Prospective Students

Deciding on a college can be both an exciting and scary process. It is important to assess your strengths and challenges and how they fit with the Mount Holyoke College environment. Therefore, it is recommended that you contact Dr. John Body by email or phone (413-538-2504) to personally discuss your learning profile. There are approximately 80 students who have self-identified and registered with the Office of Learning skills as having a learning disability and/or attention deficit disorder. About half the students registered have a learning disability while the other half have ADD. Some students have both LD and ADD concerns. The graduation rate for students with learning disabilities is 84%. In other words, 84% of students who register with the Office of Learning Skills graduate. This percentage is actually a little higher than the graduation rate for the College as a whole. The students do very well with an average GPA of 3.3. Students with learning disabilities and ADD do succeed here at MHC!

As stated earlier, the main goal is to help the student move towards independence. This is why a major focus is supporting the incoming first-year or transfer student. After a group meeting in the beginning of the semester, Dr. Body meets with each new student for an intake session where the student can share her academic history and strengths and challenges. Once this is accomplished, the discussion about reasonable accommodations and skills development can take place. A first year can meet with Dr. Body for a half hour a week to work on time management and organization, academic skills, and transitioning. Sometimes it can be just a check-in or a focused time for academic coaching. As the student transitions into MHC and fine-tunes her academic skills, meetings with Dr. Body usually decrease. We also encourage students to participate in a support group. It meets once a week and is a way to talk about successes and frustrations while hearing how other students deal with the college environment.

Good luck with your decision!