college essay about having adhd

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Last updated March 22, 2024

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Blog > Common App , Essay Advice , Personal Statement > How to Write a College Essay About ADHD

How to Write a College Essay About ADHD

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University Admissions

Key Takeaway

ADHD and ADD are becoming more prevalent, more frequently diagnosed, and better understood.

The exact number of college students with ADHD is unclear with estimates ranging wildly from just 2% to 16% or higher.

Regardless of the raw numbers, an ADHD diagnosis feels very personal, and it is not surprising that many students consider writing a college essay about ADHD.

If you are thinking about writing about ADHD, consider these three approaches. From our experience in admissions offices, we’ve found them to be the most successful.

First, a Note on the Additional Information Section

Before we get into the three approaches, I want to note that your Common App personal statement isn’t the only place you can communicate information about your experiences to admissions officers.

You can also use the additional information section.

The additional information section is less formal than your personal statement. It doesn’t have to be in essay format, and what you write there will simply give your admissions officers context. In other words, admissions officers won’t be evaluating what you write in the additional information section in the same way they’ll evaluate your personal statement.

You might opt to put information about your ADHD (or any other health or mental health situations) in the additional information section so that admissions officers are still aware of your experiences but you still have the flexibility to write your personal statement on whatever topic you choose.

Three Ways to Write Your College Essay About ADHD

If you feel like the additional information section isn’t your best bet and you’d prefer to write about ADHD in your personal statement or a supplemental essay, you might find one of the following approaches helpful.

1) Using ADHD to understand your trends in high school and looking optimistically towards college

This approach takes the reader on a journey from struggle and confusion in earlier years, through a diagnosis and the subsequent fallout, to the present with more wisdom and better grades, and then ends on a note about the future and what college will hold.

If you were diagnosed somewhere between 8th and 10th grade, this approach might work well for you. It can help you contextualize a dip in grades at the beginning of high school and emphasize that your upward grade trend is here to stay.

The last part—looking optimistically towards college—is an important component of this approach because you want to signal to admissions officers that you’ve learned to manage the challenges you’ve faced in the past and are excited about the future.

I will warn you: there is a possible downside to this approach. Because it’s a clear way to communicate grade blips in your application, it is one of the most common ways to write a college essay about ADHD. Common doesn’t mean it’s bad or off-limits, but it does mean that your essay will have to work harder to stand out.

2) ADHD as a positive

Many students with ADHD tell us about the benefits of their diagnosis. If you have ADHD, you can probably relate.

Students tend to name strengths like quick, creative problem-solving, compassion and empathy, a vivid imagination, or a keen ability to observe details that others usually miss. Those are all great traits for college (and beyond).

If you identify a strength of your ADHD, your essay could focus less on the journey through the diagnosis and more on what your brain does really well. You can let an admissions officer into your world by leading them through your thought processes or through a particular instance of innovation.

Doing so will reveal to admissions officers something that makes you unique, and you’ll be able to write seamlessly about a core strength that’s important to you. Of course, taking this approach will also help your readers naturally infer why you would do great in college.

3) ADHD helps me empathize with others

Students with ADHD often report feeling more empathetic to others around them. They know what it is like to struggle and can be the first to step up to help others.

If this rings true to you, you might consider taking this approach in your personal statement.

If so, we recommend connecting it to at least one extracurricular or academic achievement to ground your writing in what admissions officers are looking for.

A con to this approach is that many people have more severe challenges than ADHD, so take care to read the room and not overstate your challenge.

Key Takeaways + An Example

If ADHD is a significant part of your story and you’re considering writing your personal statement about it, consider one of these approaches. They’ll help you frame the topic in a way admissions officers will respond to, and you’ll be able to talk about an important part of your life while emphasizing your strengths.

And if you want to read an example of a college essay about ADHD, check out one of our example personal statements, The Old iPhone .

As you go, remember that your job throughout your application is to craft a cohesive narrative —and your personal statement is the anchor of that narrative. How you approach it matters.

Liked that? Try this next.

The Incredible Power of a Cohesive College Application

How A Selective Admissions Office Reads 50k Applications In A Season

12 Common App Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

How to Write a Personal Statement for Colleges

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ADHD is my superpower: A personal essay

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We are dedicated to providing you with valuable resources that educate and empower you to live better. First, our content is authored by the experts — our editorial team co-writes our content with mental health professionals at Thriveworks, including therapists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and more.

We also enforce a tiered review process in which at least three individuals — two or more being licensed clinical experts — review, edit, and approve each piece of content before it is published. Finally, we frequently update old content to reflect the most up-to-date information.

A Story About a Kid

In 1989, I was 7 years old and just starting first grade. Early in the school year, my teacher arranged a meeting with my parents and stated that she thought that I might be “slow” because I wasn’t performing in class to the same level as the other kids. She even volunteered to my parents that perhaps a “special” class would be better for me at a different school.

Thankfully, my parents rejected the idea that I was “slow” out of hand, as they knew me at home as a bright, talkative, friendly, and curious kid — taking apart our VHS machines and putting them back together, filming and writing short films that I’d shoot with neighborhood kids, messing around with our new Apple IIgs computer!

The school, however, wanted me to see a psychiatrist and have IQ tests done to figure out what was going on. To this day, I remember going to the office and meeting with the team — and I even remember having a blast doing the IQ tests. I remember I solved the block test so fast that the clinician was caught off guard and I had to tell them that I was done — but I also remember them trying to have me repeat numbers back backwards and I could barely do it!

Being Labeled

The prognosis was that I was high intelligence and had attention-deficit disorder (ADD). They removed the hyperactive part because I wasn’t having the type of behavioral problems like running around the classroom (I’ll cover later why I now proudly identify as hyperactive). A week later, my pediatrician started me on Ritalin and I was told several things that really honestly messed me up.

I was told that I had a “learning disability” — which, to 7-year-old me, didn’t make any sense since I LOVED learning! I was told that I would take my tests in a special room so that I’d have fewer distractions. So, the other kids would watch me walk out of the classroom and ask why I left the room when tests were happening — and they, too, were informed that I had a learning disability.

As you can imagine, kids aren’t really lining up to be friends with the “disabled” kid, nor did they hold back on playground taunts around the issue.

These were very early days, long before attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was well known, and long before people had really figured out how to talk to kids with neurodiversities . And as a society, we didn’t really have a concept that someone who has a non-typical brain can be highly functional — it was a time when we didn’t know that the world’s richest man was on the autism spectrum !

Growing Past a Label

I chugged my way through elementary school, then high school, then college — getting consistent B’s and C’s. What strikes me, looking back nearly 30 years later, is just how markedly inconsistent my performance was! In highly interactive environments, or, ironically, the classes that were the most demanding, I did very well! In the classes that moved the slowest or required the most amount of repetition, I floundered.

Like, I got a good grade in the AP Biology course with a TON of memorization, but it was so demanding and the topics were so varied and fast-paced that it kept me engaged! On the opposite spectrum, being in basic algebra the teacher would explain the same simple concept over and over, with rote problem practice was torturously hard to stay focused because the work was so simple.

And that’s where we get to the part explaining why I think of my ADHD as a superpower, and why if you have it, or your kids have it, or your spouse has it… the key to dealing with it is understanding how to harness the way our brains work.

Learning to Thrive with ADHD

Disclaimer : What follows is NOT medical advice, nor is it necessarily 100% accurate. This is my personal experience and how I’ve come to understand my brain via working with my therapist and talking with other people with ADHD.

A Warp Speed Brain

To have ADHD means that your brain is an engine that’s constantly running at high speed. It basically never stops wanting to process information at a high rate. The “attention” part is just an observable set of behaviors when an ADHD person is understimulated. This is also part of why I now openly associate as hyperactive — my brain is hyperactive! It’s constantly on warp speed and won’t go any other speed.

For instance, one of the hardest things for me to do is fill out a paper check. It’s simple, it’s obvious, there is nothing to solve, it just needs to be filled out. By the time I have started writing the first stroke of the first character, my mind is thinking about things that I need to think about. I’m considering what to have for dinner, then I’m thinking about a movie I want to see, then I come up with an email to send — all in a second. 

I have to haullll myself out of my alternate universe and back to the task at hand and, like a person hanging on the leash of a horse that’s bolting, I’m struggling to just write out the name of the person who I’m writing the check to! This is why ADHD people tend to have terrible handwriting, we’re not able to just only think about moving the pen, we’re in 1,000 different universes.

On the other hand, this entire blog post was written in less than an hour and all in one sitting. I’m having to think through a thousand aspects all at once. My dialog: “Is this too personal? Maybe you should put a warning about this being a personal discussion? Maybe I shouldn’t share this? Oh, the next section should be about working. Should I keep writing more of these?”

And because there is so much to think through and consider for a public leader like myself to write such a personal post, it’s highly engaging! My engine can run at full speed. I haven’t stood up for the entire hour, and I haven’t engaged in other nervous habits I have like picking things up — I haven’t done any of it! 

This is what’s called hyperfocus, and it’s the part of ADHD that can make us potentially far more productive than our peers. I’ve almost arranged my whole life around making sure that I can get myself into hyperfocus as reliably as possible.

Harnessing What My Brain Is Built For

Slow-moving meetings are very difficult for me, but chatting in 20 different chat rooms at the same time on 20 different subjects is very easy for me — so you’ll much more likely see me in chat rooms than scheduling additional meetings. Knowing what my brain is built for helps me organize my schedule, work, and commitments that I sign up for to make sure that I can be as productive as possible.

If you haven’t seen the movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and you are ADHD or love someone who is, you should immediately go watch it! The first time I saw it, I loved it, but I had no idea that one of its writers was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult , and decided to write a sci-fi movie about an ADHD person! The moment I read that it was about having ADHD my heart exploded. It resonated so much with me and it all made sense.

Practically, the only real action in the movie is a woman who needs to file her taxes. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s a universe-tripping adventure that is incredibly exciting, but if you even take a step back and look at it, really, she was just trying to do her taxes.

But, she has a superpower of being able to travel into universes and be… everywhere all at once. Which is exactly how it feels to be in my mind — my brain is zooming around the universe and it’s visiting different thoughts and ideas and emotions. And if you can learn how to wield that as a power, albeit one that requires careful handling, you can do things that most people would never be able to do!

Co-workers have often positively noted that I see solutions that others miss and I’m able to find a course of action that takes account of multiple possibilities when the future is uncertain (I call it being quantum brained). Those two attributes have led me to create groundbreaking new technologies and build large teams with great open cultures and help solve problems and think strategically. 

It took me until I was 39 to realize that ADHD isn’t something that I had to overcome to have the career I’ve had — it’s been my superpower .

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Published Jul 15, 2022

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How to Tackle an Essay (an ADHD-friendly Guide)

6 steps and tips.

Most of the college students I work with have one major assignment type that gets them stuck like no other: the dreaded essay. It has become associated with late nights, requesting extensions (and extensions on extensions), feelings of failure, and lots of time lost staring at a screen. This becomes immensely more stressful when there is a thesis or capstone project that stands between you and graduation.

The good news?

An essay doesn’t have to be the brick wall of doom that it once was. Here are some strategies to break down that wall and construct an essay you feel good about submitting.

Step 1:  Remember you’re beginning an essay, not finishing one.

Without realizing it, you might be putting pressure on yourself to have polished ideas flow from your brain onto the paper. There’s a reason schools typically bring up having an outline and a rough draft! Thoughts are rarely organized immediately (even with your neurotypical peers, despite what they may say). Expecting yourself to deliver a publishing-worthy award winner on your first go isn’t realistic. It’s allowed to look messy and unorganized in the beginning! There can be unfinished thoughts, and maybe even arguments you aren’t sure if you want to include. When in doubt, write it down.

Step 2: Review the rubric

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what the assignment is asking you to include and to focus on. If you don’t have an understanding of it, it’s better to find out in advance rather than the night before the assignment is due. The rubric is your anchor and serves as a good guide to know “when you can be done.” If you hit all the marks on the rubric, you’re looking at a good grade.

I highly recommend coming back to the rubric multiple times during the creative process, as it can help you get back on track if you’ve veered off in your writing to something unrelated to the prompt. It can serve as a reminder that it’s time to move onto a different topic - if you’ve hit the full marks for one area, it’s better to go work on another section and return to polish the first section up later. Challenge the perfectionism!

Step 3: Divide and conquer

Writing an essay is not just writing an essay. It typically involves reading through materials, finding sources, creating an argument, editing your work, creating citations, etc. These are all separate tasks that ask our brain to do different things. Instead of switching back and forth (which can be exhausting) try clumping similar tasks together.

For example:

Prepping: Picking a topic, finding resources related to topic, creating an outline

Gathering: reading through materials, placing information into the outline

Assembling: expanding on ideas in the outline, creating an introduction and conclusion

Finishing: Make final edits, review for spelling errors and grammar, create a title page and reference page, if needed.

Step 4: Chunk it up

Now we’re going to divide the work EVEN MORE because it’s also not realistic to expect yourself to assemble the paper all in one sitting. (Well, maybe it is realistic if you’re approaching the deadline, but we want to avoid the feelings of panic if we can.) If you haven’t heard of chunking before, it’s breaking down projects into smaller, more approachable tasks.

This serves multiple functions, but the main two we are focusing on here is:

• it can make it easier to start the task;
• it helps you create a timeline for how long it will take you to finish.

If you chunk it into groups and realize you don’t have enough time if you go at that pace, you’ll know how quickly you’ll need to work to accomplish it in time.

Here are some examples of how the above categories could be chunked up for a standard essay. Make sure you customize chunking to your own preferences and assignment criteria!

