically rigorous schools, says Keith Blackwell, founder of a subscription-based website designed to connect student-athletes and college coaches called Elite College Sports.

Students should submit whatever evidence of their prowess they can—videos of them playing, statistics, times, etc.—along with evidence that they can perform in the classroom as well. GPA, standardized test scores, and recommendation letters from teachers as well as coaches are all useful to coaches, who don't want to risk recruiting athletes who may lose eligibility if their grades aren't up to par.

Any serious athlete knows that training in the off-season is important. By the same token, summers can be critical periods for athlete recruitment, too. Many universities offer summer workshops in which coaches work with high school athletes; start looking for postings in February and March. For those who can afford to attend, it's a win-win: coaches are on the lookout for promising talent, and the athletes can benefit from coaches' wisdom and tips at the same time.

Finally, students should remember that a super-sonic fastball or a perfect three-pointer aren't the only things that turn coaches' heads. Coaches want to recruit students who demonstrate leadership, initiative, and resilience. Good sports who are enjoyable to have in the locker room are a pleasure to coach and can buoy a whole team's spirits. Demonstrating good citizenship may be just as important as demonstrating athletic skill.

Different Ways to Think About and Apply to College

High school students, especially seniors, can't help but think about college. So much of their high school career -- coursework, extracurricular activities, grades, and standardized exams -- have been undertaken with thoughts of how these will translate into college acceptances by the second semester of senior year. Many students have spent time in recent months visiting campuses and deciding where they want to submit applications this fall.

Before you or your senior decides where to apply and, ultimately, where to enroll, we'd like to make a suggestion that may help inform your decision process.

Take the time to read or re-read the book Colleges That Change Lives: 
40 Schools That Will Change the

Way You Think About Colleges, by Loren Pope. Originally written in 1996, with a current 2013-14 edition updated by Hilary Masell Oswald, this book is a breath of fresh air in the world of competitive admissions, large schools, and ivy envy that permeates many students' college search. The narrative descriptions of these almost universally small colleges focus on the quality of teaching, the engagement of students with their professors, curriculum, and classmates, and the impact that this kind of personalized instruction has on alumni long after graduation.Most of the schools in this book accept a large percentage of applicants -- and a large number are SAT/ACT optional and take a goodly number of "B" students. But the education they provide is rigorous and meaningful, with many having a required core curriculum that gives students a deep understanding of their world and its unifying themes. Most have significant study abroad components, and it is clear that the authors believe this gives their students a significant advantage after graduation. 

Just a few examples of the different programs described in the book are:

• Emory and Henry College in Virginia, where, as the book notes, they do "a very good job supporting students who haven't hit their stride yet" with strong academic support services.
• Cornell College in Iowa (which the authors stress was the first Cornell, founded some dozen years before the ivy league Cornell), whose 1200 students study under a Block Plan, where they take one course at a time in an academic year of eight blocks of three and a half weeks each.
• Goucher College, in Maryland, where the 1500 students are required to spend at least one term abroad -- even if just the three-week January term or a summer. The book notes that around 30 percent of the students go abroad twice. One aspect of Goucher that is newer than even the most up-to-date revision of this book is that students can apply in one of several ways, including via video. The video application, only available for students who are applying via the non-binding, early action application, asks students to submit a short video about themselves and their goals. It is not the only way to apply to Goucher, but it may be just the way for some students to best demonstrate what makes them a desirable candidate. Take a look for yourself and see what you think. We hope this becomes a common way for other schools to learn about their applicants. 

News You Can Use

Our pile of newspapers and magazines -- paper and digital -- is growing all the time, and we sometimes get the feeling that education news is happening too quickly for us to keep up with it. Here are some items that we think are important to share.

