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...
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,...
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,...
Students with disabilities often wonder whether to 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...
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 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...