Days 1 - 3 : Prep work

• ‍ Day 1: Pick a topic & find two resources related to it
• Day 2: Find three more resources related to the topic
• Day 3: Create an outline

Days 4 & 5 : Gather

• ‍ Day 4: Read through Resource 1 & 2 and put information into the outline
• Day 5: Read through Resource 3 & 4 and put information into the outline

Days 6 - 8 : Assemble

• ‍ Day 6: Create full sentences and expand on Idea 1 and 2
• Day 7: Create full sentences and expand on Idea 3 and write an introduction
• Day 8: Read through all ideas and expand further or make sentence transitions smoother if need be. Write the conclusion

Day 9: Finish

• ‍ Day 9: Review work for errors and create a citation page

Hey, we just created an outline about how to make an outline - how meta!

Feel like even that is too overwhelming? Break it down until it feels like you can get started. Of course, you might not have that many days to complete an assignment, but you can do steps or chunks of the day instead (this morning I’ll do x, this afternoon I’ll do y) to accommodate the tighter timeline. For example:

Day 1: Pick a topic

Day 2: Find one resource related to it

Day 3: Find a second resource related to it

Step 5: Efficiently use your resources

There’s nothing worse than stockpiling 30 resources and having 100 pages of notes that can go into an essay. How can you possibly synthesize all of that information with the time given for this class essay? (You can’t.)

Rather than reading “Article A” and pulling all the information you want to use into an “Article A Information Page,” try to be intentional with the information as you go. If you find information that’s relevant to Topic 1 in your paper, put the information there on your outline with (article a) next to it. It doesn’t have to be a full citation, you can do that later, but we don’t want to forget where this information came from; otherwise, that becomes a whole mess.

By putting the information into the outline as you go, you save yourself the step of re-reading all the information you collected and trying to organize it later on.

*Note: If you don’t have topics or arguments created yet, group together similar ideas and you can later sort out which groups you want to move forward with.

Step 6: Do Some Self-Checks

It can be useful to use the Pomodoro method when writing to make sure you’re taking an adequate number of breaks. If you feel like the 25 min work / 5 min break routine breaks you out of your flow, try switching it up to 45 min work / 15 min break. During the breaks, it can be useful to go through some questions to make sure you stay productive:

• How long have I been writing/reading this paragraph?
• Does what I just wrote stay on topic?
• Have I continued the "write now, edit later" mentality to avoid getting stuck while writing the first draft?
• Am I starting to get frustrated or stuck somewhere? Would it benefit me to step away from the paper and give myself time to think rather than forcing it?
• Do I need to pick my energy back up? Should I use this time to get a snack, get some water, stretch it out, or listen to music?

General Tips:

• If you are having a difficult time trying to narrow down a topic, utilize office hours or reach out to your TA/professor to get clarification. Rather than pulling your hair out over what to write about, they might be able to give you some guidance that speeds up the process.
• You can also use (and SHOULD use) office hours for check-ins related to the paper, tell your teacher in advance you’re bringing your rough draft to office hours on Thursday to encourage accountability to get each step done. Not only can you give yourself extra pressure - your teacher can make sure you’re on the right track for the assignment itself.
• For help with citations, there are websites like Easybib.com that can help! Always double check the citation before including it in your paper to make sure the formatting and information is correct.
• If you’re getting stuck at the “actually writing it” phase, using speech-to-text tools can help you start by transcribing your spoken words to paper.
• Many universities have tutoring centers and/or writing centers. If you’re struggling, schedule a time to meet with a tutor. Even if writing itself isn’t tough, having a few tutoring sessions scheduled can help with accountability - knowing you need to have worked on it before the tutoring session is like having mini deadlines. Yay, accountability!

Of course, if writing just isn’t your jam, you may also struggle with motivation . Whatever the challenge is, this semester can be different. Reach out early if you need help - to your professor, a tutor, an ADHD coach , or even a friend or study group. You have a whole team in your corner. You’ve got this, champ!

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ADHD and Graduate Writing

What this handout is about.

This handout outlines how ADHD can contribute to hitting the wall in graduate school. It describes common executive function challenges that grad students with ADHD might experience, along with tips, strategies, and resources for navigating the writing demands of grad school with ADHD.

Challenges for graduate students with ADHD

Many graduate students hit the wall (lose focus, productivity, and direction) when they reach the proposal, thesis, or dissertation phase—when they have a lot of unstructured time and when their external accountability system is gone. Previously successful strategies aren’t working for them anymore, and they aren’t making satisfactory progress on their research.

In many ways, hitting the wall is a normal part of the grad school experience, but ADHD, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, can amplify the challenges of graduate school because success depends heavily on executive functioning. ADHD expert Russell Barkley explains that people with ADHD have difficulty with some dimensions of executive function, including working memory, motivation, planning, and problem solving. For grad students, those difficulties may emerge as these kinds of challenges:

• Being forgetful and having difficulty keeping things organized.
• Not remembering anything they’ve read in the last few hours or the last few minutes.
• Not remembering anything they’ve written or the argument they’ve been developing.
• Finding it hard to determine a research topic because all topics are appealing.
• Easily generating lots of new ideas but having difficulty organizing them.
• Being praised for creativity but struggling with coherence in writing, often not noticing logical leaps in their own writing.
• Having difficulty breaking larger projects into smaller chunks and/or accurately estimating the time required for each task.
• Difficulty imposing structure on large blocks of time and finishing anything without externally set deadlines.
• Spending an inordinate amount of time (like 5 hours) developing the perfect plan for accomplishing tasks (like 3 hours of reading).
• Having trouble switching tasks—working for hours on one thing (like refining one sentence), often with no awareness of time passing.
• Conversely, having trouble focusing on a single task–being easily distracted by external or internal competitors for their attention.
• Being extremely sensitive to or upset by criticism, even when it’s meant to be constructive.
• Struggling with advisor communications, especially when the advisors don’t have a strict structure, e.g., establishing priorities, setting clear timelines, enforcing deadlines, providing timely feedback, etc.

If you experience these challenges in a way that is persistent and problematic, check out our ADHD resources page and consider talking to our ADHD specialists at the Learning Center to talk through how you can regain or maintain focus and productivity.

Strategies for graduate students with ADHD

Writing a thesis or dissertation is a long, complex process. The list below contains a variety of strategies that have been helpful to grad students with ADHD. Experiment with the suggestions below to find what works best for you.

Reading and researching

Screen reading software allows you to see and hear the words simultaneously. You can control the pace of reading to match your focus. If it’s easier to focus while you’re physically active, try using a screen reader so you can listen to journal articles while you take a walk or a run or while you knit or doodle–or whatever movement helps you focus. Find more information about screen readers and everything they can do on the ARS Technology page .

Citation management systems can help you keep your sources organized. Most systems enable you to enter notes, add tags, save pdfs, and search. Some allow you to annotate pdfs, export to other platforms, or collaborate on projects. See the UNC Health Sciences Library comparison of citation managers to learn more about options and support.

Synthesis matrix is a fancy way of saying “spreadsheet,” but it’s a spreadsheet that helps you keep your notes organized. Set the spreadsheet up with a column for the full citations and additional columns for themes, like “research question,” “subjects,” “theoretical perspective,” or anything that you could productively document. The synthesis matrix allows you to look at all of the notes on a single theme across multiple publications, making it easier for you to analyze and synthesize. It saves you the trouble of shuffling through lots of highlighted articles or random pieces of paper with scribbled notes. See these example matrices on Autism , Culturally Responsive Pedagogy , and Translingualism .

Topic selection

Concept maps (also called mind maps) represent information visually through diagrams, flowcharts, timelines, etc. They can help you document ideas and see relationships you might be interested in pursuing. See examples on the Learning Center’s Concept Map handout . Search the internet for “concept-mapping software” or “mind-mapping software” to see your many choices.

Advisor meetings can help you reign in all of the interesting possibilities and focus on a viable, manageable project. Try to narrow the topics down to 3-5 and discuss them with your advisor. Be ready to explain why each interests you and how you would see the project developing. Work with your advisor to set goals and a check-in schedule to help you stay on track. They can also help you sort what needs to be considered now and what’s beyond the scope of the dissertation—tempting though it may be to include everything possible.

Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Break the dissertation project down into bite-sized pieces so you don’t get overwhelmed by the enormity of the whole project. The pieces can be parts of the text (e.g., the introduction) or the process (e.g., brainstorming or formatting tables). Enlist your advisor, other grad students, or anyone you think might help you figure out manageable chunks to work on, discuss reasonable times for completion, and help you set up accountability systems.

Tame perfectionism and separate the processes . Writers with ADHD will often try to perfect a single sentence before moving on to the next one, to the point that it’s debilitating. Start with drafting for ideas, knowing that you’re going to write a lot of sentences that will change later. Allow the ideas to flow, then set aside times to revise for ideas and to polish the prose.

List questions you could answer as a way of brainstorming and organizing information.

Make a slideshow of your key points for each section, chapter, or the entire dissertation. Hit the highlights without getting mired in the details as you draft the big picture.

Give a presentation to an imaginary (or real) audience to help you flesh out your ideas and try to articulate them coherently. The presentation can be planned or spontaneous as a brainstorming strategy. Give your presentation out loud and use dictation software to capture your thoughts.

Use dictation software to transcribe your speech into words on a screen. If your brain moves faster than your fingers can type, or if you constantly backspace over imperfectly written sentences, dictation software can capture the thoughts as they come to you and preserve all of your phrasings. You can review, organize, and revise later. Any device with a microphone (like your phone) will do the trick. See various speech to text tools on the ARS Technology page .

Turn off the monitor and force yourself to write for five, ten, twenty minutes, or however long it takes to dump your brain onto the screen. If you can’t see the words, you can’t scrutinize and delete them prematurely.

Use the Pomodoro technique . Set a timer for 25 minutes, write as much as you can during that time, take a five-minute break, and then do it again. After four 25-minute segments, take a longer break. The timer puts a helpful limit on the writing session that can motivate you to produce. It also keeps you aware of the passage of time, helping you stay focused and keeping your time more structured.

Sprints or marathons? Some people find it helpful to break down the writing process into smaller tasks and work on a number of tasks in smaller sprints. However, some people with ADHD find managing a number of tasks overwhelming, so for them, a “marathon write” may be a good idea. A marathon write doesn’t have to mean last-minute writing. Try to plan ahead, stock up on food for as many days as you plan to write, and think about how you’ll care for yourself during the long stretch of writing.

Minimize distractions . Turn off the internet, find a suitable place (quiet, ambient noise, etc.), minimize disruptions from other people (family, office mates, etc.), and use noise-canceling headphones or earplugs if they help. If you catch your thoughts wandering, write down whatever is distracting and you can attend to it later when you finish.

Seek feedback for clarity . Mind-wandering is a big asset for people with ADHD as it boosts creativity. Expansive, big-picture thinking is also an asset because it allows you to imagine complex systems. However, these things can also make graduate students with ADHD struggle with maintaining logical coherence. When you ask for feedback, specify logical coherence as a concern so your reader has a focus. If you’d like to look at your logic before you seek feedback, see our 2-minute video on reverse outlining .

Seek feedback for community . Talking to people about your ideas for writing will help you stay connected at a time when it’s easy to fade into a dark hole. Check out this handout on getting feedback .

Time management and accountability

Enlist your advisor . Graduate students with ADHD might worry about the perception that they’re “gaming the system” if they disclose their ADHD. Or they might struggle with an advisor with a more hands-off mentoring style. It will be helpful to be explicit about your neurodiversity and your potential need for a structure. Ask your advisor to clarify the expectations specifically (even quantify them), and work with them to come up with a clear timeline and a regular check-in schedule.

Enlist other mentors . Your advisor may be less understanding and/or may not be able to provide enough structure, or you may think it’s a good idea to have more than one person on your structure team. Look for other mentors on your faculty (inside or outside of your committee), and talk to senior grad students about their strategies.

Pay attention to your body rhythms . When do you feel most creative? Most focused? Most energetic? Or the least creative, focused, energetic? What activities could you engage in during those times? How can you do them consistently?

Think about task vs. time . It can be difficult to estimate how long a task is going to take, so think about setting a time limit for working on something. Set a timer, work for that amount of time, and change tasks when the time is over.

Tame hyperfocus . If you have trouble switching tasks, ask a friend or colleague to “interrupt” you, or figure out a system you can use to interrupt yourself. For example, when you find yourself trying to fix a sentence for 30 minutes, you can call a friend for a brief conversation about another topic. People with ADHD often find this helps them to look at the work from a more objective perspective when they return to it.

Set SMART goals . Check out the handout on setting SMART goals to help you set up a regular research and writing routine.

Set up a reward system . Tie your research or writing goal to an enjoyable reward. Note that it can also be pre-ward – something you do beforehand that will help you feel refreshed and motivated to work.

Find accountability buddies . These can be people you update on your progress or people you meet with to get work done together. Oftentimes, the simple presence of other people is able to motivate and keep us focused. This “body-doubling” strategy is particularly helpful for people with ADHD. Look for events like the Dissertation Boot Camp or IME Writing Wednesdays .

Find virtual accountability partners . There are a number of online platforms to connect you with virtual work partners. See this article on strategies and things to consider.

Use productivity and focus apps . Check out some recommendations among the Learning Center’s ADHD/LD Resources . To find the best options for you, try Googling “Apps for focus and productivity” to find reviews of timers and other focus apps.

Learn more about accountability . See the Learning Center’s Accountability Strategies page for great information and resources.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barkley, R. (2022, July 11). What is executive function? 7 deficits tied to ADHD . ADDitude: Inside the ADHD Mind. https://www.additudemag.com/7-executive-function-deficits-linked-to-adhd/

Hallowell, E. and Ratey, J. (2021). ADHD 2.0: New science and essential strategies for thriving with distraction—from childhood through adulthood . Random House Books.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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ADHD College Students: Use This Strategy To Write Papers

ADHD College Students : Here at ADHD Collective, we love highlighting the experiences and perspectives of like-minded people with ADHD. Izzy Walker started attending the weekly coworking sessions we launched in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began.  She showed up week after week and put in the hard work as she neared the semester’s end at University. When she accepted my invitation to share what she learned with our readers, I was thrilled, and I know you will be too. Please share Izzy’s helpful tips in your social circles, if you know a college student with ADHD who could benefit.

