University

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Does anyone here have any experiences with English universities? I will make my university application in September this year and will start university in September/October 2009, so I'm scouting for potential universities right now and have made appointments to visit various ones (Cambridge, Oxford, Warwick, York and Goldsmith's). I visited a university 2 days ago and wasn't impressed with it, particularly the disability department.

Can anyone recommend any universities that have a good reputation when it comes to AS? I've heard Sheffield and York have very good disability departments.

Well I can't say for English University but American Universities, I'm with Mason because the ODS are very helpful in my opinion and we have DAP Honor Society just established which I'm volutneered to be the head of the Autism Spectrum Disorders Committee.

If you think you can manage to get into Cambridge, they recently established a new AS support system there. Plus Baron-Cohen is a professor there.

Im at York Uni at the moment- since i am only self-diagnosed so far, the disability services werent exactly helpful. They only asked if I had had any help/assistants in school or college ( I had to struggle thru without them)...then they told me that aspergers isnt something that just comes on, and told me it didnt automatically mean i get extra time in exams, like i was just faking or something...! They were basically good people though, and York Uni is a fairly quiet campus uni, which you might prefer to a city uni especially if you have a hard time finding ur way around...Its probably best to visit every uni you're thinking of going to on an open day, and seing for yourself what help they can offer...maybe e-mail the disability services depts...

Orwell - I am fairly confident about Cambridge, so it's one of the 5 universities I will apply to, 1 reason being because of the AS support you mentioned too.

MartinMartian - I'm going to visit the York disability services department either next month or July. Other than the problems you encountered from being self-diagnosed, did you find the social side okay?

You can't apply to cambridge and oxford (although you probably already knew that). Out of the two, it depends what your course is as to what you should pick. Humanities/English = Oxford. Science = Cambridge. Both universities are incredibly selective - my friend who got full marks in his AS and eventually got the best English lang. result in the country didn't get into Oxford on this first attempt. For Cambridge you can apply to the university rather than one particualar collage so you're more likely to be accepted (that's what my brother's going to do).

I've just finished my first year at Oxford Brookes, which I picked pretty much for it's disabilities support. There's a specialist Autism/Aspergers tutor who has about nine students atm, although I'm pretty sure I'm the first girl he's had to deal with (=_____=). I managed to get two courses this year pretty much rearranged around me through the disabilites support when I had difficulties with them. Deffinatly the best of my choices (Canterbury, Kingston, Winchester, Staffordshire and Brunel), but probably below the standard that you're looking for judging from your list of maybes.

What course are you hoping to do? Certain unis are obviously better than others for different courses.

I want to study Sociology, which is Social & Political Sciences at Cambridge which is the one I will apply to. Oxford don't do any social science courses so I'm not going to apply there. I have to apply to a particular college as I'll be 17 when I attend meaning that I'm illegible for an open application.

Well, I don't know if anyone can really be certain of getting in someplace like that. I got into Oxford, but that was only through Winter Pool, and I had even had my application initially sent to what should have been the least competitive college because I made an open application. Sorry to hear that's not an option for you, as Open was helpful to me. I don't know how you were supposed to choose between colleges.

Also, if you want accommodations, you will need an official dx. I don't blame York for being skeptical, since they really have to be when you're asking for special treatment.

Anyways, good luck and I hope you find someplace you like.

I do have an official diagnosis, so that should make things easier. My college have recommended trying for Cambridge, I know it's very competitive and hard to get into but you never know, so I'll try for it.

Thanks for the good luck

Oh, you do? In an earlier post you said you were only self-diagnosed... has that changed recently? Well, if you have the grades Cambridge may not be too far-fetched... from what I understand the British university admission system is much more numbers-driven than it is here in America, so that can help you feel more confident of acceptance.

Everywhere except for Cambridge and Oxford. 60-70% of admissions are from private schools (no joke). My (other) friend got into Oxford because she had five As at Alevel, and one C, but she's having a really hard time there because all her peers have been tutored in the Oxford style of writing for the last five years, and she hasn't.

Anyway, Nico it sounds like you know more about the system and what you want to do then you think. ^____^ One thing I would warn you about - my friend who applied to Oxford didn't get ANY offers last year. He's a straight A grade student and does a ridiculous amount of out of school stuff too. The only reason we think he didn't get any offers was because all the other universities assumed he would get into Oxford.

Mind you, having said which, my boyfriend was accepted for two courses in Cambridge without any problems whatsoever. So you might have no problems at all, especially if you have a good application form.

Good luck. ^___^

They do that?! I thought UCAS didn't disclose where all you applied to each school. Plus, Edinburgh and Glasgow and all the others I applied to aside from Oxford pretty much said that if you met the requirements, you would be accepted. And those are also Russell Group schools, so they're fairly prestigious. Anyways, if you get into your top school, UCAS is so well set-up for you to decline other offers so they can open up spaces for someone else.

Purplefluffychainsaw - I've heard about the private school figures and that does scare me a bit, but I think some colleges at Cambridge (Fitzwilliam in particular) are trying to get more state school pupils into the university. When I apply, I will use the Cambridge special access scheme which is for people who have had their education disrupted like I have so hopefully they will be more lenient with my grades and interview. At my college, everyone who included Durham and Oxbridge in their application were refused a place at Durham so I think that fits in with what your friend went through. You're right, I do know a lot about it now, it's one of my aspie obsessions now

Orwell - Which universities did you get into and are you at university now?

I got into Oxford, Imperial College London (conditional, but on grades I easily got), Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St. Andrews, all in the UK. I'm actually American, so those turned out not to be viable options because of finances. Here in the States, I got in Carnegie Mellon, University of Texas, University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania (Ivy League) and Rochester Institute of Technology. I'm starting university at U Miami this fall. I got rejected from several places as well, and wait-listed at Brown (another Ivy League).

Goodness me, you got into some top universities. I hope you have a great time at U Miami

Thanks, I think I will enjoy Miami a lot. Again, good luck in your search but remember that Oxbridge isn't the only place where you can get a good education.