Did you drop out?

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I'm curious to see how successful other people on the spectrum were in high school and/or college.

Did you drop out in high school?
- If yes, what grade and why?
- If no, then how successful were you during your high school years?
Did you drop out in college/university?
-If yes, then why?
-If no, then how successful were you throughout college/university?
Had you already been diagnosed?

I'm wondering if it's more common for undiagnosed people to drop out simply because they aren't likely to have the same supports in place or opportunities for supports. I am fairly certain that I would have dropped out by junior year if it wasn't for my 504 and I'm quite honestly not sure if I'll make it through college.

I did not drop out of high school. I got mostly A's and B's, but I also stayed away from honors classes usually. My grades were a result of near-perfect test scores, I never studied and rarely did my homework. That caused problems senior year, mostly because many of the high grades were based on take-home projects and collective homework grades. I almost failed a couple classes but pulled it together and graduated.

University was a horrible experience. I do plan on going back eventually, but I am dropped out for now. The reason was it was just too overwhelming. Too many classes all over a huge campus, different ones every day, tons and tons of homework and papers that I had to do on my own time outside of class. I can't study, it doesn't help me much unless I did not learn in class, in which case I am not really studying, I am teaching myself the stuff I missed. But I couldn't do it at university, there was just too much to do all at once. I even missed multiple finals because I thought it was a different day, despite my efforts to write everything down. I was also going through severe depression, which made it all 10 times worse. I ended up dropping as many classes as I could before the withdraw deadline, and then I basically stayed in my dorm and didn't go to class at all after that.

I was undiagnosed. That whole experience is what led me to start seriously trying to figure out what my problem is. I honestly don't know how I got through senior year with 3 AP classes. All I know is that I was a wreck by the end, and then I went straight to university, which was way worse.

Yes I drop out of high school. I was in 11 grade. why? because of the constant bullying and not having any friends. BTW: I did finish my GED.

I dropped out of high school to gamble, and I was in the twelfth grade a the time. I had a 4.0 GPA up until tenth grade. I never cared about school beyond ninth, because I became addicted to video games and gambling.

I've been a diagnosed Asperger for as long as I can remember. (I am almost 23 now.)

High school is a complicated answer in my case. I did not drop out, per se, but I failed a compulsory math test that was required to get my diploma, and none of my teachers, nor I, found this out until too late. With minimal practice, I took a GED test and passed with flying colors.
However, I was not in a "normal" high school, either, but in juvenile detention, and was, in a depressing sense of irony, unable to get assistance in math because of my high general intelligence (when compared to many of the other inmates). Math has always been a weak point of mine, but one teacher, no teacher's aides, and 7~9 students with different academic needs in the same class do not mix well for any student, in my honest opinion. I could not stay in my normal high school, where I was placed in the special education program for temper tantrums and meltdowns, because they became too severe, I was self-aware of this and the effects it had on others, and I began staying home - which broke probation, attained for such constant meltdowns. That said, it was no better for me than juvenile detention was academically, for classes were much too easy; I was only in special education because of meltdowns and tantrums, where others were there for intellectual disabilities.

I initially took online college classes when I was in detention, and home afterward. However, I had to drop out of college for reasons unrelated to my disability (the detention, when I left, provided me a computer, but it was so old it could not run programs I needed for classes, my family could not afford to buy another computer for classes at the time, and I had to withdraw from classes once before because I did not get an internet connection at home for over a month after going home - I figured it best to be done with it right then and there). Looking back, though, I think that I probably would have dropped out, for I was constantly sleepy and had headaches much of the time thanks to the cocktail of psychotropics I was to take each day back then. I was 18. I had no disability supports.

I plan to attempt college again come January, as I want to be self-sufficient and I know I cannot handle most basic entry-level jobs for the long-term. I will be going to a physical college location instead of online classes this time, as I feel I can probably become a bit more involved in my studies being able to do hands-on work, and I know I'll need the tutoring. My condition as a person has also changed drastically from when I was 18 - I no longer take psychotropic medicines, and the location I called "home" when I was attempting college the first time... well, it turned out to be a massive source of over-stimulation. I live on my own currently (with Social Security benefits and help with transportation for supports), and in this environment, I only rarely become overstimulated (usually when my neighbors are using equipment with certain repetitive noises, which is uncommon and nothing compared to my previous environment); my case manager, who has worked with me ever since I got out of detention, has seen a massive improvement in my mental condition between having left the family home, and moving out on my own.

I am not sure, however, if I will be able to receive disability services (different test-taking locations, in my case). This is because of the specifics of my case, though (I do not work with a psychologist at this current time - my old psychologists have left, attempts to provide a new one have not been beneficial to my case and it's generally been deemed that only working with my case manager is for the best for now - my diagnosis is known and in the records, but with no current psychologist on my case, well). It didn't help that, when I recently asked a college employee who was handling my financial aid work how I could best get a hold of the disability services office, her first reaction could be distilled to "What do you have? You don't look or act disabled..."

Unlike a previous poster, I work better when I have lots of things to do at once, because when left idle, my thoughts go into a giant loop of memories that... well, for lack of easier ways to explain, I do better when I'm kept busy and not left idle too long. This might have been an issue in my high school experience.