ADHD and College

Making it to university was a milestone I often thought I would never make. However, my experience was gloomy. Everything was disproportionately difficult, lectures were a confusing din, and every assignment was a mammoth struggle.

I changed university naively thinking it would be different somewhere else. It wasn’t. But it was there at my new university that my story of hope began, as one friend saw the immense struggle I was having and suggested that it could be ADHD.

This conversation was a catalyst for change, and set the ball rolling for me in my journey. It led to a heck of a lot of personal research, but also a meeting with an Educational Psychologist who after a series of testing gave me the diagnosis of ADHD and Dyspraxia .

When I read these words I felt an odd, overwhelming sense of relief. I wasn’t dumb, lazy, incapable, or ‘just not cut out to study’.

School reports year after year would echo the words, ‘distracted and distracting’, ‘capable but often off-task’, and ‘constantly questioning’. On paper I was doing well, the product of my work was good, so no flags had been raised, but deep down behind closed doors I was not doing well, the process was far from good. This has been the case throughout the whole of my education, and I just put it down to my capability.

Since diagnosis I have finished my 1 st assignment, and then my 2 nd , and then my 3 rd , and I am now looking onwards to my final year before being a qualified teacher. This time with hope and acceptance of who I am and who I can be with the right strategies and support in place.

Here are some that I have found the most game-changing when working on projects/assignments:

Give Yourself a New Deadline

I set myself a deadline a few days (at least) before the actual one. I have a real tendency to be scrambling right to the last minute and this helps avoid a lot of stress.

The whole point of this was to prevent a lot of unnecessary scrambling and stress. This also gave me time to edit (more on that later).

As much as you can, it’s helpful to treat this earlier date as your actual deadline. One way I did this was only scheduling this earlier date on the calendar so it felt more real.

By finishing 5-6 days early, it offered me a  window of time for editing and getting it ready to turn in. It also gave time to improve the paper should I have any middle of the night revelations…which I so often do!

Break Your Paper Down into Smaller Pieces

When I was presented with a 5,000 word assignment I felt immediately overwhelmed. I broke the assignment down into sections and assigned a word count to each one.

when I considered what my paper actually entailed, it didn’t seem so bad. Here's what the requirements consisted of:

• Introduction - 1 section
• Argument FOR - 3 sections
• Argument AGAINST - 3 sections
• Conclusion - 1 Section
• Total length of the paper had to be 5,000 words.

It may seem very overly meticulous, but by spending 30 minutes doing this prevented what could have been HOURS of cutting back word count in the editing stages, and could also run the risk of having no clear structure.

I am a waffler, so without this structure, I would probably have gone WAY over the word limit anyway.

I also went one step further by writing a title for each of the points (on my plan only) and any key things I wanted/needed to mention.

For example, in an assignment on why outdoor learning should be a part of the primary curriculum, my points would be titled ‘educational benefits’, ‘health benefits’ and ‘social benefits’.

The contrary points could be titled ‘behavioural issues’, ‘lack of funding’, and ‘lack of training’. By breaking it down into bite size chunks I felt it was much more manageable.

Focus on One Section a Day

After breaking it down, I dedicated a day to each of the sections. For example, intro – Monday, section 1 – Tuesday, etc.

From my experience, I have found that having a specific measurable target makes it almost like a game. I found it very motivating watching the word count for that section going down as I typed.

By scheduling the sections out and putting them in my calendar, it allowed me to know when this assignment could realistically be finished by, rather than taking a guess and hoping for the best.

When I woke up, I was thinking, 'I have to write 650 words today!’ rather than ‘oh my goodness 5,000 words!?

I would recommend doing this step as soon as you get the assignment and the deadline date…even if you do nothing else towards it, so that you know when you must start.

Set a Mid-Way Checkpoint

it will save you a LOT of time in the editing stages if you do a little editing as you go along. 

With the word count on this particular assignment being so big, I thought it would be wise to set a mid-way checkpoint to read through everything so far and make changes as necessary. 

Normally, this would be done at the end but I knew I would have lost all interest and motivation by this point…so it would be better to save myself such a huge job. This also filled me with confidence because when I was writing the second half of the assignment and needed the extra boost, I knew that the first half was to a good standard.

Do Something Every Day (No Matter How Small)

I’m not going to lie, not everyday was as straightforward as ‘write one section a day’. 

Some days I was crippled by demotivation, lethargy and not wanting to do ANYTHING. 

The key times I noticed this was if I had worked too hard the previous day or if I had hit a difficult part. Believe me, working TOO hard is a THING. 

My biggest piece of advice is…know your limits! 

I’m no ADHD scientist, but I find my brain must be working harder because of the increased effort I am investing to even stand a chance of being able to concentrate. 

Whilst I may feel just about fine at the time, the next day it takes its toll…big time…and maybe the work I did in my ‘overtime’ wasn’t even of the best quality anyway. 

"If you just aren’t feeling it, do just one sentence, or find just one piece of theory. Just do one something ..."

This is another reason why my structured plan was really useful because it prevented me from unnecessarily going overboard…and meant that there was no real reason to anyway as I was already on track to finish on time. 

If it’s the latter reason, that I’ve hit a difficult part, then there is nothing worse than putting it off another day because this ‘mental wall’ will just get HIGHER. 

What did I find useful? If you just aren’t feeling it…do just ONE sentence, or find just ONE piece of theory you just use. Just do ONE something…so then you can feel at least partially accomplished and it’s not a blank section for when you do get back to it. 

Best case scenario…that ONE something, could roll into TWO or THREE or FOUR somethings…and before you know it that section is done. Often it is just starting that is the difficult bit. 

But worse case scenario…you tried and you can give it another shot tomorrow when your brain is a bit fresher. Productive days happen, utilise these and ride the waves…as do unproductive days…don’t allow the guilt to creep in.

Declutter Your Workspace

I even went to the extreme of removing the pen pot off the desk…in front of me all I had was paper, 1 pen, my lamp, and my laptop.

Minimalism has been a saviour for me during this time of discovering what works for me and what doesn’t. I’ve come to the conclusion that reducing physical clutter consequently reduces mental clutter. I also found the inverse to be true too, clearing my physical space gave me mental clarity.

Whilst this is a visible practice in much of my life, it is especially apparent with my workspace . You’d be amazed what I can get distracted by when writing an assignment…even something as small and monotonous as a pen pot!

Firstly…I would recommend to ALWAYS have a work station with a proper chair when you are writing an assignment and never work from your bed. You must set yourself up for success.

Secondly, I have only the bare essentials in front of me…a pen, a lamp, paper, and my laptop. By keeping it minimal it also means it is easily portable if you want to ‘hot seat’ in your own house if you get bored of that scenery!

Use ADHD Coworking Sessions (and the Pomodoro Technique)

At the start of lockdown I stumbled upon a weekly coworking group ran by Adam from ADHD Collective. I can honestly put down a lot of my success to this…it was amazing!

Firstly, I felt so understood because the group was aimed at people with ADHD. This meant that everyone could share their experiences and not feel judged, but instead find themselves in a supportive community where they could also ask advice.

Each session was 2 hours long and attracted between 4 and 12 people, depending on the week.

It would start with each person sharing (with specifics) what task they wanted to achieve within the next 25 minute block.

By being specific it allowed for a strong element of accountability because at the end of the block, Adam, the ADHD coach and group host would check your progress and whether you had achieved what you wanted to achieve.

Working in 25 minute blocks is often referred to as the Pomodoro Technique . Whilst everyone else in the group is sharing their progress, it gives your brain the opportunity for a short break before starting the next block.

By having short bursts of activity I was able to concentrate and thus achieve more than I would have done if I tried to work for hours without breaks.

Additionally, having the accountability was an incentive for me because it was motivation and almost turned it into a game to try and get the activity finished in time.

I hope these college writing tips give you several options that might help you with your ADHD experience.

Now over to you!

Share the tools, strategies, and tips in the comments below that have helped you in your own journey with ADHD and college writing!

Izzy Walker

Izzy Walker is a trainee teacher in her final year at University in Newcastle, UK. When not studying, she can be found on spontaneous adventures, and meeting new people! To follow her as she navigates through the adventures of ADHD, student life, and teacher...find her on Instagram at @if.walker

Thank you so much.

I am an over 50 returning student trying to finish my undergraduate degree. I never knew I had ADHD until I started taking classes that required retention, organizing, and WRITING. At times, I even wondered if I lacked the skills to even finish. I, at times, self sabotage myself of success because of my struggles. I truly appreciate you sharing your experience. I’ve become desperate and will try anything at this point. I’m just glad to know that others understand my journey. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for this! In addition to these, I also find it really helpful to keep a “Random thoughts” notepad near me to jot down unrelated urges as I have them. Things like “refill water bottle” or “text Casey back” will still be there in 25 minutes, and knowing in advance that thoughts like ‘this will only take a second’ are lies makes them easier to put on the back burner.

Wow. Thank you, so much, Izzy. I developed ADHD only 3 years ago from a medication. I also decided to go back to college as a mom of 3 boys and the mental exhaustion and burnout is no joke. Papers have been the most challenging and this is the single most helpful tool I’ve found yet. I could feel the relief wash over me as I read through your guide. I feel inspired to tackle my papers in a new way now.

Hi, I am a mid-career student here going back for an MA part-time, while also working. I’ve never been formally diagnosed, but I tick all the boxes and I know now it is why I struggled with papers in college the first time around and why I developed so many systems to be organized in my work life. Was feeling a little burned out today while writing an academic paper and was looking for advice. I was amazed to see that your system is very similar to what I’ve been doing for myself to get through paper-writing! It’s reinforcing in a very good way. Thank you for sharing this. Best of luck to everyone with finding the solutions and tricks that work for them.

Hi Espy, appreciate the comment. Very cool to hear your intuitive system is similar (nice intuition!). If an additional accountability/community component would ever be useful, you’re always invited to our Wednesday ADHD Coworking Sessions. They’re free and we do them every Wednesday (you can sign up for upcoming sessions here: https://adhdcollective.com/adhd-coworking-session-online/ ). Would love to have you, Espy!

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7 Tips for College Students With ADHD

Verywell / Laura Porter

Qualities for Student Success

• ADHD and College
• Academic Tips
• Social Tips

Every autumn, thousands of students move away from the structure and safety of home to the freedoms of college life. While it's an exciting time filled with many possibilities for learning and growth, it can also be challenging academically and socially—especially for college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Learn some of the challenges that college students with ADHD face, as well as strategies that can be used to overcome these obstacles. This includes learning how to study with ADHD and taking certain actions to foster friendships with other students.

Sarah D. Wright , ADHD coach and author of "Fidget to Focus: Outwit Your Boredom—Sensory Strategies for Living with ADD," explains that successful students usually have four qualities that help them achieve their goals:

• Sticking with things even when the going gets tough (perseverance)
• Ability to delay gratification and focus on the big picture
• Time management and organizational skills
• Striking the right balance between fun and work

These particular skills, however, don’t come easily to people with ADHD. One of the hallmarks of this mental health condition is impaired executive functioning . This means that students with ADHD may struggle with staying organized, sticking to a plan, and managing time effectively.

How ADHD Affects College Students

College students often face more responsibilities, less structured time, increased distractions, and new social situations—all while lacking access to many of the support systems they had in high school. Impaired executive functioning can make handling these changes a bit harder for students with ADHD, resulting in:

• Poor academic performance and achievement : Students with ADHD frequently report feeling dissatisfied with their grades. They may struggle in their classes due to difficulties starting and completing tasks, disorganization, problems remembering assignments, difficulty memorizing facts, and trouble working on lengthy papers or complex math problems .
• Troubles with time management : Students with ADHD often have irregular lifestyles that result from poor time management. This can create problems with being on time, preparing and planning for the future, and prioritizing tasks.
• Difficulty regulating and managing emotions : Students with ADHD also often struggle with social issues, negative thoughts, and poor self-esteem. Some ADHD symptoms can make friendships and other relationships more challenging while worrying about these issues contributes to poor self-image.

The good news is that these areas of executive function can be improved. For most college students with ADHD, the problem isn’t in knowing what to do, it's getting it done. Developing strategies that focus on this goal can lead to positive academic and social effects.

Tips for Succeeding in College With ADHD

There are several strategies you can use to help stay on track if you are a college student with ADHD. Here are seven that Wright suggests.

1. Take Steps to Start the Day on Time

There are three main factors that contribute to being late in the morning: Getting up late, getting sidetracked, and being disorganized.

If Getting Up Late Is an Issue

Set two alarms to go off in sequence. Put the first alarm across the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. Put the second where you know it will bother your roommates, increasing the consequences if you don’t get out of bed and turn it off. Set both alarms to go off early so you can take your time getting ready.

If Getting Sidetracked Is an Issue

If certain actions tend to derail you, like checking your email or reading the news, make it a rule that those activities must wait until later in the day so you can stay on task . Also, figure out how much time you need to dress, eat, and get organized, then set alarms or other reminders to cue these tasks.

Three options are:

• Use a music mix as a timer . If you have 30 minutes to get ready, the schedule might look like this: wash and dress to songs 1 to 3, eat breakfast to songs 4 to 6, get your stuff together during song 7, and walk out the door by song 8. This option works best if you use the same mix every morning.
• Use your phone or buy a programmable reminder watch so your alarms are always nearby.
• Put a big wall clock in your room where you can easily see it . If your room is part of a suite with a common room and bathroom, put wall clocks in those spaces as well.

If Being Disorganized Is the Issue

Create a "launch pad" by your door. Collect all of the things you’ll need the next day the night before (like your backpack and keys), and put them on the pad so you can grab them and go. Include a note to help you remember important events for the day, such as an appointment or quiz.