• Hofstra University, the largest college on Long Island, with approximately 6,800 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students, has announced that they are implementing a "test optional" admissions policy
  
  for students applying for admission for fall 2015. This policy will apply to all but international and home-schooled students. Hofstra is joining more than 800 other colleges and universities that no longer require SAT or ACT tests for admission. Recent research has demonstrated that there is no correlation between high standardized test scores and college success; researchers have found that the greatest predictor of college success is a high GPA in high school. You can find lists of other colleges that do not require standardized testing on the website of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, Fairtest.
• A new group -- the Coalition for Multiple Pathways to a Diploma, led by our colleagues at Advocates for Children of New York -- is looking at New York's dismal high school graduation rates and at ways to improve these numbers. Check out a report by the coalition and a PowerPoint presentation which presents some stark numbers: New York is well in the bottom half of states in graduation rates, with an overall graduation rate throughout the state of 74%, a rate which falls to less than 45% for students with disabilities. 
• ED, the Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has an excellent and lengthy examination of two U.S. Supreme Court cases impacting race and education -- Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision which outlawed segregation in public schools, and Milliken v. Bradley, a 1974 decision which barred most busing across school district lines to achieve racial integration of public schools and left de facto segregation and sharp differences between inner cities and their more affluent suburbs in place. 
  

Questions for the College Bound

Whether you are a graduating senior who already knows where you will be attending school next year, a high school junior who is starting to get serious about the college application process, or a younger student or a parent who has questions and concerns about college, there are a few things to consider that might not be on your radar.

Retention Rate
You probably would not want to take a job in a company where most people quit after the first few months. You might rightly be concerned that there was something about that company that was problematic. In the same way, it is important to ask about the retention rate at any college you are seriously considering. How many students come back for their sophomore years after their first year? How many continue on to complete their junior and senior years as well? While some top universities have almost a 100 percent retention rate, others lose up to a third or more of their students from freshman to sophomore years. The reasons for this can vary and can include economic, social, and academic readiness factors, although some research has demonstrated that lack of retention may not have anything to do with whether students have learning disabilities.

What a low retention rate should do is prompt careful questioning about why students don't return and to weigh these factors into your own equation of what is important in a college. Is the school too isolated or does it empty out on weekends, leaving out of town students with little to do? Are the course offerings too sparse? Are there limited opportunities for research or advanced work for serious students? Is it a bit too much of a party school for you or your student? While it is always possible to transfer to another school, checking out your college choice carefully may enable you to avoid this process.

Time to Graduate
The four year college degree is not always a four year process. According to a Time analysis of U.S. Education Department figures, four year completion rates for a B.A. or B.S. degree can be as low as 30 to 40 percent, with the lowest rates in public colleges. There can be many reasons for this -- and most students do finish within six years of matriculating. But difficulty registering for courses needed for their major or switching to a different major and thus needing additional courses are two prime reasons for these numbers. Given the extraordinary expense of college, with no discount given if you can't get into the specific course you need, students and their families should give considerable thought to what majors are available and what percent of students are able to register for their first choice of classes. Note that many schools permit students registered with the Office of Disability Services to have priority registration, which can be huge benefit and can also allow students to select professors whose teaching style will best align with their learning needs.

Requirements
This is a subject we have written about before and is explored at some length in my book, Life After High School: A Guide for Students with Disabilities and Their Families, but it is still an area that trips up some students. Colleges almost always have two kinds of requirements: high school courses they require to admit a student and the courses students are required to complete to graduate. If you or your student has a particular area of difficulty, such as a language based learning disability that makes it extremely difficult to learn a foreign language, or a math disability that makes completing a math requirement just about impossible, it is crucial to be aware of the requirements of your chosen college. Your high school may have waived or modified certain courses because of your learning disabilities, and the college may have admitted you because not all majors require a foreign language or a math sequence. But, depending on what course of study you choose, you may find yourself required to take courses in which you are not able to succeed. Keeping this issue in mind can avoid this problem.

Major Changes to SAT by 2016

In the wake of reports of criticism about the SAT exam (which dropped the name "Scholastic Aptitude Test" years ago in the face of claims that it did not actually measure aptitude for college success), the College Board announced on Wednesday that it will be making a number of changes to the exam. The changes include:

• A return to the 1600-point scale. The overall score will be a composite of 800 possible points for its math and reading sections.

