How could any of you handle college?

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I know some here are younger than me and maybe support was better but my question is this: I notice a lot of people on the spectrum have gone to college and graduate school. How is that possible? One thing I learned the hard way is that college is a bad place to learn anything for the first time. You have to be well prepared.

Unfortunately, I was in special education and did not go to a regular high school until my junior year. Then when I went there, I was bullied. I started at a community college in business administration thinking I might like that but I noticed everyone knew more than I did. More math, more of everything and had a lot more self confidence than I had and I was feeling suicidal over what I did not know. I also had a child psychiatrist who told me that I could not handle math because it was too abstract and I did not need a career because most people with my condition winded up in state mental hospitals (I never did).

If not because of my condition, could it be I went to crummy schools? My sister who is now a dentist had a hard time in college and she took advanced classes in our high school but like the classes I had, all they did was show movies and complain. I lived in a community where most students did not go to college at all and worked in a mill or sold cars and married their high school sweetheart so who needs science and math? Today, it is very difficult to sell a house where I live because the schools have such a bad reputation. Which brings up: Did you receive a quality education and do people on the spectrum need that more than NTs. Discuss.

i was hopeless in college.

How did I go to and graduate from college? I ask myself that question every day now.

Just FYI and all, the percentage of those with AS who go to and finish college is far less than the percentage of those without (textbook). Which I find amusing as it's counter to the [incorrect] stereotype that says people with AS tend to excel at schooling (no, it's just that they're better at schooling than the social stuff because the social stuff is relatively non-existent in comparison to).

It's just like those with AS who marry; it happens, but it's fairly rare.

As someone of the typical age to be entering college, I really wonder how I could possibly make college a reality for myself. I am physically disabled as well as being on the autism spectrum. I BARELY graduated a private highschool, and most likely would not have if I had attended a typical school. I have PTSD-esque panic attacks when exposed to "typical school settings" due to the severe bullying I received as a child.

I feel that I need to go into college to have any chance at achieving a state of independence in this world. I am, somewhat ironically, quite a good public speaker, and could do very well as a teacher or public voice. (This is partially due to my obsessive studying anything I need to speak about.)

Currently however I'm an uneducated, nobody. The thought of a dorm gives me sensory related panic. That's not even considering college-student culture.

I am in college right now. I'm taking a lot longer than most people my age, but I've never been good at school.

I was homeschooled most of my elementary years, and while I am a firm believer that homeschooling is great for lots of people, it wasnt for me because I never did my work. I was much more interested in doing my own thing. So when I got into highschool, I found I was very behind my peers in terms of what I knew. It made school and college really hard, but I've finally found what works for me, and for the first time I am making good grades.

It helps to find good teachers who have good reviews and explain things in a way you understand, because everyone understands things differentIy take very detailed and visual notes, and write out notecards to study because I can metally see them on the tests. I take the same classes as my sister who pushes ,e to study because she wants to do well, and that really helps a ton! Otherwise I get caught up doing my own thing and totally forget about school and what assignments are due.

These are some of the things that help me do well i college. Also I still live at home so I dont have to deal with dorms and roommates. It took a long time to figure it all out, but now that I have I am doing well Asfor the social stuff, I dont really bother talking to anyone but my sister. And I've explored most areas before having to get there on time for class. I still have the same insecurities I got from all the jerks in highschool, but ignoring everyone else kind of helps.

Last edited by Dovi on 03 Nov 2012, 12:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

i had good public schools and did well in college, but i have a high IQ and learning is my favorite thing.

sounds like your public school held you back. i'm sorry to hear that.

People are different, experiences are different.

Bear in mind I'm in the UK so what we call colleges are different to the US, I believe in the US colleges are more like universities.

College number 1 - I had no friends to hang-out with between classes or to sit with in classes/lectures to get help from or do group work with, a friend from high school followed me there and she made new friends so I sometimes spent time with them, but for the most part I was alone which made things hard for me. At the time I was also suffering what I now know were minor strokes, it caused problems with my attendance and with the head of student support - you know that thing where some people just seem to take a disliking to us for no reason? Head of student support was that sort of person, she tried to get me kicked out of college (she managed this the second year - I could have studied from home, she should have informed me of this but she didn't, thus another reason why I think this was personal) which made college all the more stressful. I barely managed to make it through college as long as I did.

College number 2 - Same situation as above, my high school friend followed me there too only this time we very much went our separate ways and thus I was even more alone than before, I didn't talk to a single student while I was there, barely talked to teachers/lecturers, had problems with my tutors, and I didn't even go into the canteen once...anything social about college was off-limits to me. I was still suffering the minor strokes and again I had problems with student support because I wasn't able to make them understand why I had problems like I did such as what I now know to be meltdowns and shutdowns. I made it through college, but did badly at all my exams.