2. Work With Your Urge to Procrastinate

Though it may sound counterproductive, if you feel the urge to procrastinate , go with it. When you have ADHD, sometimes things only get done right before they're due. At that point, nothing has higher priority, increasing the urgency and consequences if you don’t do them now. These qualities are what can finally make a task doable, so work with them.

If you plan to procrastinate, it's important to stack the deck so you can pull it off. For example, if you have to write a paper, make sure you’ve done the reading or research in advance and have some idea of what you want to write. Next, figure out how many hours you’ll need, block those hours out in your schedule, and then, with the deadline in sight, sit down and do it.

Understanding your tendency to procrastinate with ADHD can help you plan ahead so you won't be left scrambling to finish projects at the last minute.

3. Study Smarter, Not Harder

Boredom and working memory issues can make studying a bit more challenging for students with ADHD. Rather than trying harder to force the information into your head, get creative with the learning process.

If you're wondering how to study with ADHD, research shows that multi-modal learning or learning via a variety of different methods can be helpful. Ideas include:

• Highlight text with different-colored pens.
• Make doodles when taking notes.
• Record notes as voice memos and listen to them as you walk across campus.
• Use mnemonics to create funny ways to remember facts.
• Stand up while you study.
• Read assignments aloud using an expressive (not boring) voice.
• If you can, get the audio version of a book you need to read and listen to it while you take notes and/or exercise.
• Work with a study buddy.

These won't all work for every person, but try mixing up your strategies and see what happens. Taking study breaks every couple of hours and getting enough sleep are also part of studying smarter, not harder.

Sleep impacts learning in two main ways. First, sleep deprivation has a negative impact on  short-term memory , which is what you use to learn the materials when you study. Second, sleep is needed to move short-term memories into long-term memory, which is what you rely on when it's time to take the test.

Sleep is important for both short- and long-term memory, making it critical for both learning new material and recalling what you've learned.

4. Schedule Your Study Time

Many students with ADHD are highly intelligent. They can pull off a passing grade, or even a good one, in high school by cramming their studies in the night before a test.

This strategy doesn't work as well in college since cramming reduces your ability to retain what you've learned long-term . This can make it harder to remember what you need to know once you enter your field of choice.

One good rule of thumb for college students is to study two to two-and-a-half hours per week for every course credit hour. Put this time into your schedule to make sure you have it.

5. Plan and Prioritize Your Time

It may sound strange, but it's important to plan time to plan. If you don’t develop this habit, you may find yourself always being reactive with your day rather than proactive—the latter of which can help you take more control over your schedule .

Set aside time on Monday mornings to develop a high-level plan for the week, using Friday mornings to plan for the weekend. In addition, do a daily review of your plan over breakfast—possibly adding pertinent details—to make sure you know what’s coming your way that day.

When making your plans, differentiate between what you need to do and everything that can or should be done. Prioritize what needs to be done first, taking care of these items before moving on to lower-priority tasks on your list.

6. Implement Strategies to Stick to Your Plan

With ADHD, sticking to a plan is often difficult. If you like rewards, use them to assist with this. For instance, you might tell yourself, "I’ll read for two hours, then go to the coffee house." Having something to look forward to can make it easier to muster through your studies.

If you’re competitive, use this personality trait instead. Pick another student in your class whom you want to do better than and go for it. If you know that you respond to social pressure, make plans to study with classmates so you won’t let them down. Or hire a tutor so you have structured study time.

Research suggests that focusing on skills related to time management , target planning, goal setting, organization, and problem-solving can all be helpful for students with ADHD.

Hiring a coach can also be beneficial. There is growing evidence, both research-based and anecdotal, that supports ADHD coaching as a vital strategy in helping students learn to plan, prioritize, and persist in following their plans.

This type of coaching is sometimes described as a form of life coaching influenced by cognitive behavioral-type therapy , which helps people develop behaviors, skills, and strategies to better deal with ADHD symptoms. It can lead to greater self-determination and direction, reduced feelings of overwhelm and anxiety, and increased self-confidence and self-sufficiency.

7. Manage Your Medication

One study found that only around 53% of college students with ADHD adhere to their medication plan. Poor medication adherence can have serious consequences, contributing to poor academic performance and decreased graduation rates. 

Steps you can take to stay on top of your ADHD medications include:

• Find a local healthcare provider : Regularly monitoring your medications helps ensure that you are at the best dosage for you. If you're going to school a long way from home, find a local healthcare provider to meet with regularly. You can also schedule regular visits with your university's health services.
• Find a local pharmacy : Determine where you'll order and pick up your medication. Set reminders on your phone so you know when to refill your prescription. You may also be able to sign up for text reminders.
• Store medications safely : Abuse of ADHD medications is on the rise on college campuses, even though this can result in high blood pressure, increased feelings of anger and distrust, trouble sleeping, and even strokes. Keep your ADHD medications in a safe location and never share them with others. 
• Set reminders to take your medication : If you are struggling to take your medication as prescribed, consider using a reminder app or setting reminders on your phone.

Research points to medication as the most effective and available ADHD treatment option. However, it's important to talk to your care provider to decide the best treatment approach for your individual situation and needs.

Social Strategies for Students With ADHD

Interpersonal challenges are also common for college students with ADHD. While being out on your own for the first time can be exciting, this mental health condition can lead to difficulties in building and maintaining friendships .

CHADD—which stands for Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, an organization funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—offers these tips:

• Remember that you aren't the only one who feels the way you do . Other students may be feeling just as excited (and overwhelmed) as you. During orientation, help them feel more comfortable by being friendly and listening when they share their concerns.
• Look for opportunities to meet and interact with others . You might make new friends in class, in your dorm, at the school cafeteria, or at other places on campus. View each of these locations as an opportunity to expand your social network .
• Find activities or clubs to join. Colleges and universities are great places to explore hobbies and meet people who share your interests. Check out bulletin boards on campus or look at your school's website to learn more about the options that are available. 
• Stay in contact with your current friends . Don't let your high school friendships fade into the background just because you're at college. While you're busy with new things and might not see each other every day, stay in touch by phone, text, social media, or email. Your current friends can be great sources of social support .

A Word From Verywell

Being proactive and getting strategies in place early on can increase your success as a college student with ADHD, both academically and socially. This can help make your transition to college life a happy, successful, and productive time.

Get Help Now

We've tried, tested, and written unbiased reviews of the best online therapy programs including Talkspace, BetterHelp, and ReGain. Find out which option is the best for you.

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. College students with ADHD .

Pineda-Alhucema W, Aristizabal E, Escudero-Cabarcas J, Acosta-López JE, Vélez JI. Executive function and theory of mind in children with ADHD: a systematic review . Neuropsychol Rev . 2018;28:341-358. doi:10.1007/s11065-018-9381-9

Kwon SJ, Kim Y, Kwak Y. Difficulties faced by university students with self-reported symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A qualitative study . Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health . 2018;12(12). doi:10.1186/s13034-018-0218-3

Ward N, Paul E, Watson P, et al. Enhanced learning through multimodal training: Evidence from a comprehensive cognitive, physical fitness, and neuroscience intervention .  Sci Rep . 2017;7(1):5808. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06237-5

Rommelse N, van der Kruijs M, Damhuis J, et al. An evidence-based perspective on the validity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the context of high intelligence . Neurosci Biobehav Rev . 2016;71:21-47. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.032

Walck-Shannon EM, Rowell SF, Frey RF. To what extent do study habits relate to performance? CBE Life Sci Educ . 2021;20(1):ar6. doi:10.1187/cbe.20-05-0091

Wennberg B, Janeslätt G, Kjellberg A, Gustafsson P. Effectiveness of time-related interventions in children with ADHD aged 9-15 years: a randomized controlled study . Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry . 2018;27:329-342. doi:10.1007/s00787-017-1052-5

Prevatt F. Coaching for college students with ADHD .  Curr Psychiatry Rep . 2016;18(12):110. doi:10.1007/s11920-016-0751-9

ADHD medication adherence in college students-a call to action for clinicians and researchers: Commentary on 'transition to college and adherence to prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication': erratum . J Dev Behav Pediatr . 2018;39(3):269. doi:10.1097/DBP.0000000000000568

Hall CL, Valentine AZ, Groom MJ, et al. The clinical utility of the continuous performance test and objective measures of activity for diagnosing and monitoring ADHD in children: a systematic review . Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry . 2016;25:677-699. doi:10.1007/s00787-015-0798-x

Stanford Medicine. Abuse of prescription ADHD medicines rising on college campuses .

Caye A, Swanson JM, Coghill D, Rohde LA. Treatment strategies for ADHD: an evidence-based guide to select optimal treatment . Mol Psychiatry . 2019;24:390-408. doi:10.1038/s41380-018-0116-3

McKee TE. Peer relationships in undergraduates with ADHD symptomatology: selection and quality of friendships . J Atten Disord . 2017;21(12):1020-1029. doi:10.1177/1087054714554934

CHADD. Succeeding in college with ADD .

Rotz R, Wright SD. Fidget to focus: Outwit your boredom: Sensory strategies for living with ADD .

By Keath Low  Keath Low, MA, is a therapist and clinical scientist with the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina. She specializes in treatment of ADD/ADHD.

What Happens When ADHD Goes to College?

Here's how to plan for success..

Posted June 24, 2022 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

• What Is ADHD?
• Take our ADHD Test
• Find a therapist to help with ADHD
• A UK group published a consensus statement with recommendations for supporting college students with ADHD.
• The key points encourage adequate screening, assessment, and treatment and education of on-campus staff and educators about the nature of ADHD.
• Existing medical and psychosocial treatments are increasingly targeting the unique stressors facing college students with ADHD.
• Adult ADHD-focused therapies focused on the immediate goals of navigating college will generalize to later adult roles.

A group of colleagues in the UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN) recently published a consensus statement about supporting college students with ADHD. 1 The author list for the consensus statement is comprised mostly, if not completely, of researchers who also provide clinical services, and thus they know what university students with ADHD (and other young adults with ADHD) are up against as they assume adult roles.

Recalling the early days of the University of Pennsylvania Adult ADHD Treatment and Research Program, I’d estimate that college students comprised two-thirds of our initial cohort of clients. These were students who were only identified with ADHD after facing significant difficulties in college far and above any typical adjustment issues. They often reported simmering difficulties in earlier levels of school that were masked by intelligence (combined with less demanding work), support of family who ensured homework completion, more structure at home and school, or simply doing enough in high school to get by. Once they got to college, however, many of these students faced newfound levels of stress and difficulty that shed light on these heretofore veiled difficulties that could now be understood as undiagnosed ADHD. (There were some other students with ADHD who had been diagnosed before college but sought services as part of their continuity of care in college.)

General Recommendations from the College Students with ADHD Consensus Statement

The main takeaways from the UKAAN review and recommendations are:

• ADHD should be a separate category for disability determination, not as a learning or other difference.
• Screenings for ADHD should be performed for students presenting for disability services with specific learning differences or autistic spectrum issues or who seek help for depression and/or anxiety with learning problems.
• Staff training about the nature of ADHD and its assessment, treatment, and effects on learning is needed to heighten awareness and reduce stigma .
• Rapid access to services is a serious issue in terms of long waits for ADHD-related services via the NHS that needs to be addressed.
• Higher- education specialists also need training on the screen and diagnostic assessment of ADHD in college-aged adults in order to facilitate identification and referral for specialized treatments.
• The use of evidence-supported, multimodal treatment options, including psychoeducation, environmental adjustments/academic accommodations, medication treatments, academic coaching , psychosocial treatments and counseling (cognitive-behavior/dialectical-behavior therapies), and mindful interventions are helpful for young adults.

Facing College With ADHD: It Is More Than Just the Classroom

Our program’s early experiences with college students with ADHD also shed light on the college transition being as much if not more of a test of students’ time management and organizational skills as it was about knowledge and intellect. Unfortunately, difficulties with the former often undermine abilities in the latter. What’s more, most college students move away from home to attend college and must take on many more roles and responsibilities for managing their affairs and dealing with various distractions, temptations, and the stress of emerging adulthood at the same time they face a new level of education.

Help for College Students With ADHD

Encouragingly, there has been increased awareness of the effects of ADHD in college students, as well as other learning and mental health issues. Ever more treatments for ADHD are being adapted to the unique needs of college students with ADHD. As always with ADHD, medications can be highly effective. To date, I don’t think there is a medication that will make you want to read Beowulf , though. Psychosocial treatments, such as cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), are helpful for the implementation of coping strategies as well as dealing with stress and other emotional aspects of adjusting to and handling college. ADHD coaching is another option well-suited to supporting college students.

On-campus learning centers often offer support in the form of organization and time management strategies and other, more specific learning strategies in both group and individual settings. Targeted tutoring for particular subjects can also be helpful. Specific psychoeducation evaluations are required to petition campus disability services offices for formal academic accommodations based on documented learning disabilities, as the diagnosis of ADHD alone is not deemed sufficient justification, at least for schools that strictly follow Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines for postsecondary education. Nonetheless, there are informal coping steps that students can take, such as sitting near the front in large lectures, making use of instructor and teaching assistant office hours, and resources and regular meetings at the campus learning center.

In addition to an evidence-based CBT program for college students 2 , rumor has it that several other respected clinician-researchers in the ADHD community are developing materials designed to support college students with ADHD. A benefit of addressing ADHD in college is that every day provides an opportunity to implement and practice the coping strategies with academics, but that generalizes to other areas of life. As I had said about our program’s clinical experience with college students with ADHD, we provided early intervention for adult ADHD.

1 Sedgwick-Müller et al. (2022). University students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a consensus statement from the UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN). BMC Psychiatry, 22 , 292. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03898-z

2 Anastopoulos et al. (2020). CBT for college students with ADHD: A clinical guide to ACCESS . Springer.

J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist with an independent virtual practice. He is retired as a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

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How to Write Your College Essay About ADHD

Before you begin writing about ADHD in your college essay, there are a few important details to consider about this strategy. Most people have a mixed experience with ADHD. Sometimes it affects their academics negatively, and sometimes it has a positive effect. It can even affect one’s social and personal life.

