Articles
We hope you enjoy our extensive blog on learning differences, college readiness and college admissions.
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Truly Inclusive Admission: Recruiting Students with Disabilities
Proactively recruiting disabled students makes good business sense in higher education. While changing demographics are reducing the overall number of high school students applying to college, disabled students may represent a key untapped market. The National Center...
Strengthening IEC-School Counselor Collaboration for Students with Learning Differences
To enable students with learning differences to thrive in high school and college, it’s essential for professionals working with them to collaborate effectively. When independent educational consultants (IECs) are part of this team, communication between the IEC and...
Counseling Students with Learning Differences
Shepherding students through the college application process in a post-pandemic world is hard work—and when students have learning differences, the job can be even more daunting. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, these students are three...
Confident and Empowered: Supporting College-Bound Autistic Students
The rate of autism diagnoses in the United States has grown considerably in recent decades. Here’s what counselors and colleges need to know as they work with this population of students. Around the country, more autistic students are starting neurodiversity clubs,...
Why Families Trust Top College Consultants
Trusted Experts in College Admissions for Neurodivergent Students At Top College Consultants, earning your trust is at the heart of everything we do. Families count on us for guidance through one of life’s most important decisions—and we take that responsibility...
Bridging the Executive Function Gap: Helping Neurodivergent Students Thrive in College
Thanks to TCC team member Jennifer Quinn for this thoughtful post! Imagine this: You’re a high school senior with ADHD. Teachers remind you of upcoming deadlines. Your parents help manage your calendar. Now fast forward: you’re on a college campus, and no one’s...
World Language Learning for Neurodivergent Students
Thanks to Karyn A. Koven, Ed.D. and LanguageBird for this guest post! World language learning strengthens cognitive skills, builds cultural awareness, and enhances communication—benefits that are especially valuable for neurodivergent learners. It can also become a...
College Support Options for Autistic Students
Like their peers, many autistic students attend college. Of the 50,000 teens on the spectrum graduating from high school annually in the United States, at least a third of them pursue higher education (Shattuck, et al., 2012; Wei, et al., 2015). However, their...
Autism Disclosure and College
In my work helping autistic students apply to college, the question of disclosure comes up frequently. I think it’s important for people to become comfortable with their authentic selves, and I usually disclose my own autism to families early on to set an example....
Getting Into College Is the Easy Part
When helping students apply to college, I am deeply impressed by their persistence in writing and rewriting what sometimes seems like an endless stream of essays. Every fall we eagerly await that exciting news flash: You’re in! And then the real work begins. Yes,...
Autism/Neurodiversity/Disability Scholarships, Internships and More
Are you looking for a summer internship or college scholarship for someone who identifies as autistic, neurodivergent or having a disability? We've been collecting some exciting opportunities! Here's our regularly-updated list. Check back regularly for new...
Reviews and Praise for Top College Consultants
At Top College Consultants, we work closely with students and their parents as we guide them through the college admissions process. We're fortunate to work with many wonderful families around the world. Thank you for your kind reviews and referrals! From parents We...
6 Reasons to Consider a Gap Year
Choosing among the colleges they’ve been accepted to can be an exciting (and sometimes stressful) process for graduating seniors, but there’s still another big question to answer as well: should they start college right away or defer for a year? For many students,...
Should You Disclose a Disability When Applying to College?
I'm often asked whether students with disabilities should discuss their diagnoses on college applications. It's a great question, and a very personal decision. In general, there's no reason to assume that disclosure will either help or hurt a student's chances of...
7 Things Students with Disabilities Should Do When Starting College
Students with disabilities may have tremendous potential as well as exceptional needs. But to fulfill that potential in college, they need to be sufficiently prepared, because the transition from high school involves a huge increase in independence. Here are seven key...
3 Steps to Acing the “Why us?” Essay
3 Steps to Acing the “Why us?” Essay If you’ve started working on supplementary college essays, you may have seen prompts asking you to explain why you’re choosing to apply to that school. For example, Tufts University asks, “Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate...
Discover Your Dream College at a Virtual Fair
Want to learn more about colleges? It's easy! Attend an upcoming virtual college fair from the comfort of your own home. Sign up at https://virtualcollegefairs.org/events.
New Event: Q&A with College Disability Services
Do you have questions about disability accommodations and services in college? If you missed this dynamic Q&A event with staff from three college disability centers, you can see the recording here.