• The end of the mandatory essay. Students may choose to write an essay after completing the reading and math sections if they choose. However, instead of a personal essay in which they express an opinion or describe an experience, students will be asked to analyze a document. The essay will be given a separate score.

• A change to vocabulary words tested. Instead of words some deem esoteric, the College Board says the test will probe student’s knowledge of words that are commonly used in college courses. 

• A shift in math skills tested. The new SAT will focus on three areas: linear equations, complex equations, and ratios/percentages/proportional reasoning. Also, students will be allowed to use calculators for only some portions of the math section.

• Ending the penalty for wrong answers. The current test deducts a quarter of a point for each wrong answer (though there is no penalty for answers left blank). The “guessing penalty” will be removed from the new test.

• Analysis of science and social studies texts as part of the reading and writing section. Additionally, in some cases students will be asked to select not only the right answer, but also the textual quote that supports their answer.

One criticism of the SAT, and standardized testing in general, is that affluent students tend to do better, perhaps because they can afford access to test preparation courses. In hopes of leveling the playing field, the College Board has partnered with the Khan Academy to make practice and instructional materials available free of charge. Low-income students will receive another perquisite as well: Those who qualify will get four waivers that will allow them to apply to four colleges for free.

There is not yet any indication of how these changes will affect students with learning differences.

For more information, please visit the College Board’s webpage dedicated to the changes to the exam. 

Photo Credit: Flickr CC - Jeff Pioquinto, SJ

New Research Finds No Correlation Between Standardized Testing and College Success

A new study from the National Association of College Admission Counseling may spell good news for high school students who dread the onslaught of standardized tests associated with college admissions. The research, conducted by Dr. William C. Hiss of Bates College and Dr. Valerie W. Franks of the University of Arkansas, indicates that students who did not submit SAT scores as part of their college applications fared just as well in college as students who performed well on these measures and sent their scores to colleges. A high GPA in high school, the researchers found, was the most important predictor of post-secondary success.

The study selected 33 public and private colleges and universities that all had “test optional” admissions requirements; that is, applicants could submit standardized test results if they wanted to, but these numbers were not required for their consideration as potential students. Drs. Hiss and Franks followed more than 122,000 students over the course of eight years, comparing the cumulative GPAs and graduation rates of students who submitted scores and students who did not. The results indicated virtually no difference between the two groups. Those who earned high GPAs in high school, however, tended to obtain similar results in their college courses.

High grades on high school report cards, postulates Hiss, demonstrate that a student has acquired the kind of discipline, curiosity, and study skills necessary to succeed at the college level. This measure, he believes, is a better indicator of a student’s abilities than the snapshot shown by an SAT or ACT score.

A significant difference between the submitting and non-submitting groups did reveal itself, however: The group that did not submit scores was more diverse, containing more students from low socio-economic backgrounds, students of color, and students with learning disabilities than the group that did send in test scores. Importantly, this group turned out to be just as capable, performing as well in college as its more homogeneous counterpart in terms of grades and graduation rates.

For minority students and exceptional students, groups that tend to perform more poorly on standardized tests, the results of this study could lead to helpful changes in college admissions. If it is true that performance on standardized assessments is a non-critical piece of application packages, more colleges and universities may make testing optional, or perhaps do away with the option of score submission altogether. This would spell good news for students who traditionally underperform on these measures. It’s good news for colleges as well; with updated policies, they can look forward to more diverse student populations.

Until there is a more universal policy of not requiring SAT or ACT tests for college admissions, students, families, and counselors can find searchable lists of schools where these tests are not required for admissions on the nonprofit Fairtest website.

Specific Learning Disabilities in College

As we have written before, students who have graduated high school are no longer covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which comes to an end either upon graduation or when students who will not be graduating with a standard diploma "age out" of their eligibility for public education under their state's laws (usually age 21). Instead, students in college are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The protections afforded by the ADA are broad, but there is one particular area where it differs from the IDEA that can make college entrance and college completion a problem for students who have specific areas of learning challenge.