This makes ADHD an interesting college essay topic because it has such a diverse potential for unique stories and experiences.

Of course, there are some dangers to this essay topic. Thus, It’s crucial you know how to write the essay without falling for common pitfalls. This guide was made based on some of the tips and tricks we teach our clients who also wrote their college essays about ADHD.

Be sure to take careful note of each section, as we’ve catered these details to help you maximize your chances of getting accepted into your schools. If you have any questions or need help with your essay, feel free to ask our expert college admissions advisors and consultants .

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Is it Okay to Write About ADHD in Your College Essay?

Remember to focus on yourself., don’t be afraid to get creative., how does your journey with adhd make you a qualified candidate, don’t expect admissions officers to know what adhd is like. explain in detail, example college essay about adhd., final thoughts..

Writing about ADHD in your college essay is okay.

Well, sometimes it’s actually a great essay topic. It can even be a topic that helps you stand out amongst other competing applicants. There are a lot of unique attributes to ADHD that most people don’t know about; and, it can shed a better light on how you are a stronger applicant compared to others.

Writing a college essay about ADHD can also be a bad idea. Depending on your experience with it and, more importantly, how you describe it, the topic can actually be a disadvantage.

Most people who write their college essays about ADHD fall into the latter category. They don’t know how to capitalize on their condition because they only see the negatives that come with it. They also do not know how to demonstrate their learning condition is actually an advantage or how they can use their experience to show their strengths.

In the latter sections of this guide, we’ll cover just how you can write your college essay about ADHD in a way that helps your admissions chances.

How to Write About ADHD in Your College Essay.

It’s common for people to get too focused on the actual learning condition of ADHD instead of themselves. They’ll write about ADHD but they won’t discuss how their experience was and how they felt about it. The connection you have with your relationship with ADHD and its impact on your life is more important than the actual condition itself.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should only talk about what it was like without briefly elaborating on what ADHD is. After all, ADHD can manifest in different ways for different people.

Thus, it’s crucial that you briefly cover how ADHD manifests in your life in particular. If it made it easier for you to retain a large amount of information in a short amount of time, write about that. If it put a strain on friendships and establishing proper civil dialogue, write about that. If ADHD affected your ability to focus and therefore complete assignments in a punctual manner, write about that.

Be sure to make the majority of the essay about you and your character rather than the ADHD itself. You can think of ADHD as a sort of supplementary topic that leads up to the main character theme you want to demonstrate in the application essay. It serves the main topic, which is you. But, it is not the main topic.

Many college applicants are afraid to get creative. And, roughly speaking, this is for a good reason.

Most students don’t really want to write an unconventional essay that makes them stand out because standing out can be seen in a negative light. It’s possible for your creative essay to completely flop and not work.

However, we find that a lot of students with ADHD applying to college also happen to have a lot of creative ideas generated in their heads. They have a large pool of ideas to write about and they can afford to get creative since they already have a lot of creative ideas.

Remember, just because not all creative essays work doesn’t mean you still have to stick to it. If you write a creative essay and it doesn’t look impressive or seems too large a risk, you can always scratch out your draft and start anew. That’s the thing about being creative with your college essay: you can write content and let the idea die instead of your admissions chances. You can always start over.

If you need help drafting a creative ADHD college essay, or just want help writing about ADHD in your college essay as a whole, feel free to request help from our professional college admissions advisors and consultants .

This doesn’t need to be explicitly said in your essay. But, you should imply that your experience with ADHD at least in some way makes you a qualified candidate for the school you’re applying for.

When reading over your essay, think about what your experience and journey with ADHD felt like. Consider all of the possible characteristics that can be drawn and inferred from your writing. Then, think of how said characteristics would make you a qualified candidate and a good fit for the school.

Does your journey with ADHD and your ability to adapt to your learning style make you capable of overcoming overwhelming obstacles through time despite adversity? Does changing the way you approach your ADHD show you’re someone with the open mindset needed to think outside the box in university? Does your ability to keep up with other students despite your ADHD make you someone who is formidable in mental stressors?

These are all attributes you may infer from your experience with ADHD. They also show the admissions office that you are a qualified candidate for the school who will succeed on campus, which is crucial to maximizing your success.

This is a hard one, but we think this point is absolutely crucial to your application process.

Admissions officers are not omnipotent. They don’t know everything and they can’t read your mind. Thus, you need to show your readers what ADHD must be like instead of assuming they can infer your experiences for you.

Even if you detail what happened and the things going on in your essay on the surface, articulating the feeling and emotions you feel behind events is key. This is where things can get tough, as your unique experiences may be foreign to what people without ADHD must feel.

So, what do we do about this? How can we explain foreign experiences to others who have no knowledge of ADHD?

I recommend this.

• List out your experiences with ADHD that you want to talk about.
• Write down in broad terms what you felt and how it emotionally affected you.
• Abstract the emotions you felt and find parallels of this emotion to other experiences most people feel in everyday life.

Okay, so here’s an example.

• I struggled to communicate with people on the same wavelength due to ADHD because my attention would be easily distracted by far too many external stimuli in the outside world.
• I would feel inexorably isolated during hangouts with friends.
• The feeling of knowing you’ll get isolated or drowned out in a crowd is similar to the feeling of dread one feels before going to a party. Maybe things are okay for the first few minutes, but the dread of feeling like the awkward wallflower starts to creep forward. This is something everyone goes through when they enter a new place. Except, for me, it happens every day.

Note also that this is not the experience every person with ADHD goes through. Everyone’s personal experiences with ADHD are different. Thus, it’s up to you to articulate what it was like for you and translate it into something understandable and digestible for admissions officers.

” “I’m going to say some words to you. Then, you’re going to tell me the first thing that comes to mind? Does that makes sense?” “Yes.” “Mountain.” “Mt. Fuji” “Water.” “Lake.” “School.” “Learning.” In the middle of it, I notice the pen on the psychologist’s chest pocket was broken. The ink was leaking through the fabric, and the blotch grew wider in circumference in an assymetrical pattern. It resembled an elephant: those creatures of supreme strength. I can’t help but think of what ancient civilizations felt upon first witnessing a war elephant at battle. Charging tusks. Rope-like noses. Weird… trumpet noises? “Thank you! You did well!” A few months pass, and I would be transferred into a gifted and talented program where I learned… nothing. I would learn however how to capitalize on my “gifts” and regurgitate what I’ve heard in class to breeze through classes. Then, actual work. Then, I have to really study. Then, I realize I never learned how to study. Then, I fail for the first time. Then, my world view about myself shatters. Am I actually talented at all? Or, was that just fantasy? Then, I’d look up. It’s popcorn ceiling. White pebbles arrayed incongruently to make unusual patterns across the ceiling to distract my mind. One of them looks like a centaur shooting an arrow into the mouth of a snake. This is what ADHD was like for me. As someone who grew up not learning how to truly study for academics, I consider my background a disadvantage despite having been put in a gifted program. However, it’s not that simple. ADHD isn’t particualrly an advantage or disadvantage in that sort of monolithic manner. Instead, it’s a smorgasbord of unusual attributes which make studying in conventional learning environments unique to say the least. Nonetheless, I didn’t learn how to overcome ADHD. Instead, I learned to understand it; then, I learned to wield it to my advantage. As someone who struggled to stay focused on one particular event at a time, distractions were nightmarish. But, I came to terms with my proclivity to get distracted. I also came to realize that my mind was most productive and “fast” in processing information during the first 10-15 minutes of work. Then, my mental “processing engine” burns out. So, over the years, I’ve crafted my own work method that follows a rotation pattern. Instead of focusing on one task indefinitely, I would make a lists of tasks I need to complete for the day. Then, I would rotate between taks in 10-15 minute intervals to maximize my productivity whilst capitalizing off of my proclivity to be distracted. Having fought ADHD for quite a while, I realized that my condition is neither a curse nor blessing. Instead, it is a double-edged sword. It can be good, and it can be bad. However, its effectiveness does not depend on the sharpness of the blade; but, it is determined by the wielder behind it. At university, I hope to wield my ADHD with proper technique and care and, hopefully, not spill my ink blots all over my shirt.” Example College Essay About ADHD

When writing about ADHD in your college essay, understand that you have an interesting topic to write about. It’s easy to dismiss your experiences as something that many other students also struggled with. However, ADHD is a strange learning condition that affects people in many different ways.

Your experiences are unique. But, it’s up to you to articulate what those experiences were like to admissions officers. Perhaps more important than that is how your experience with ADHD shows you’re a strong candidate for the school.

Writing about ADHD in your college essay is no simple feat. There are many steps that need to be taken before the essay can be submitted. In addition, the topic demands a lot of brainstorming and introspection before it is ready to be written.

Know that the path will not be easy. However, it’s also no reason to give up on ADHD as a topic. If done properly, a college essay about ADHD can be very effective and even help admissions officers see you in a better light compared to the rest of the admissions pool.

Universities, especially those which are very selective such as those in the top 25 of the US News and World Report , are vying for the best backgrounds for their students. Strong topics like your struggle and adaptation to unfair disadvantages such as ADHD will give you a much-needed boost in your application.

If you are struggling with writing about ADHD in your college essay, we would highly recommend speaking with an expert college admissions essay advisor . Here at PenningPapers, we’ve helped countless students of all backgrounds write about unique topics in their college essays. These essays have also helped them get accepted into some of the most selective universities in the world.

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should i write my college essay about going through high school with undiagnosed ADHD?

I have inattentive ADHD, but I wasn’t diagnosed until late into high school. I have struggled a lot with everything because of it, and it made everything a lot harder. I thought maybe I could write my college essay about living with it without the proper treatment, and overcoming the challenges that it threw it me (like doing well on tests when I should have gotten extra time, or changing my mentality about thinking that I’m just stupid) I managed to bring up my grades a little as a sophomore, and it took a TON of work and difficulty on my part. I was thinking i could write about how I was just classified as “lazy” or “stupid” and even when I tried my best I felt like I wasn’t good enough, etc. is that a good idea?

Any other ideas? This topic is soooo over used and doesn’t paint a great story of how you would benefit a school. The point of this essay is to make yourself more appealing to colleges.

I think it could be really good if you focus on the challenges and how you work to overcome them. Also–if it made you more empathic to others who have challenges and what you’ve done specifically about that. Could be a winner, you know?

Agreed. This seems like something for a counselor to talk about and to mention briefly in the additional information section. Tell a story that will show the reader your strengths, not your previous struggles.

My GPA in high school was awful combined with my SAT scores which were also terrible so I didn’t get into any colleges I applied to except Palm Beach Atlantic University. Granted, I didn’t stay there, BUT, they accepted me based on my essay which was about having ADHD. You should check if the universities you are applying to have a program for helping struggling students because PBA had a program that accepted students with bad grades who had disabilities, but you had to take academic counseling which consisted of a meeting each week to discuss how you were doing, tutoring, etc. It was kind of like a contract. I had to attend these meetings to stay in the school, but because of that I was able to get into a school with that type of program. BUT, if the school doesn’t have that type of program, I would suggest writing out the essay, having someone else take a look at it, and then deciding whether to go forward with it. The essay will either sound inspirational or generic as you are not one of the first people to write one of these. Write the essay, have a couple of friends look over it and give their thoughts. It has to be unique and make sure it doesn’t sound like you’re complaining or bashing the education system.

I disagree with people saying you should focus on the future and ignore your past struggles because an essay is supposed to represent how you got to where you are and who you are, and for you, ADHD has been a big part of how your education experience has gone, so I don’t think you should ignore it. It is part of your life. You can’t just pretend it never happened or had no play in your grades. I would def talk about it if you can make it unique. Remember, colleges read thousands and thousands of these essays. They want to see something that will really make them feel something.

It’s the unique part that’s hard.I once had an adcoms person say that he had read genuinely dozens of essays in which the student had objectively, verifiably saved somebody else’s life in an emergency. He said that he completely understood why that would be transformative to the person involved, but that at this point he had read so many of those stories that it was hard for him to engage with it the way he felt he should. Same applied to family breakdown, various learning challenges, health issues, etc.

Remember that your GC can write about the fact of it (student diagnosed w/ LD in grade 10 and made the most of resulting supports resulting in strong improvements type thing). If you are going to write about the realization that you are not ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’ but were swimming upstream with weights, think about the ‘then what’ : what did you do with that realization? beyond getting better marks, how has that realization changed who you are / where you are going / how you see the world (more than just being happy to know you aren’t stupid).

1 in 3 College Applicants Used AI for Essay Help. Did They Cheat?

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Last spring, Makena, then a high school senior, was deep into cranking out some 70 essays for 20 college applications when her creativity started to wane.

So, she turned to a high-tech brainstorming partner: artificial intelligence.

One essay prompt asked Makena to describe a class she’d want to teach if she were a college professor. “I had no idea,” said Makena, who asked to be identified only by her first name to speak candidly about the admissions process. “I had never thought about it.”

She put her intended major and some favorite topics into an AI tool, which spit out a list of potential courses. Makena selected one and crafted her essay around it, without any further AI assistance.

In Makena’s mind, this wasn’t cheating.

“I wrote my own essays, 100 percent,” she said. After all, she could have found the same information on Google or by picking up a course catalogue. AI was just more efficient.

About a third of high school seniors who applied to college in the 2023-24 school year acknowledged using an AI tool for help in writing admissions essays, according to research released this month by foundry10 , an organization focused on improving learning.

About half of those students—or roughly one in six students overall—used AI the way Makena did, to brainstorm essay topics or polish their spelling and grammar. And about 6 percent of students overall—including some of Makena’s classmates, she said—relied on AI to write the final drafts of their essays instead of doing most of the writing themselves.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of students admitted to Harvard University’s class of 2027 paid a private admissions consultant for help with their applications .

The use of outside help, in other words, is rampant in college admissions, opening up a host of questions about ethics, norms, and equal opportunity.