While a long post, this is just my input. Hopefully this provides a different PoV for you (as a diagnosed person who had largely ran into hindrances more than supports).

Wasn't diagnosed and had no idea about ASD until more than a decade later.

The end of high school was definitely challenging as I was experiencing high anxiety and depersonalization. But I persevered and graduated just fine. I took extra classes all year long and also worked 30+ hours/week through most of it and then worked two jobs during the last couple months of high school. I still wrote all my finals and ended up with decent grades. Not great, but decent.

I went directly into a business school program at our local technical school and studied operations management. (blend of business & industrial engineering courses) The second year was about the most difficult and stressful thing I've ever put myself through - but, I refused to quit and pushed through it. I completed 130.5 credits in 2 years and was the Chair of Business & Health Sciences on the BCIT Student Association as a part time on campus job. I started business school when I was 17 and graduated when I was 19, about 10 years younger than the average student in my program. Also, there was about a 40% failure/dropout rate - but I made it. I was pretty burnt out and took 6 months off afterwards before finding a job, though.

I've studied other things since, but have yet to follow through with completing additional credentials/designations etc. I'll do so when the timing is right to start the business I have in mind that requires specific education/licencing by law. There was certainly a period of my life where additional schooling would have been next to impossible for me to complete, but now that I've treated my symptoms how I've described in the thread in my signature, no one could stop me from completing anything I want to - not even me. :p

I graduated highschool and ended up dropping out of college, not due to bad grades per say though I couldn't even pass the remedial math so that could have gotten in the way. But main reason I dropped out was due to PTSD and being in a classroom environment triggering that due to the nature of the traumatic event...basically cannot pay attention if I am worried some random f*** head with a gun is going to come and try to kill someone so that is why I dropped out because worrying about that every day was too much stress but I actually had fairly good grades in the courses I was taking when I dropped out.

kinda wish I could have dropped out of school before middle and high school. I also only got diagnosed with AS a couple years ago and not entirely sure if it was before or after I dropped out.

Yeah, I did, three times.

The first time (1993): In late October or early November, a little more than two months into the first school year.
After nine years of compulsory school I was fed up with school. I always found school to be boring and the older I got, the worse it was, as it ate up so much of my day. I had no motivation at all, and it didn't help that I wasn't interested in the line (it was a vocational school, and I only applied to it because the counselor in junior high said it was one of two lines I had the grades to be accepted at. I did well in 7th grade, but as the days got longer and my motivation kept dropping, my grades went down with one to two grades in every subject from 7th to 9th grade. When I stared high school I had no motivation, I just wanted to take time off of school.)

The second time (2000): In ultimo Oct, just slightly more than two months into the first year.
Several reasons: I was struggling with the loss of someone, and something else in my private life was also on my mind. I was having problems with several subjects already, in particular math and technical drawing. It didn't help that I was the only girl in my class; that felt weird despite no one treating me badly in any way (on the contrary, a couple of the guys went out of their way to be nice to me).
Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention another important thing that contributed here: my math teacher. I have always had problems with math, and severely so from junior high and on. In the first math lesson, before we really got started, a classmate voiced his concern about math as it wasn?t a strength of his. The teacher smiled and said not to worry and that he?d take it slowly so we?d all follow it. Stupid me thought that actually sounded promising, finally a math teacher that understood that math is hard for some of us! Dumbly I felt hopeful. Big mistake! In the first lesson there were things I never have managed to memorize (which is typical of dyscalculia btw) and when I asked about it he just said: ?You know this already.?
I didn?t know that already, if I had, I wouldn?t have asked. I gave up there and then, realizing I wouldn?t get any help there either, and that I didn?t have a chance.


The third time (2005): In January or February my third year in school, but the second school year, as I had first grade divided over two years due to my struggle with math and science.
This time I started out motivated. But by the second grade of high school I was flunking math and had no way of passing it, and I was doing very poorly in chemistry and physics as well as quality assurance. I tried so hard and ended up burning out, and had no energy left by the end of the second year there (school year 2003/2004. I still started the next grade to take the remaining subjects (I had then passed first grade and 4 second grade subjects). But I just stumbled on like a zombie, no energy left, in the fall of 2004. I had no way of keeping my head above the water in math and the sciences, and I had no help with it despite asking for it. In January 2005 I gave up and some weeks later I quit. I didn't wanna quit, but I just couldn't muster the energy to go there anymore. I was completely burned out. I had nothing more to give. I really didn't wanna quit, I wanted to hang in there, but I wouldn't have passed so there was no point anyway.
I did very well in 3 of the 4 second grade subjects I took the year before though. I got top grade in English, written Norwegian and samfunnsfag (the closest thing in English would be social science, but it's not a complete match from what I understand). The fourth subject was PE lol. Nuff said!



No thankfully I had not. I was still happily unaware.