The IDEA permits modifications to curriculum. So, for example, a student with a language disability may not be required to take a foreign language in high school, or a student with a disability of mathematics may not be required to take the same math courses as their classmates; the curriculum for each of these students can be modified in their area of specific learning disability. Note that these students may not be eligible for certain academic diplomas if their curriculum is significantly different than that of their classmates, but they are usually still eligible for a "local" diploma, one that is accepted by colleges, employers, and the military.

The ADA does not require colleges to make any modifications to curriculum. It requires accessibility, in both a physical and academic sense, but a student must be "otherwise qualified" for admission and graduation. What that means is that colleges can set standards for qualifications for students they admit, and they need not admit students who are lacking certain courses (staying with our example, this could be students who are lacking advanced math or foreign language courses), and even if such students are admitted, they may not be permitted to graduate without taking required courses or obtaining a waiver of such requirements from a college committee charged with granting such waivers.

This issue is of particular concern to some students in community colleges. These colleges are generally "open enrollment" in that they accept all high school graduates from their community. Because they do not rely on the stricter standards of selective colleges, they need a way to make sure students are prepared for college work. For students who have taken SAT or ACT exams, good scores in these exams are a way to demonstrate such preparation. Students who cannot submit strong scores on standardized tests, often because their learning disabilities impact their performance, must take placement tests to demonstrate their proficiency in areas such as reading, writing, and math. Those who cannot pass these tests are required to take remedial coursework and to pass such remedial courses in order to fully matriculate. Then, like all college students, they must also take the courses required for their major in order to graduate. Furthermore, students have to pay for remedial coursework just like they pay for regular courses, but do not receive credits towards their diplomas for these. And, often, they are limited in how many times they can take a particular course -- a "three strikes and you're out" approach.

The issue requires a balancing between the legal right of a college to set standards for admission and graduation and the rights of students with specific learning or other disabilities to be able to access a college education. There is no easy answer and it raises some fundamental questions that we expect courts to deal with at some point in the future.

American Heritage College Planning

High school students and their families are always looking for useful sources of information about college planning, colleges, and everything related to the process of moving beyond high school to the next step in a student's education. There are countless articles, books, websites, and colleges themselves to learn about, but it is difficult for students and their parents to keep up with the constant flow of information and the seemingly endless lists of colleges to consider. High school guidance counselors and web-based college planning programs can be helpful, but we have found another terrific resource for students, parents, and their counselors alike.

American Heritage College Planning is a Facebook page administered by Luciana Mandal, M.Ed., Director of College Planning at American Heritage School, a private Pre-12 school (with over 1400 high school students) in Plantation, Florida. Featuring the oft heard quotation attributed to Frank Sachs, Past President of the National Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC), "College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won," the page includes links to current books and articles, information about specific colleges, and planning tips that can be useful to all students thinking about college. 

"The media can often skew information," Ms. Mandal noted. "So, when we see well-written and accurate articles in the media that represent our real experiences in the field, we like to make them available to anyone who follows our Facebook Page." She continued, "The practice in our college office at American Heritage is to guide students individually, based on family and student priorities. We believe that education is a process and not a race, and that the college degree is a step toward a career. That "good fit" college is what we seek for each student, so having toured over 250+ colleges (collectively in our department), we know much more about the college fit than where it sits on a rank list. Therefore, the articles we post present important angles not well-known to the public."

It's easy enough to keep up with the information posted by Ms. Mandal and her colleagues; just add the page to your "friends" list and be prepared to be informed.  

Free Back-to-School Workshops for Parents and Educators

The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education will present a series of free back-to-school workshops for parents and educators at our Center on West 29th Street in Manhattan in the coming weeks.

Jeremy Koren

First up: on Tuesday, September 24, Paul B. Yellin, MD, FAAP,, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine and Director of The Yellin Center will discuss ADHD, Attention, and Learning. Special emphasis will be placed on the topics of common symptoms, the process of diagnosis (and what labels like "ADHD" really mean), some recommended treatments, and how to deploy individualized strategies to best support weak attention and executive-function controls in learners at every grade level, from elementary school through college.

