I’m a college counselor working with students from around the country as they navigate their college selection.  Many of my clients have some sort of learning issue.

I am often asked whether a student should disclose their learning disability to a college admission counselor. Generally speaking, students don’t want to give a college any reason to generate any preconceived notions about them.  Even though colleges have come a long way in terms of understanding and accommodating learning differences, most people don’t understand the varied range of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, processing disorders or ADHD.  As a result, some students simply don’t want to risk the possibility that an uninformed individual will review their applications.

Other students, however, see good reason for disclosure.  They want to actively pursue accommodations at the college level, and they may view disclosing their LD as an opportunity to provide an explanation of something unusual on their transcripts.  Or, in other cases, they may want to explain poorer grades on a transcript by referring to the learning issue (warning:  LD is not an “excuse”, but an “explanation” for poor academic performance).  In some cases, too, students with learning issues may not be able to be as active in some extracurricular activities, because they need more time to perform in school.  Any of these reasons might make it desirable to disclose a learning disability on the college application.

Specifically, your student may want to disclose a disability, however, if he meets the following criteria:

• He enrolled in some special education classes in high school.  Official transcripts will list all resource, support or special education classes.
• He did not take all of the high school classes that a college requires for admission, such as a foreign language, and the college is willing to waive those requirements for LD students.
• Your student’s grades were consistently lower as a result of his learning disability.
• His learning disability was identified later in his high school career, and his grades noticeably improved after it was identified.
• Your student’s learning disability contributed to the classes and activities he pursued in high school.  An explanation of the classes will help an admissions officer better understand him as a student.

Ready to disclose your secret identity?  Check back tomorrow. I’ll share some advice about how to disclose your learning difference.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
GreatCollegeAdvice.com