Top among them: Which—if any—of these students cheated in the admissions process?

For now, the answer is murky.

Colleges permit students to use pricey admissions coaches . But they are mostly silent on how AI can be used in crafting essays.

That’s created “this ethical gray area that students and [high school] counselors don’t have any guidance” on how to navigate, said Jennifer Rubin, a senior researcher at foundry10 and the lead author the report.

A ‘double standard’ on college admissions

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have put a high-tech twist on decades-old questions of fairness in the college admissions process.

The system has “never been a level playing field,” Rubin said, citing the advantages that mostly benefit wealthier students, such as SAT tutors, paid college admissions coaches, and savvy, college-educated parents. “I think [AI] is just complicating it a little bit more because it’s a tool that’s readily available to everyone.”

To get a sense of the public’s perceptions on AI in college admissions, foundry10 included an experimental portion in its survey.

Participants reviewed an identical portion of a college essay. But one group was instructed that the applicant had help from ChatGPT in brainstorming ideas, refining content, and polishing the final draft—essentially the same tasks Makena used AI for.

Another group was told the applicant got assistance with the same parts of the writing process, from a paid college admissions coach. A third group was informed that the student worked entirely alone.

Participants rated the applicant who used ChatGPT as less authentic, less ethical, and less likable than the student who paid for professional help. (The student who worked solo got the highest ratings.)

Rubin perceives a “double standard” at work.

A student who can pay “thousands of dollars to someone who has the knowledge of how a [particular college] works and what’s needed or wanted in a college admissions essay is going to have an undue advantage,” she said.

College admissions coaching services typically cost from $60 to $349 per hour, according to data cited in Rubin’s report from Prepmaven, an admissions-preparation company.

The website of one such service, Ivy College Essay , advertises its Harvard connections. For between $1,500 and $4,800, depending on the number of applications, students receive help in brainstorming topics and “extensive written notes, comments, and guidance, focusing on both content and structure,” according to the site.

“We go back and forth as many times as needed until we have a very strong and solid Ivy League college application!” the company promises.

Assistance from ChatGPT on similar tasks “probably isn’t going to be as strong” as what such a service offers, Rubin said. “But it might provide students some form of feedback that they might not be able to get in their lives because they don’t have parents or caregivers” who have the savvy to help.

These issues are especially personal for Rubin, a first-generation college graduate who attended a private high school on scholarship. She had the help of her school counselors in applying to college.

But that assistance couldn’t make up for the gap between Rubin and many of her peers with highly educated parents, who could offer all sorts of support, she said.

Big questions on AI use go mostly unanswered by colleges

For now, high school counselors aren’t sure what to tell their students when it comes to how AI can be ethically used in the admissions process.

“My seniors have come to me and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to write an essay about this. Where do I even start?’ Or ‘is it OK if I use ChatGPT?’” said Melissa Millington, a school counselor in Missouri. “I just really hit on, you cannot pass that off as your own work, because that’s not ethical.”

But, like Rubin, she sees some possibility for the technology in crafting applications that stop short of making AI a sole, uncredited ghost writer.

“If you are going to use it to get a starting point, that’s totally fine,” she said she’s told students. “Or if you want to write your essay, and then put it in there and ask it to clean [the] grammar,” that’s likely fair game.

While most colleges and universities are silent on the AI issue, some individual institutions have given applicants the green light to use AI in a limited fashion.

One of the country’s most prestigious institutions focusing on science, math, engineering and technology, CalTech, tells prospective students that it’s unethical to copy and paste an essay written entirely by generative AI. But it is acceptable to use AI to brainstorm or check grammar and spelling, the college says.

Georgia Polytechnical Institute, another highly regarded STEM-focused university, has a similar policy .

“If you choose to utilize AI-based assistance … we encourage you to take the same approach you would when collaborating with people,” the school’s website says. “Use it to brainstorm, edit, and refine your ideas.”

But for other colleges, any use of AI is unacceptable, at least officially. Brown University, for instance, cites its fraud policy and tells applicants that the use of AI is “not permitted under any circumstances.”

‘It always been an honor system’

Brown and other institutions have no real way of enforcing those policies, Rubin said.

AI detectors are notoriously unreliable. And they are disproportionately likely to flag writing by students who are not native English speakers, even if they didn’t use AI.

In fact, Kristin Woelfel, a policy counsel specializing in equity in civic technology for the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit organization that aims to shape technology policy, has gone so far as to say the detectors have the potential to violate students’ civil rights .

It doesn’t really matter if colleges have guidelines that prohibit AI use, Rubin said, because there’s no way to check on what kind of assistance an applicant received, human or not.

“It’s always been on the honor system,” she said.

Colleges that haven’t outlined their policies on AI in the application process are ignoring the obvious—and making life harder for high school counselors and their students, said Maritza Cha, who worked as a school counselor in Southern California for nearly a decade and has taught high school counseling as an adjunct professor.

“We’re at the point of either you can kind of put your head down in the sand and pretend it’s not happening, which is not realistic,” Cha said. “Or you can just acknowledge that they’re using some kind of AI” in the admissions process.

Counselors can model proper use of AI in the college search

While much of the work in setting clear guidelines needs to happen at the college level, there are steps high school educators can take.

Rubin believes that if counselors and teachers are really thinking about leveling the playing field between first-generation college students from low-income families and their peers, it might be helpful to show how generative AI can ethically guide the college admissions process.

For instance, students could put areas of study they are interested in and a desired geographic region into a tool like ChatGPT and ask for recommendations on where to apply.

“Generative AI can provide them some really concrete information,” Rubin said. Even though they should check that data against more accurate sources, it can help a student narrow their search.

Students can even have a “conversation back and forth” with AI if they don’t have access to a college counselor at school who can meet with them consistently, she said.

And they can model how to use AI to spur their creativity or proofread final drafts, without crossing the line into wholesale cheating, she said.

But, ultimately, high school educators and college officials need to have conversations about what responsible use of AI looks like, including in crafting college applications, Rubin said.

In Rubin’s view, those discussions should acknowledge that many students already have access to other types of help—whether that’s from professional consultants or parents and older siblings familiar with the process of applying to college.

Makena, for instance, thinks she can write a stronger, more personal essay than anything ChatGPT could cook up. She didn’t feel the need to pay a private counselor either, since she wanted to rely on her own voice as much as possible.

She did, however, have a low-tech, presumably cost-free assistant: Her father, who edited all 70-plus of her essays.

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Game Changer: Exploring the Role of Board Games in the Lives of Autistic People

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This mixed methods paper reports findings from three studies examining the overlap between autism and hobbyist board gaming. The first was a quantitative survey of over 1600 board gamers, showing that autistic individuals are overrepresented in this hobby compared to the general population and that autistic traits measured by the AQ are significantly elevated amongst board gamers. Study 1 also assessed gamers’ motivations and preferences and reported key differences as well as similarities between autistic and non-autistic gamers. The second was a qualitative study that reported the results of 13 interviews with autistic individuals who are hobbyist board gamers. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), four key themes were uncovered, including a preference for systemising, escapism and passions, the social lubrication effect of games and difficulties with deception. In the third, 28 autistic individuals were introduced to board games in groups of 5–10 over an afternoon. Subsequent focus groups were then analysed using IPA. This analysis uncovered themes around how board games are challenging but encouraged growth and how they were an alternative vehicle for forging social relationships. Through this paper, we discuss how and why board games may be a popular hobby amongst the autistic population, and its potential utility for improving autistic wellbeing.

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Autism spectrum condition (ASC) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting an estimated 1% of the population globally (Kogan et al., 2018 ). A recent systematic review by Zeidan et al. ( 2022 ) estimated that the median prevalence of autism worldwide is 100/10,000 (1% prevalence), with a median male-to-female ratio of 4.2 to 1 and co-occurring intellectual disability at around 33%. Great strides have been made to improve awareness and acceptance of autism, including reconceptualising autism as a condition with considerable accompanying strengths (Cope & Remington, 2022 ). Nevertheless, there is still a need to understand the strengths and challenges inherent to the autistic experience to improve the quality of life throughout the lifespan, as research suggests that autistic adults do not experience the same gains as neurotypicals when moving through adulthood (Atherton et al., 2021 ).

Flow Theory, Monotropism and Passions

Around 75–90% of autistic people, compared to an estimated 30% of neurotypicals (Klin et al., 2007 ), report having strong interests in domains where they develop expertise and high levels of engagement (Caldwell-Harris & Jordan, 2014 ). These are traditionally referred to as restricted interests in the DSM V, though here we use the term passions as this is a strengths-based term (Bailey, 2023 ; Barton & Hamilton, 2012 ). Two theories have been used to understand the hyper-focus often seen in autistic people when engaged with their passions. Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi, ( 1990 ) described flow as a psychological state in which one achieves a high level of enjoyment of a task to the point of experiencing optimal happiness where nothing else seems to matter. An increasingly popular model for autism that can describe this atypical focus of attention is the interest model, also known as monotropism (Murray et al., 2005 ). In a monotropic flow state, autistic people can gain predictability, achievement, and optimal happiness by being ‘pulled in’ by their passions (Milton, 2017 ). Some have argued that monotropic attention may be advantageous to autistic people when it is channelled to provide educational and social advantages, such as developing expertise and demonstrating enthusiasm (Wood, 2021 ).

Though autism can be understood as a condition with considerable accompanying strengths, research suggests that there are still struggles autistic people face in everyday life (Graham Holmes et al., 2020 ). To compensate for these, many autistic people become adept at masking or camouflaging, which means hiding one’s autistic traits in order to fit into a neurotypical world (Hull et al., 2017 ). Masking is related to poor mental health outcomes (Bradley et al., 2021 ), including an increased risk for negative self-appraisal (Cage & Troxell-Whitman, 2019 ) and engaging in self-harm (Mournet et al., 2023 ). One method for living authentically is for autistic people to be open about their areas of expertise or interests, which is positively linked to their quality of life (Grove et al., 2018 ). Passions engage and motivate autistic individuals and often reduce stress and anxiety (Attwood, 2003 ). For example, Winter-Messiers ( 2007 ) found that when autistic students were involved in activities related to their passions, they reported higher self-esteem, felt more confident and displayed more enthusiasm and positive emotions. Autistic individuals often report the need to express their desires and interests to allow them to feel comfortable in social situations and their environments (Späth & Jongsma, 2020 ). In this sense, it is vital to encourage the passions of autistic people and create opportunities for these passions to be explored in social spaces.

Autism and Board Games

Board gaming is a pastime that may be particularly well suited to autistic monotropic engagement, as it requires sustained attention and a transfer of established skills to new domains (Gobet et al., 2004 ). As autism is a particularly heterogeneous condition, a characteristic which extends to the diversity of passions in those on the spectrum (Nowell et al., 2021 ), the variety of board game options may be particularly well suited to this population (Brown & MacCallum-Stewart, 2020 ). The wide array of board games on offer means autistic people can find a game that suits their unique interests. For instance, research on the most common passions of autistic people includes animals and transport (Cho et al., 2017 ). These are also common themes of board games (Cross et al., 2023 ), which may mean that autistic people could find game themes that allow them to engage with their areas of expertise, which has been shown to benefit autistic well-being (Harrop et al., 2019 ).

Autistic individuals often struggle to form close relationships and friendships, with research suggesting they are more likely to feel lonely and isolated (Mazurek, 2014 ; Umagami et al., 2022 ). Board games may be a vital hobby to improve these outcomes. Rogerson et al. ( 2016 ), for instance, interviewed eleven board gamers who stressed the importance of board games sociality, highlighting how spending time with like-minded people was a crucial aspect of play.

Though there is very little academic work in this area (Atherton & Cross, 2021 ), there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that modern board games may be a popular hobby for those on the spectrum. Multiple magazine articles and blog posts discuss the link between the two (Russell, 2023 ), and there are myriad examples of overlap between autism and modern board gaming in popular media (Arndt, 2023 ).

Modern Board Gaming

Modern board gaming is a fast-growing hobby, and its community is evolving rapidly, having achieved unparalleled popularity and commercial success in the last twenty years. In 2016, The Guardian reported on ‘The Rise and Rise of Tabletop Gaming,’ citing related social and design factors underpinning this surge in interest. While board games may have previously been synonymous with childhood, consumer demographics of modern board games are decidedly adult (Woods, 2012 ). They include young professionals, including couples, who prefer to play games with friends rather than go out to pubs or clubs. They often overlap with ‘geek culture,’ or individuals who are also interested in computers, video games, science fiction and comics (Woo, 2012 ). With the general acceptance of games in the broader culture, including those accessible on mobile platforms like smartphones and browsers, gamification within Western culture provides fertile ground for the continued proliferation of board games. Market research predicts a $4 billion growth in the global board games market from 2020, reaching $30 billion by 2026 (Arizton Advisory Intelligence, 2020 ). Millions attend conventions like GenCon, Spiel and the UK Games Expo annually. With the rise of game cafes, the growing acceptance and self-identification of ‘geek’ or ‘nerd culture’ (Kinney, 1993 ; Woo, 2012 ), and the pandemic spurring at-home forms of entertainment (Coward-Gibbs, 2022 ), board gaming is gaining popularity and visibility.

Purpose of the Current Studies

To date, there is a limited amount of research exploring the impact board gaming might have on the social lives of autistic individuals. This work, therefore, aims to address this gap in three ways: (1) By exploring the representation of autistic people in the hobby, (2) By understanding what it is autistic board gamers get out of the hobby, and (3) By introducing autistic people not already involved in the hobby to it, to understand if and how it could be beneficial to them. This paper reports three studies examining the relationship between autism and board games to better understand the potential benefits of board gaming for autistic individuals. Study 1 assessed the prevalence of autistic individuals and those with higher autistic traits in this hobby, as well as gamer preferences and motivations. Study 2 explored the lived experience of 13 autistic gamers through interviews. Study 3 introduced groups of autistic people to board games and then examined their utility through focus groups.