On the following evening,Wednesday, September 25, Susan Yellin, Esq. will present College 101: What Students with Learning Issues (and Their Parents) Should Know. Mrs. Yellin will focus on matters of import to students and parents who are in various stages of the process of transitioning from high school to the more independent setting associated with colleges and universities, including admissions, student support services, choosing a school, SAT/ACT testing issues, disability disclosure considerations, and more. Parents of students from middle school through 12th grade should find this presentation highly informative.

Finally, on Thursday, October 17, Dr. Yellin will present a special discussion on Memory and Learning. In this conversation, Dr. Yellin will aim to provide parents with a new understanding of how variation in the brain functions which control memory can impact a student's performance in school.

All of these events are free, but advance registration is required and space will be limited. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.. Events will begin promptly at 5 p.m. and conclude by 6 p.m. each night.

Register online here, or call The Yellin Center at (646) 775-6646. Please tell a friend to join you! We hope to see you there.

Download printable fliers for the events here and tack them up on your local community or school bulletin board.


-Jeremy Koren

An Experiment in Being "Test Flexible"

We've written before about the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, usually referred to as Fairtest. Fairtest's website includes lists of colleges that are SAT/ACT optional and can be a helpful resource for students who believe that their scores on these exams don't reflect their real abilities.

Brandeis University in Massachusetts, one of the schools on the Fairtest list, has taken an interesting approach to what they call being "test flexible". As described by the University, students applying to Brandeis can choose to submit a combination of scores in subject tests, or an academic portfolio that includes a sample of analytical writing and an additional teacher evaluation. However, even students who don't submit traditional SAT/ACT tests will be asked for these scores after they matriculate. After two years, the Brandeis Senate will decide, based upon the success of the text flexible admitted students, whether to change, expand, or eliminate this program.

Brandeis University, by Hannah Rosen

Andrew Flagel, who heads up student enrollment at the school, is quoted in a Brandeis newsletter as noting, “This is an evolutionary change, since we already strive to de-emphasize the role of standardized tests in our admissions decisions through the careful evaluation of high school program and grades, recommendation letters, interview reports, and other ‘non-cognitive’ factors.” He further noted that this research based approach to test flexible admissions allows the University to maintain its high academic standards while giving students control over how their application will be evaluated. 

We will be interested to see how this experiment in having students decide how to best "package" themselves for admission will turn out. 

With thanks to our friends at Newsday's College Prep Talk, we want to share some lesser known but helpful sites for students applying to college. We hope that this year's seniors have their applications in and are waiting for news (and know that students applying early admission will have received their responses). But for high school juniors and sophomores and their parents, this is the time to start thinking ahead about how to select a college -- and how to pay for it.

If you missed the webinar on this topic, in which your blogger was joined by a college guidance counselor and an admissions officer, you can still view it on demand -- just click on the "To Register" button on the Newsday webinar website.

In the meantime, check out the following sites, all of which are free but which require registration:

Fastweb - offers information on scholarships and matching students with available scholarships. 

Cappex - matches students with colleges and recommends scholarship sources. 

Zinch - another matching services for both colleges and scholarships. Here, the information is provided to college representatives, who may then reach out to students.

College Prowler - a discussion board for a variety of college questions that also features a tool to assess your chances of being admitted to a particular school.

This might also be a good time for sophomores and juniors with learning disabilities and ADHD to pick up a copy of the award winning book Life After High School: A Guide for Students with Disabilities and Their Families, which includes numerous resources, including helpful websites.

Time to Move on College Applications

November seems to be rushing by, especially if you (like your blogger) spent much of the last two weeks in the dark after Hurricane Sandy brought her wrath to the New York metro area. Once our lights came back on yesterday, it suddenly dawned on us that Thanksgiving is just over a week away -- and so is the ideal date for college bound students to complete their applications.

