College can be a challenging place if you’re blind or visually impaired. The opportunities are there, but you have to be prepared to find them. College Success @ Perkins can help get you ready.
College Success is a nine-month residential program designed to give college-bound high school graduates and current college students, ages 18 to 22, the critical academic and blindness skills they need to reach their full, college-ready potential. We're now accepting applications for September 2020, and additional tuition resources may be available to accepted applicants.
What you need to know
Quote from Steph, 18
It's about becoming the best person you can be, discovering who you are outside the four walls of your childhood. I think that's really important. You can't do anything if you don't, at least a tiny bit, know yourself.
Over the course of nine months, you’ll go on a journey of self discovery, all while living in your own dorm room on the edge of campus at Perkins School for the Blind. You’ll have the opportunity to develop skills that will empower you to take charge of your future. And you’ll work to create the college experience you’ve always wanted.
ALL ON YOU
Getting the services you need in college will be up to you — while offices of disability services are there to help, you’ll need to self-advocate in a whole new way. With an understanding of your rights and responsibilities, you can learn what you need and how to ask for it.
TECH TALK
The demands of college will require you not only to have mastery of your preferred electronic devices, but also to be resourceful in figuring out how to make information accessible to you. Individualized instruction and practice with assistive technology will help set you up for success.
NUMBERS DON’T LIE
Currently, an estimated 6 out of 10 college students who are blind or visually impaired never graduate. We want to help change this statistic. Being prepared for the jump in academic and independent living skills can pave the way for success in college.
Ask questions
At College Success, you’ll explore important personal questions about your future:
- What do you want your college experience to look like?
- Where do you envision yourself in five years?
- What’s your dream job?
And we’ll ask you how you’re planning to achieve them:
- How do you learn best?
- How can you make technology work for you?
- What do you do if your professor’s lecture isn’t accessible?
With our expert instruction and hands-on learning environment, we’ll get you ready to begin asking, and answering, these and other important questions.
Quote from Anne Greenwood Brown,
Parent
I wholeheartedly recommend College Success @ Perkins to other families and students. It provides a smooth glide into college, rather than a crash landing.