This work set out to investigate the prevalence of autism amongst board game hobbyists and evaluate whether this is indeed a leisure activity that is common in the autistic population (as anecdotal evidence suggests). A large dataset which surveyed hobbyist board gamers (Cross et al., 2023 ) was utilised to establish the prevalence of mental health conditions and other demographics in this population. Preferences for game styles, themes and mechanics, and gamers’ motivations for playing were also explored. These findings offer clinicians and educators interested in utilising board games in their work valuable data about the games that autistic individuals most and least enjoy. This dataset is open access on the open science framework ( https://osf.io/vygd3/?view_only=d1d52d8e0fca4e98be9c5c4dd54e846b ).

This study utilised a survey design administered on Qualtrics. A target sample of 1500 board gamers was solicited, and data collection was left open for two months. Participants were recruited from special interest groups for board gamers on social media, and further invites were sent out to gamers from industry mailing lists. This call was explicitly addressed to those already involved in the hobby. However, as we wanted to assess the rate of autism naturally present amongst this population, the call did not mention autism, and autistic participants were not directly recruited. Each participant was given a digital copy of a board game in return for participation. Respondents were surveyed on their demographics and preferences in the hobby. All measures and response formats are reported briefly below, and a full copy of all questions and answers can be found in the supplementary materials. More details on the design and data can be found at Cross et al. ( 2023 ).

RQ1: Is autism more or less prevalent among board gamers than in the general population?

RQ2: Do the motivations and preferences for board gaming differ between autistic and non-autistic players?

Demographics

Respondents first reported gender, biological sex assigned at birth, age, ethnicity, nationality, educational level and diagnosed mental health conditions. These were answered using drop-down sections using the standard Qualtrics pre-sets. Those who indicated they had a diagnosis of ASC were asked to specify if they received that diagnosis from a medical professional and at what age they were diagnosed. All participants also completed the Autism Quotient (AQ), a commonly used 50-item measure of autistic trait levels (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001 ).

Gamers’ Experiences

Respondents were then asked to report their general experiences with playing board games. This included their level of familiarity with games (newbie/novice, casual, midcore/core or hardcore/expert), the number of hours played on average per month (< 1, 1–4, 5–9, 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40 +), and their preferred platform (online, in-person or both equally). Then, participants were asked to rate their enjoyment of several gaming elements such as preferred player count; game length, pieces (i.e., cards, dice, etc.), style (competitive, cooperative, etc.), classification (Euro, Ameri, Hybrid), and type (gateway, party, heavy, etc.), on a slider scale from ‘not at all’ to ‘very much’. Next, respondents were asked to rate their preferences on how much they enjoyed 28 board game mechanics (an industry/hobby-specific term referring to the rules and actions that keep the game moving towards a victory, i.e., dice rolling, worker placement, area control, player elimination, etc.) again from ‘not at all’ to ‘very much.’ Following this, respondents rated their enjoyment of the 14 most popular board gaming themes (as indicated by BoardGameGeek.com, i.e., war, crime, farming) on the same slider scale. Respondents then indicated (via similar sliding scales) how important (not important—very important) several aspects were when choosing a game (i.e., theme, components, mechanics, etc.) and what motivates them to play a game (competition, socialising, escapism, etc.). Respondents then indicated how important gaming was for their social life and how important it was to feel like a part of the board gaming community. All slider scales generated a number from 0 to 100 (which was not visible to participants) and were presented with the anchor point positioned in the middle of the scale, which needed to be moved before the page could progress. Definitions of all relevant terms and example games were provided alongside each question. For a full copy of the measures, please see the supplementary materials.

Participants

A total of 1603 individuals completed the questionnaire, specifically 1242 males and 361 females aged between 18 and 73 years old (mean age = 32.38; SD = 9.21), with ethnicities of White (60.6%), Asian (34.1%), Black (1.4%), Hispanic (1.1%), Middle Eastern (0.6%), and Other (2.2%). across 63 different countries, with a concentration of participants from the US (11.2%), UK (27.4%), France (18.3%) and China (25.5%). Participants showed a high level of education (37.7% reported being university graduates, and 20.7% held a postgraduate degree). Edge Hill University’s ethics committee granted full ethical approval, and all participants gave informed consent.

Results & Discussion

Mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Alpha levels of Mann–Whitney U tests reported below were not corrected for multiple tests as these were exploratory analyses. Maintaining a 0.05 alpha level will provide further insights to explore in future studies. As shown by Table  1 , most participants (72.9%) indicated having no mental health or neurodevelopmental condition. In contrast, just over one-fourth of participants reported having at least one medically diagnosed mental health/neurodevelopmental condition. Of the respondents, 4.7% of the sample reported having autism, with Clopper-Pearson’s exact method suggesting 3.70 and 5.83% as the lower and upper limits for the population proportion with 95% level of confidence. This statistic is much higher than the estimated global prevalence rate of 1%, according to 99 estimates from a systematic review of 71 papers (Zeidan et al., 2022 ). The prevalence of individuals with autism in our sample is also higher compared to studies that looked at adults exclusively and reported a prevalence of 1.1% (95% CI: 0.3–1.9%; Brugha et al., 2011 ). Additionally, research suggests that autism rates are highest in Western countries (for instance, the prevalence in Asia is 0.36%) (Qiu et al., 2020 ). As such, our data suggests that autism rates among board gamers are significantly higher than is typically found in the general adult population worldwide. In a similar vein, given the complexity of many board games and the cognitive skill level required to play them, it is unlikely that individuals with intellectual disability (where comorbidity with autism is an estimated 25% (Idring et al., 2015 ) to 33% (Zeidan et al., 2022 ) would be represented in this online sample.

Our sample showed a typical prevalence of individuals with ADHD. A total of 4.1% (2.98–4.93 Clopper-Pearson’s 95% confidence limits) of participants reported a diagnosis of ADHD, which is in line with reported prevalence in adult general population of 2.5% (95% CI 2.1 – 3.1) to 5.2% reported by others (95% CI 4.6–5.8) (Fayyad et al., 2007 ; Simon et al., 2009 ). As past literature has found significant comorbidity between autism and ADHD in the general population (around 50%; Rong et al., 2021 ), we checked this comorbidity in our sample. Among individuals with a diagnosis of autism, 9.3% of individuals reported also having ADHD. This was higher than the frequency of ADHD in TD individuals (2.7%) and BAP individuals (5.8%). However, 9.3% comorbidity is significantly lower than what has been found in past studies looking at autism in the general population (around 50%; Rong et al., 2021 ), which may suggest that autistic board gamers are a unique group (discussed further in the discussion).

Similarly, participants with dyslexia were 4.2% (3.25–5.28 Clopper-Pearson’s 95% confidence limits), a similar prevalence rate to what is estimated in the general population.

Shaywitz and Shaywitz ( 2005 ) suggested that the prevalence of dyslexia is between 5 and 17% of school-age children in the United States, while, although the prevalence in adulthood is less studied, it is thought to be around 4% (DSM-V, as cited by Soriano-Ferrer & Martínez, 2017 ).

The most common mood disorder was depression, with 13.2% (11.49–14.85 Clopper-Pearson’s 95% confidence limits) of the sample reporting having received a diagnosis. This is in line with the estimates suggested by Lim et al. ( 2018 ) of 12.9%, and higher compared to the 8.1% estimates of depression prevalence among adults (20 + yo) in the USA between 2013 and 2016 (Brody et al., 2018 ). Anxiety was the second most common condition reported by 12.2% of participants (10.60–13.87 Clopper-Pearson’s 95% confidence limits). This was higher than what was reported by previous research that suggested that the current global prevalence of anxiety disorders adjusted for methodological differences was 7.3% (4.8–10.9%) and ranged from 5.3% (3.5–8.1%) in African cultures to 10.4% (7.0–15.5%) in Euro/Anglo cultures (Baxter et al., 2013 ). The prevalence of anxiety in our sample was also higher than that recorded in adults exclusively, which has been estimated to be 3.8–10.4% in Euro/Anglo cultures and 2.8% in Asian cultures (Remes et al., 2016 ).

Autism Quotient

Research suggests that many adults may have autism, but due to age and other variables, a formal diagnosis is often missed (Lai & Baron-Cohen, 2015 ). Therefore, we also explored the level of autistic traits self-reported by our sample. We were interested in exploring the relationship between board gaming and individuals with subclinical autistic traits, known as the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP). The BAP refers to elevated but subclinical levels of autistic traits commonly possessed by close relatives of people with a clinical diagnosis of autism (Losh et al., 2011 ).

Participants’ mean AQ dichotomous score was 21.36 (SD: 7.09; median: 22, range: 1–45). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated that the AQ dichotomous score of our sample was significantly higher than 19.38 ( Z  = 848643, p  < 0.001), which is the mean AQ dichotomous score of 450,394 people reported by Ruzich et al. ( 2015 ). The number of respondents who scored above the clinical cut-off of 32 was then calculated, indicating individuals who would be highly likely to have or receive a clinical diagnosis of autism (Woodbury-Smith et al., 2005 ). 107 participants (6.7%) had a dichotomous score equal to or higher than this cut-off score. If used as a proxy for the likelihood of an autism diagnosis, this suggests that autism is more than five times higher in this sample than the global prevalence rate of 1%. Next, we assessed the proportion of people who display elevated but not clinical levels of autistic traits, scoring in the Broader Autism Phenotype range of above 26 using the original cutoff scores for the BAP (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001 ). A total of 467 participants (29.1%) were included in the BAP range. The frequency of individuals scoring in the BAP range was far greater than the scores found in students in science fields (15.4%) and non-science fields (8.3%) (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001 ). To compare gamer motivations and preferences we split our sample into two groups: an ASC group (160 participants, 10% of our sample), which included everybody who reported having a diagnosis of autism and those who had a dichotomous score equal to or above the clinical cut-off point of 32 on the AQ, and a TD group (1443 participants), which included the remaining participants. A Kruskal–Wallis test ( X 2 (2) = 926.8, p  < 0.001) and pairwise comparisons (all p s < 0.001) confirmed that AQ total scores were significantly higher in people with a diagnosis of autism (mean: 144.2; SD: 8.8; median: 143.0; range: 131–176) compared to BAP individuals (mean: 129.7; SD: 4.7; median: 129; range: 117–144), which, in turn, had higher scores compared to neurotypicals (mean: 110.4; SD: 11.7; median: 112; range: 71–132).

The only neurodevelopmental condition which appeared elevated in our sample compared to the general population estimate was autism with 4.7% of board gamers in our sample reported having a clinical diagnosis of autism compared to the general population estimate of 1% (Zeidan et al., 2022 ). Equally, analyses showed that the average AQ score of this population was higher than the general population, with 6.7% of the sample scoring above the clinical cut-off and 29.1% in the BAP range. Those who reported having a medical diagnosis of autism, combined with those that scored above the clinical cut-off point for the AQ, equalled 10% of the total sample. These findings show that, as hypothesised, the proportion of autistic individuals and individuals with elevated levels of autistic traits are over-represented amongst board gamers compared to the general population.

Gamers’ Experience

A significant Pearson’s Chi-Square (Table  2 ) suggested that participants in the ASC group (those with a clinical diagnosis of autism or those scoring above the clinical cut-off in the AQ) had more board game experience than the non-ASC group. In total, 62.8% of autistic gamers consider themselves midcore or hardcore players, while only 50.0% of the non-ASC group considered themselves as such. A significant Pearson’s Chi Square also indicated that the ASC group (53.1%) preferred to play online over the Non-ASC group (40.4%). There was no significant difference in the number of hours played between the two groups.

Game Preferences

Mann–Whitney U tests (Table  3 ) indicated that the non-ASC group preferred to play with 3 or more players, while this was rated lower for those in the ASC group. Meanwhile, those in the ASC group liked to play alone more than those in the non-ASC group. The ASC group also reported a preference for cooperative games over the various forms of competitive games, a preference not seen in the non-ASC group. Similarly, those in the ASC group reported a greater dislike for lighter social/party games compared to those in the non-ASC group.

Although Mann–Whitney U tests (Table  4 and Fig.  1 ) indicated that those in the ASC group consistently gave lower ratings than those in the non-ASC group, the rating order was similar between the non-ASC and ASC groups, with few notable exceptions. Autistic players ordered engine building, hand management, tile placement, set collection and dungeon crawling mechanics as more preferable than Non-ASC players. Those in the ASC group also showed a reduced preference for certain social elements, including storytelling, trading, social deduction, deduction, and hidden information games.

Median Ratings for Game Mechanics in Order for Each Group

Again, Mann–Whitney U tests (Table  5 and Fig.  2 ) indicated that, out of the 14 themes, those in the ASC group gave lower ratings compared to those in the non-ASC group for the adventure, ancient, real-world, crime, and horror themes. Despite this, the order of preference across themes is similar between the two groups. The only notable exception is the crime theme, which is one of the least favourite themes for the ASC group while occupying a relatively high position for the non-ASC group.

Median Ratings for Game Themes in Order for Each Group

Game Choice and Motivation

Mann–Whitney U tests (Table  6 ) indicated that the ASC group gave lower ratings than the non-ASC group when indicating how important gameplay, mechanics, theme, style and components were in the choice of board games. However, the order of the ratings within each category seemed to be the same between the non-ASC and ASC groups. The only exception is that the non-ASC group were more motivated to play board games because of the emphasis on social interaction rather than strategizing. Meanwhile, this was reversed for the ASC group.

Summary of Findings

Autistic gamers showed a preference for online over in-person gaming. Also, they showed an elevated appreciation for cooperative and solo gameplay while rating party games lower than their non-ASC counterparts. The higher ratings for solo and online gaming and lower ratings for party games could be interpreted as showing that autistic people are more comfortable in their own company than neurotypicals (Baldwin & Costley, 2015 ). However, other findings, such as the penchant for cooperative games, show a social side to autistic players. Autistic gamers also ranked certain kinds of game mechanics more favourably than neurotypicals. These mainly included logical and systematic aspects of games, such as engine building, set collection and hand management, while ranking social elements such as storytelling, deduction and trading less favourably. This seems to mirror autistic preferences for logic, maths, and the sciences (Wei et al., 2013 ).