Yes, we know that even early decision applications are not due until the very beginning of December, but we have always urged the students with whom we work to consider Thanksgiving weekend to be their unofficial deadline for completing all of their applications, even for regular admissions. There are several reasons for this. First, many colleges have rolling admissions and are literally "first come, first admitted." You want to give yourself the best chance possible to gain admission so waiting until the school has filled its allocated spaces doesn't make any sense. Even for schools without rolling admissions, the simple fact is that an earlier application generally gets reviewed earlier and by an admissions officer who has not been reading applications every day for months. You may not get acted upon sooner, but you have a better chance to make a good first impression. In addition, colleges want to see strong interest from the students they admit. They understand that students who need to see their financial aid package may not be able to apply "early decision" since this would bind them to accepting a place without knowing if they had sufficient financial aid to attend. But submitting your "regular decision" application early will make it clear that you are very interested in that school even if you are unable to apply "early decision."

What if you still haven't decided where to apply or even if you want to go right to college or take a year off to work or travel? Don't panic. Many schools accept applications well into the spring. And almost all colleges will allow a student who has been admitted to defer admission for a year to travel, work, or volunteer. The time to apply for such deferment is after you have been accepted.

So, where does this leave a high school senior? Try to finish your applications by Thanksgiving, but understand that there are options even for those who are still not finished applying by Presidents' Day. And, whenever you apply, please make sure your applications are complete and have been carefully edited before you press "submit!"

Photo: Courtney Dirks / Creative Commons

Newsday Webinar on "Selecting the Right College"

Susan Yellin, Esq., the Director of Advocacy and Transition Services at The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education (and frequent contributor to this blog) has been invited to serve as a panelist for a free webinar on "Selecting the Right College."

The Newsday College PrepTalk webinar will take place on Monday, October 22, at 8:00 PM (Eastern).

Topics that will be discussed include: Student Life, Academic Reputation, Campus Size and Faculty, Special Circumstances, and Students with Disabilities.

The free event is sponsored by Hofstra University.

Register for the event here.


***

For more information about upcoming Yellin Center events, please visit our Events page.

Preparing to Face College Tuition: The Net Price Calculator

Everyone knows college is getting more and more expensive. Each year, it seems, institutions across the country hike up tuition a little more. However, are rate hikes as steep a they seem? A recent analysis by NPR's financial blog Planet Money found that just as college sticker prices have risen, available scholarship and grant money is on the rise too. The upswing in tuition and grants almost matches, meaning that the net cost of attending college may actually not have risen as much as is popularly believed.

This sounds like great news, but what can students realistically expect to pay? To help families grapple with this question as they prepare to confront the cost of sending their children to universities, colleges are now required to post a very useful net price calculator on their websites. Planet Money explains that the calculator poses questions about the student's performance and his/her family's financial situation, then calculates what the likely tuition will be. For many students, the cost is considerably lower than the advertised sticker price once applicable scholarships and grants are figured in. The National Center for Education Statistics has a  useful page containing more information about the calculator; it's worth a visit for anyone who plans to pay for higher education in the near future.

Photo: ImagesofMoney/Flickr Creative Commons

Hitting the Mid-Atlantic College Trail

As the school year comes to an end and families finalize their summer plans, high school students and their parents will often take time to visit college campuses. We've written before about these trips and have come across an excellent guide in the New York Times The Choice Blog that should be required reading for every student who embarks upon this journey. There's also a chapter in my book, Life After High School: A Guide for Students with Disabilities and Their Families entitled "The Campus Visit" with lots of advice on how to get the most from your time on campus.

Your blogger is planning a college trip of her own this summer, to check out some of the schools in the mid-Atlantic region that may be of interest to some of the students with whom we work. I'm heading off with a friend who is a guidance counselor at a suburban Maryland high school. We plan to visit Fairleigh Dickinson University's Florham Campus in Madison, New Jersey, and to check out its well-regarded Regional Center for Students with Learning Disabilities. We will then stop at Rider College in Lawrenceville, NJ before heading south to stop at the University of Delaware where we will visit their Academic Services Center. 

Our trip will then move on to Maryland, where we plan to visit Frostburg State University, McDaniel College in Westminster, and the University of Maryland campuses in both College Park and Baltimore. We'd welcome any of your suggestions for other places to visit along the way. Just drop a note or suggestion in the comments below. I'll be reporting back on this blog about what we learn later in the summer.

