Needing Some Aspie Help

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This posting is a revision of a prior post seeking participants for a study. For those who have already responded, thank you very much. I have learned a great deal from you and am grateful for your generosity in sharing your experiences. At this point, I am seeking a few more participants who meet the following criteria:
Are you an Aspie between the ages of 18 and 30? Did you participate in transition planning and IEP meetings in a high school in the United States? Have you enrolled in at least 12 hours of college courses? (I need participants who did well in college courses and participants who dropped out or made a few low grades.) If you answered “Yes” to these questions, I need to learn from you. I am researching transition planning, and I am looking for suggestions to improve it for people with Asperger’s. I would like to interview you through the private message feature of WrongPlanet.
You can expect to discuss your opinions on your readiness for college, any troubles you faced asking for help, your experiences with teachers, staff, and students, and any support you received from your family and friends. I would also like your suggestions for making transition planning better for people with Asperger’s.
You can choose to remain anonymous, to be known by your WrongPlanet ID, or to be known by your first name and last initial when this study is published. Your participation will remain as secret as the Internet allows. I believe you will be able to answer all the questions in a short amount of time (under two hours).

As I was not diagnosed until well into adulthood (HFA), I never had the option of asking for accommodations or assistance throughout my school and university life:
I quit high school and got my GED.
I finally graduated with 2 B.A.'s after quitting school 2 times, then returning.
I left my first M.A. program, but there were definitely extenuating circumstances.

I'm now in another M.A. program and look forward to obtaining my PhD after this.
Except for math, grades were never a problem, it was just the.......the.....I don't know what it was, but school was very difficult. I love learning and I love taking notes and researching, but all that interaction...it's very confusing.

ps: I just wanted to respond to you, but I'm too old for your study, so I won't be participating, sorry.

I appreciate your response and I stand in awe of the multiple degrees.
One of the road blocks I am hitting in my research is the number of people who were not diagnosed until later in life or who were diagnosed, but faced a school system that followed the "as long as the kid's grades are good, we don't have to provide services" idea. The succcess you have created for yourself serves as a testament to the inner strength and abilities that are so commonly overlooked by NTs.
What field do you see your Ph.D. in? The scariest part of the Ph.D. journey for me was statistics. (Math scares the feces out of me, which is why my first two degree are in English.) But stats are a required evil in many Ph.D. programs. I am a huge fan of YouTube videos that teach difficult concepts. I don't think I would have survived stats without them.

Stats were required in my first M.A. program and, one day in particular, I literally cried in class because I had no idea what the professor was talking about. I wanted to understand, but unless the teacher/prof is an absolute genius when it comes to teaching math to non-math-minded people like me, then the likelihood of me "getting it" is miniscule.

One of the problems in finding a graduate school program for me is locating one that
a) I'm interested in , and
b) doesn't require math and doesn't care what my GRE Quantitative scores look like (they're abysmal, but c'est le vie).

Right now I'm in a History program, but Sociology is calling my name for the PhD.
I'm definitely a Qualitative scholar and need to find a program that values that type of research. My present program does but, unless something changes, I just don't see pursuing History for my PhD. The discipline is too narrow and my foci are more broad and interdisciplinary, which is why Sociology makes more sense to me.

[Insert absolute frustration here]

This dialogue prompted me to look more closely into the PhD coursework of a couple of Sociology programs I've had my eye on, and what do you think I found?

STATISTICS!! !!


Aaargghhhhhh!! !! !! !! !! !!

Oh, I understand the misery of stats. I wish the school I am "attending" (online university) offered a degree in sociology. It is an accredditted school, but it has a relatively open admissions policy. (Confirmed Master's from an accredditted institution. Those GRE scores would not matter.) If you ever consider a Ph.D. in psychology, business or education, it might be worthwhile to look at Northcentral University, based in Arizona. For many degree plans, you don't even need a Master's in that particular field. (I don't currently hold a degree in special education, just English education and English. However, NCU is allowing me to go for the Ph.D. in special ed.)

I have found a few good tutors who helped me through stats via telephone and e-mail (in addition to searching YouTube). I was in tears myself several times, but thee tutors actually had me feeling comfortable with stats. I'd be happy to pass along contact information if you ever have a need.