College number 3 - This was just part-time as an adult, it was the same college as college number 2 only this time round they had a dedicated autism team within student support - I originally thought that was great, but found otherwise. I struggled to integrate into groups in my class so I went to student support, they blamed me for not being able to join groups and my problems making eye contact with the teacher, and rather than get the teacher to put me into groups they made me have meeting with them every week and forced me to have in-class support who treat me like a mentally deficient five year old which just made the situation far worse. I had a meltdown in an exam, and I had weeks of feeling very upset, stressed and close to meltdown - eventually I had to leave for my own health.

Basically college was a struggle and I believe I was dealing with constant burnout, if I had known I was autistic it may have helped - although then and now there wouldn't have been enough of the right sort of support to help me. I didn't go to university because I couldn't afford to, because of the minor strokes, and because of the autism - plus no one explained to me HOW to even apply to university and I couldn't seem to get my head round it, also I doubt I could have dealt with it given how hard it was to go to college.

I think people manage because they find a way to manage, we aspies and autistics have a great deal of strength to have gone through life with difficulties such as being bullied and struggling with normal day-to-day things like communicating and socialising - thus we can sometimes struggle through, and just like people who can't read find ways to avoid situations where their problems are exposed we're probably the same, we find ways to adapt or avoid problems, and we go off to college/universities as loaners just there to work.

It's just that I find that a lot of the people in the autism group I would go to are going to the University of Pittsburgh - The last place I think an "aspie" should go - the place is crowded, noisy, busy, and since days here are often miserable, depressing. Nobody I know of who goes there as an undergraduate likes it at all but I guess the graduate programs are good. I was beginning to think I was the stupid one for having college difficulty. I was also terrified of the idea to live in a dorm which is why I never left the area.

Regarding the schools in our area, the worst part about this is that while you are in high school you might think you are doing perfectly well compared to the students who are going to sell Amway for the rest of their life and so you think you know it all then feel suicidal when you get to college and everyone knows more than you. This has been going on for at least 30 years in our school district but only came to light when the state came up with a standardized test, the PSSA, a test my nieces say is "so easy". Our school district rates near the bottom in the whole state of PA when just 6 miles down the road, the next school district is in the top 10. It actually made me feel better to find this out, since I know now it was not all my fault. But now I feel bad, we will soon have to sell our family home. The same size house in the other school district will sell for twice as much and some family will snap it up, ours will take longer than a year to sell. And my parents never believed me when I told them maybe they should move, but then, people on the spectrum tell the truth and no one believes us!

I don't think those feelings are out of the ordinary. I struggled at college my self, but I took maths, physics, chemistry and biology of which the first 3 are the hardest A levels available. So compared to my friends who took such things as music, media studies and cooking I seemed to be struggling way beyond what they were experiencing.

I also felt like everyone in my classes knew so much more than I did and I came from a good mainstream school, but I think if I were to ask any of them the same question they would all say the same. There's always someone with a bit of knowledge you don't have or have forgotten, so from every individuals point of view it seems the class as a whole knows more than they do.

I too felt that it was very difficult to learn something first time at college, simply because of the delivery method of the course and a lack of self study skills. If I didn't get something in class while it's being taught, it was likely that I would never get it. In university it's the opposite, very little is taught in class, your just told what you should learn, then left to go learn it from a book at your own pace which is much easier provided you have the self study skills required by then.

Well, I went to a music / technical college that focused on audio technology, studio recording, and live sound engineering for concerts, nightclubs, and similar venues. Those things being my main special interests, I had very few problems apart from grasping the concept of music theory.

In the first year, I had thought that I had resolved my social "issues" (did not know I was on the spectrum), until there came to be sort of a crashing point with some girl saying I looked like a fairly ugly guy, and then her uncle. After that, I got pretty angry, and spent most of the rest of the four years, either working out, going to class, studying or working. I was pretty much busy every waking minute doing that and only did random social BS with no intent or care of the outcome. But, as a result, I was able to turn one of my special interests into my degree (in technology) got into great shape, and did quite well, graduating fine.

I think you just need to not care about the social aspect, find a degree with the majority of classes in one of your special interests, grin and bear the other classes, and you should be fine.

I dropped out
I was in the same boat with special education
seems like it really screwed me over in the end

ASD meetings probably hold a greater number people who can handle groups of people better, so you'd see more people who are out there in society, such as schooling.

Sounds like your child psychiatrist wasn't too supportive during your time in college. Not exactly being great with assisting your positive thinking, or actually helping you keep yourself out of those mental institutions......

I got screwed over by special education. I was in the gifted/honors classes until a really bad breakdown in 7ths or 8th grade. Due to that I got put into classes which did s**t like 3-4 grades behind what I was doing, and there was no way to get it fixed. So because of events my life and ability to really excell at college and s**t is completely &@#^!@.