Photo of UMD-College Park campus: Arianrivan via Flickr Creative Commons

Next Steps for College-Bound Students with Learning Difficulties

High school seniors have generally made their college decisions and are focusing their energies on end of year activities such as proms and graduation. But for students with learning disabilities and other issues which can impact their learning, there are important things to do between now and the start of college to make sure that they are set for success in the fall. 

This is the time -- after you have been admitted and have accepted a place as a freshman -- to make sure your accommodations will be in place when you arrive on campus. For those students who have been accepted to specialized support programs at their college, there will probabably be a great deal of outreach to you to make sure your paperwork is complete. You will have had to submit current documentation of your learning or other disability as part of your application, and one of the benefits of these programs is that they will help to make sure you will receive all the accommodations you require. 

If you are like most students, however, it is your responsibility to communicate with your school's Office of Disability Services (ODS) to make sure your documentation is up to date and complete. There is still time to arrange for the kind of documentation your school requires to validate your entitlement to accommodations. This documentation can range from a full neuropsychological and educational evaluation (such as those we do here at The Yellin Center) to medical documentation of an ongoing physical condition. Every college has guidelines that clearly describe what they require and forms for you to use to submit your documentation. Get them from the college's website as soon as possible and make sure you submit the required information to the ODS without delay.

Once the documentation is complete, you need to speak to the ODS staff to arrange specific accommodations that will meet your individual needs. Are you used to a particular kind of text-to-speech software? Will you need extended time for your exams? A quiet exam location? A note-taker? Colleges are required to provide accommodations for you that will "best ensure" that you are able to access the campus, your classes, and the curriculum. But that doesn't always mean that you will get every accommodation you seek or that you will get it in the form you are used to using. You need to make sure that your documentation clearly outlines how your disability impacts your academic and residential life and what "academic adjustments, auxiliary aids and services, and modifications" (from the language of the Americans with Disabilities Act) will be necessary because of this.

Keep in mind that once you are granted accommodations you still need to take several steps to put them in place. You will need to pick up the forms documenting your accommodations from the ODS, provide a copy of the form to each professor, and then follow up before each exam to remind the professor that you will be needing accommodations for the exam. Remember, unlike in high school, the responsibility for obtaining accommodations and having them implemented falls on you. By starting early and keeping the lines of communication open, you will be able to start classes in the fall with all the supports you require for success.

Photo: Briles Takes Pictures/Flickr Creative Commons

High (School) Anxiety

Your blogger has had the opportunity recently to visit two local private high schools whose missions are to educate students with learning and related difficulties. Both The Churchill School in Manhattan and the Community School in Teaneck, New Jersey had invited me to speak to parents about the issues addressed in my book Life After High School.

In both schools, parents shared a very palpable concern about how their children would manage the transition from a specialized, supportive high school to post secondary education -- college or another kind of program -- and eventually to adulthood. These parents had all been through the special education process with their children, having emerged with spots in coveted, state approved (and publicly funded) schools where their children are taught in small classes by teachers with expertise in remediating learning difficulties. Many of these parents had provided their children with significant levels of support with tasks like organization, advocacy, and academics, beyond that customary for more typical learners.

The parents that I met at these presentations are far from unique in their concerns. Parenting any child is a complex process, but parenting a child who struggles in school is even more so. So what can parents of teens do now, while their child is still at home, to help foster independence beyond high school? Some helpful steps include:

Help your child understand how he or she learns. By really understanding their strengths and weaknesses and knowing what learning strategies work for them, students will be better able to arrange their academic accomodations and supports and to ask for the right kind of help.

Foster Affinties. Studies have shown that children who build on their interests and who pursue special skills, tend to be more resilient as adults. Students who may struggle with academics can have many areas where they are successful and should have opportunities to pursue their interests -- sports, hobbies, or the arts.

Build Self Advocacy Skill. By the time a student graduates from high school he or she should have attended one or more of the meetings where their IEP is developed, and certainly should have an understanding of the services they receive in school and why they receive them. It is not easy to get a teenager to deal with this aspect of their lives, but it is important to enable them to work towards independence.