Expert: Sue Kayton - 3/2/2008

Question
My daughter is at a select private school in Manhattan. Her ERB scores have always been in the 98 percentile in all areas. Her grades, however in freshman and sophomore year were very erratic from A's to D's. A math tutor suggested she be evaluated for ADHD. The school said not to test her, it was her attitude. I had her tested for 2 weeks and she has classic exexutive functioning issues, a component of ADHD. With medication and counseling she is now getting stellar grades, nothing below B+,  her PSAT score was 2050.
My question is how does she explain this change to the colleges and can she apply to first tier schools even though Sophomore year and first quarter Junior semester grades were mediocre. Should her school explain that they failed to recognize her ADHD and even advised me not to test her for it.

Answer
This is a very common situation, much more common than you may think.  The colleges take this into account when evaluating the student's record.  Apply to top-tier schools, but of course also apply to second-tier schools and at least one backup.  Even with no mitigating circumstances, admission rates at top tier schools are in the 10% range.

The top-tier schools all ask for essays.  Almost always one of the topics is about how the student overcame some sort of obstacle, or the question asks what in their background influenced how they are today.  These are both excellent ways to explain to the school why the academic record has changed significantly.

I hope this answers your question and I wish your daughter luck in the process.  Make sure she understands that getting into a top tier school largely depends on luck.  If she plays the piccolo, and the admissions officer who reads the file plays piccolo, she'll get in.  But if the water polo coach reads it instead, she wouldn't.  So it mostly boils down to luck.

-Sue Kayton
kayton@alum.mit.edu

P.S.  you also might want to read this website, which is an FAQ page for students applying to top-tier schools.

http://www.suekayton.com/college.htm