Last edited by Skilpadde on 14 Sep 2014, 8:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Yes, I tried to drop out of school, but after a few months some very kind teachers persuaded me to give
it another try and so I finished school in the end. But I still think I would have been happier to just learn a trade instead.
Then I dropped out of university short before graduation because of severe chronic fatigue and inability to
handle any more stress. I would have never been a happy architect anyway, I did it only to please my parents,
but it didn't really interest me that much. Art or organic agriculture would have been more my thing.
Now I have become an artist and a beekeeper anyway, just wasted a decade or so with stuff I didn't want.

@Goldfish: I've read your link and I can confirm from my own experience, that dietary changes made a huge difference
to the severity of ASD symptoms. Especially cutting out sweet and starchy food and killing candida has been very calming
to the mind, but I haven't been disciplined enough to expel all the candida yet. Right now I'm giving it another try together with my
husband, who got very bad eczema. Your post was very informative and inspiring, thanks for taking the trouble to write
it all down in such minute detail!
Although I don't think it can 'cure' the extremely systemizing brain-wiring that Aspies have. But with all those stressful neural/chemical
symptoms reduced or even eliminated, this type of brain wiring is maybe really not such a bad thing to have.

I was diagnosed with autism as a kid (prior to attending school). I did very well in school but I was bored most of the time. I dropped out in year 10 (14/15 yrs old). I went straight into tertiary studies at my local TAFE (community college), passed the first with distinction then went on to try others but ended up dropping out because I became bored again. I have been working since I was 14 yrs old with periods of unemployment in between. Most recently I have been employed for 4 years at my current organisation. I'm 25 btw.

Not diagnosed, but screened.

I dropped out of high school two weeks into my last year because I was bored beyond description. My school was, at the time, one of the most academically successful schools in the state and they were quite worried about how the black mark of my leaving would effect their institutional success. Their crocodile tears about me were never exhibited before that fact became painfully clear to them. I couldn't care less, and explained my plan to complete my GED and ACT tests, and attend the University of Utah where I performed much better. I dropped out of college, too, but it was because of finances and the chance to earn a respectable living without a degree. A career in graphic design turned quickly into advertising, marketing, public relations and government.

I would caution others to stay in school unless they have a viable plan to do otherwise. Many successful people in history http://people.howstuffworks.com/15-nota ... school.htm have done just that. Not mentioned in the list were Honda Motor Co., Ltd. founder Soichiro Honda and U.K. Prime Minister John Major, among many others.

I had severe difficulties with high school. After years of bullying I took matters in my own hands and got a diploma in a single year. The constant harassment and bullying pulled me into a depression and cost my parents a lot of money for therapy and serious affected my quality of life. It still affects my quality of life to this day as my teens were basically taken away from my by all this psychological abuse. The school was completely unsympathetic and thought bullying was a normal thing and I was exaggerating. They stood behind the bullies and they never got punished and they never had to pay a dime for all the damage they caused to me. Dropping out and choosing my own road was the only sensible solution for me.

Now with university things are a bit better. The people are more mature, people share more interests, the needed material is often placed online ( so on an off-day I can learn at home ) and the material is more mentally challenging and demanding which keeps me from getting bored and frustrated with it. However just like anything the standard NT frustrations still persists: all but a select few people ignore me, most people tend to closed off cliques and group projects can be a disaster. Bullying is mostly gone but the undertones are still there which is frustrating and painful.

By the way if you are diagnosed you are likely to go by with absolutely zero support too, a diagnosis does not automatically mean you get a network of support even if you want it. When I got a diagnosis the only thing I was ever offered was anti-depressants and nothing else, despite my case not really being mild due to years upon years of peers psychologically abusing and humiliating me.

Last edited by qFox on 14 Sep 2014, 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

I dropped out of university after about a month, everything about it was too much, just too much to organise too much change, to much lecture info, to much socialising.

I was not and still am not diagnosed, while I was at uni I was seeing a counsellor who wanted me to go on mood stabilisers but I left before I decided to or not. I am now doing open university instead.

before then I was fine, but university was just much more different then any other education before that.

Very sad. I wasn't supported in the emotional sense in any way, but just in that I was then able to receive needed accommodations for school. Although, I guess I have also seen how some people that also received accommodations were hindered more than helped. Also sad.

At 18, I left home to go to college. After all, that?s what my parents expected me to do.

For some reason, before heading off to college, I believed that the social challenges that plagued me in middle and high school would suddenly disappear, as I would be attending school with other ?adults?.

Unfortunately, I couldn?t handle the social aspects of college, quickly became quite depressed, dropped out and returned home.

While living at home, I then decided to attend a local university (essentially a commuter school) and graduated within 5 years.

It was the perfect situation. I got to spend time learning more about some of my favorite subjects (computer information systems, economics, philosophy and astronomy). And, I was able to attend college anonymously, without having to socialize with anyone (I don?t remember a single person I attended college with).

I got taken out of mainstream education and went to a residential school for girls who had behaviour problems. I left there when I was 17 with no qualifications.

I did however enter into education later on where I eventually and unintentionally ended up at university. I was doing politics and sociology.

However due to financial circumstances and the fact that I was working fulltime to support both my daughter (who has AS) and myself I had to drop out.

I did walk away with an exit award which equates to something (not sure what), but it does mean that the door isn't fully closed. I can pick it back up again when my circumstances are better.