Similarly, autistic players ranked game themes revolving around transport, trains, history, and animals higher than neurotypicals, with other themes such as horror and crimes ranked lower. This overlaps with popular passions in autism (Cho et al., 2017 ). It also contradicts anecdotal evidence that individuals with autism are more likely to be interested in crime (Im, 2016 ). Similarly, autistic gamers ranked strategizing as a more important motivation for playing than socialising, which was reversed amongst neurotypicals. The results presented here help elucidate autistic individuals’ reasons for board gaming, and the dataset is made open access to aid with this.

Importantly, our results suggest that autistic people are able to find aspects of gameplay that suit their particular needs and interests. While there are differences between autistic and non-autistic board game preferences, board games have enough variety that they can accommodate a variety of preferences. That said, there are still significant areas of overlap in the preferences of autistic and non-autistic gamers, showing that there are ways to play games in mixed groups without sacrificing enjoyment. Furthermore, in line with monotropism, it appears that autistic players are playing board games for longer, and even playing individually. This suggests that board games may represent an overlap between a special interest and a preference for systemising. To further understand the reasons why autistic people may be drawn to board gaming, and the way that board gaming affects their social lives, we interviewed 13 autistic people who were board gaming enthusiasts.

Thirteen autistic board game hobbyists (10 male, 3 female, age range: 24–51) from the US, Europe and the UK were recruited through board gaming social media networks and through contact information left in Study 1. All participants were avid board game players; some were also involved in their design, distribution and retail. All participants had a formal diagnosis of autism (except one who was self-diagnosed). Interviews were conducted online (via video conferencing) or in person, with participants choosing their preferred mode, and each one lasted around one hour. All participants gave full informed consent, were debriefed upon the interview’s conclusion, and paid £10. The study received full ethical approval from Edge Hill University’s ethics review board.

The semi-structured interviews focused on individuals’ experiences surrounding board games, motivations and preferences, and how they felt the hobby intersected with their condition. Example questions included ‘What do you enjoy most about the hobby?’ ‘How does gaming feature in your everyday life?’ ‘Would you say your interest in board games relates to your autistic traits, and if yes, how so?’ All interviews were recorded and then transcribed. Two independent coders then coded these transcriptions using the process outlined by Graneheim and Lundman (2004). Specifically, they each independently reviewed the data and coded each interview into subthemes. After independently coding the transcripts and creating a list of subthemes for each interview, the two coders reconvened. Together they agreed on a list of subthemes that appeared consistently across the interviews based on their independent coding. They then consensually agreed on a set of master themes that they felt best characterised the interviews and subsequent subthemes.

The method of analysis used throughout the coding process was Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Eatough & Smith, 2017 ), a type of thematic analysis focusing on lived experience and participant voices that is particularly suited to autism research (MacLeod, 2019 ). IPA is beneficial for amplifying the voices of members of marginalised and minority groups, as it attempts to use the participants’ own language to form codes, themes, and subthemes (Tuffour, 2017 ). It is also useful when researchers are interested in moving beyond pre-conceived theory and instead want to understand how individual experiences may open new areas of inquiry (Smith et al., 2009 ). It is important to note the positionality of the researchers in this study. One of the researchers was unfamiliar with autism and board gaming. The other was a seasoned autism researcher and familiar with board games. This difference in backgrounds was preferable as it meant that shared observations about codes and themes were driven by the data rather than familiarity with existing research literature.

RQ1: What does hobbyist board gaming afford autistic players? RQ2: How do they conceptualise the intersection between board gaming and autism?

Results and Discussion

Four key themes arose from the interviews. See Table  7 for the frequency of themes within the interviews and selected quotes from participants that illustrate each theme. One coder applied the final codes. Results highlighted the benefits of board gaming for autistic individuals involving structure, friendships and escaping the outside world.

Theme 1: Systems are Both Comforting and Stimulating

Participants discussed how board games’ intellectual challenge and strategic depth drew them into the hobby from an early age. Learning the rules of a game and figuring out how to use those rules to maximise their strategy was key to their enjoyment. The rules gave games a challenge by constraining players to specific pre-sets (time limits, hand limits, turn limits, dice rolls, and victory goals). In this way, games became like a puzzle to solve. The sense of competition, problem-solving, and accomplishment was important for participants. The ability to play games over and over and thus improve on their previous strategy or take more risks in the game was particularly rewarding.

In addition to finding the structure and repetition of the games engaging, participants also found comfort in how game play was based on a clear system. Knowing the rules meant that nothing unexpected was going to happen and it also meant everyone started the game on the same page. Each player had the same rules to follow, and they didn’t have to worry about anything unexpected happening that they might not understand. Importantly, conversations and discussions were centred on predefined, mutually understood systems. Players felt like they understood the ‘language’ of the game based on their comfort with board game systems, and so it was easy to engage other players in discussions around that game and other games. In this way, being a board game enthusiast with extensive knowledge about board games led to engaging discussions about this shared interest.

Participants reported that the rules and structure involved in playing the board game were both stimulating and comforting. Previous research by Müller et al. ( 2008 ) found that structured social environments were ideal for interactions between autistic people and others. Results of the current study support this, with all participants expressing how the rules and structured setting of board games were well matched with their autistic traits, as it gave a sense of security compared to the usual interactions where the rules are unclear (Mazurek, 2014 ). Board games match well with the systemising theory of autism, which explains the motivation of autistic people to rely on structure and rules to help their decision-making (Baron-Cohen, 2009 ).

Theme 2: Passions and Escapism

Many people discussed how board games had become a passion. In this way, when they played board games with other gamers who were also passionate about the hobby, they could participate in what felt like meaningful conversations. In other contexts, they might feel self-conscious when talking in detail about a special interest. Through board gaming, they found people who understand why they love the things they do. This gave participants a sense of belonging and connectedness.

Inherent to this enjoyment of engaging with a special interest in board gaming, games themselves provided escapism through immersion. Participants reported feeling absorbed in a new world when playing a game, particularly when it was aligned with another passion (i.e., science fiction, fantasy, animals or history). Individuals could find many different themes and mechanics associated with games that suit their differences, preferences, needs and interests. One participant who runs a board gaming club in their community found that through playing games, their autistic attendees felt more comfortable discussing their other passions (like Pokemon, Marvel or Dungeons and Dragons) and often found that other gamers shared these passions.

Immersion not only allowed for engagement in a passion but also gave participants license to not think about real life. Participants could escape themselves by being a character and focusing on the game’s progression. More than anything, games gave them the liberty to do something purely for enjoyment and something that had no lasting ramifications as it’s ‘just a game.’ As one participant explained, ‘It enables me to just switch off my brain.’ Participants expressed that being themselves can be too pressurising but that board games are a distraction from this stress. They help manage extreme emotions by gaining comfort in the knowledge that the purpose at that moment is to have fun and not take things too seriously.

Passions and escapism allowed participants to lose themselves within their areas of interest. The wide selection of board games allowed them to choose games based on specific passions, resulting in enjoyment and satisfaction. Indeed, many common board game themes such as sci-fi, transport, animals, etc. match common passions of autistic people (Klin et al., 2007 ). Engaging in passions was clearly an essential component of the hobby and was helpful for reducing stress and anxiety (Attwood, 2003 ). Furthermore, engaging in active discussion about passions can evidently reduce autistic individuals’ difficulties in communication and social interaction (Winter-Messiers, 2007 ). As well as highlighting the importance of passions for adults, the current study shows the importance of passions being positive, not negative, and something that needs to be encouraged and seen as valuable, not a problem.

Theme 3: Games as a Social Lubricant

An overriding theme in the interviews was the social side of gaming. The hobby created opportunities for making friends and joining the gaming community. One participant said, “It’s probably my primary method of making friends”. Participants overwhelmingly attested that games were a social lubricant, allowing them to interact socially in comforting and authentic ways.

Participants discussed how the structure of board games enhanced their ability to socialise. By being able to focus on a game, interactions were less nebulous. In this way, the game being at the root of the interaction reduced pressure and stress. Games provided common ground in conversation where there was no need to worry about small talk or trying to fit in. They already fit in with the group because of the interests they shared. “ Yeah, it’s just a medium through which to be with other people.” Board gaming provided security to engage in meaningful conversations where the social interactions occurred in parallel with the game, which reduced pressure and led to less masking.

Players also got to know other players meaningfully by seeing how they played together. Some of their closest friendships evolved by seeing how their play styles fit with other players. Getting along in the game also made conversations outside of the game easier. It afforded an avenue to nurture friendships. Planning to play games together again, meeting up at a board gaming event, or playing games online was a way for players to socialise. Because friendships with gamers were based on shared interests, participants felt like their board game friends knew their authentic selves.

Participants also discussed how their board gaming friendship groups were a mix of autistic and non-autistic players. They felt that within these mixed groups, they were appreciated for their autistic traits, for instance, being the first to learn the rules, being the main organiser of meet-ups, or even being the most level-headed. Participants discussed how in their experience, it was prevalent for gamers to have autism or be somewhere on the spectrum, so in this way, it was not stressful to disclose their autism to fellow board gamers. Almost every participant discussed how they had moved away from playing video games precisely because they were getting so much more social enjoyment from board games, a pastime still full of strategy and replayability but one that better facilitated social interaction with real-life players.

This theme discussed how board games may work as a social lubricant. Previous research explains that while autistic individuals struggle with social skills such as communication, they still desire social interaction and friendships just like neurotypicals (Crompton et al., 2020 ). Coupled with research showing that board games positively affect the development of friendships (Parks & Parks, 2023 ) and encourage conversation and reciprocal social behaviours (Rogerson et al., 2018 ), the current study expands on previous research by articulating the broader motivations for gaming. Board games allow autistic individuals to find people with the same interests. They can talk about their passions, which instead of appearing tedious and creating awkward moments, is welcomed within these groups. Thanks to its straightforward rules, the game also becomes a safe place where social reciprocity can flourish.

Theme 4: Social Games and Deception

Deception is a mechanic of some popular board games, often referred to as social deception games, that require players to hide their identities or catch which player among them is bluffing. Popular social deception board games, which follow closely from the original parlour game ‘Mafia,’ include games like Werewolf, Spyfall, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Battlestar Galactica and Shadows over Camelot. In these games, a randomly chosen player is dealt a character card which tells them whether they are ‘innocent’ or ‘a traitor,’ and the game’s goal is to ‘win’ as your character by either revealing the traitor or evading detection. Some of these games are relatively short and could be conceived as ‘party games.’ Others are played over several hours and have more complex game mechanics, requiring sustained attention to detect deception or deceive other players. Within the interviews, participants were explicitly asked about their enjoyment of social deception games due to research on autism and theory of mind, which suggests autistic people may struggle with bluffing and detecting deceit (Frith et al., 1994) and honesty, which suggests that autistic people dislike mistruth (Atherton et al., 2019 ).

Interestingly, our participants reported that, on the whole, they quite enjoyed social deception games. Some participants stated that this likely would be a surprise, as they were aware of the stereotype that autistic people would do poorly at such games. Instead, they found that the logical side of figuring out other people’s intentions was fun and something they did well. At the same time, participants reported that they often struggled when they were the traitor, as they felt it was hard to come up with a lie under pressure. That said, some participants reported that after having played social deception games for many years, they had ‘figured out’ strategies for being the traitor after observing others. Other participants felt comfortable admitting that lying under pressure was simply a skill they did not possess even after having played these games quite often. However, because lie production took place in a gamified setting and was ‘just for fun,’ they did not mind that this was a bit hard for them and still enjoyed playing these kinds of games. More than anything, the participants enjoyed how social these games were, so the shared enjoyment of the group overshadowed their unease when playing as the traitor.

Social deception games were a theme which exposed some participants’ complicated relationships with bluffing and deception. Some participants enjoyed playing them, while others did not believe they had the necessary skills or motivation. However, participants did suggest that they enjoyed the social aspects of these types of games even if they found lie production difficult. They also felt that games were a safe space to practice these skills, and they appreciated how the game allowed experimentation with these types of mechanics. This is a particularly interesting theme as there is a plethora of research that suggests not only are autistic people poor deceivers (which participants largely supported) but that autistic people have a strong preference for honesty (Atherton et al., 2019 ). However, this theme suggests that there are aspects of deception that autistic people enjoy and that if practised in the right setting, they are quite competent (many participants discussed observing both verbal and non-verbal cues to spot lies), and games may provide a safe space to practice these skills.

The current study aimed to explore the lived experiences of autistic gamers to better understand why they might engage in the hobby and what benefits they associated with board gaming. Four themes emerged from the interviews, the first involved how the systems inherent to board games were both stimulating and comforting, the second discussed how board games offered escapism and overlap with passions, the third showed how games acted as a social lubricant or alternative vehicle for social communication, and finally the fourth had to do with social deception games and how these were both difficult but enjoyable.

In conclusion, these themes both support and contradict a number of influential theories of autism as understood through the lens of the board gaming hobby. First, interest in board games as explained by autistic boardgamers centres upon the structure that defines the game. This structure is inherently interesting, as it allows strategizing and improvement over time through replayability. Not only is the board gaming structure interesting, but it provides healthy boundaries within the social interactions between players. In contrast to open-ended social interactions like chit-chat at a dinner party, players are able to talk about the game and get to know people through the way they interact around the board. Importantly, these interviews contradict one of the dominant theories of autism, the social motivation theory, which suggests that autistic people are not as interested in social interactions as neurotypical people (Chevallier et al., 2012 ). Participants here discussed how one of the biggest draws to board gaming is the social connection they experience when playing games, including how they prefer them over less socially interactive hobbies like video games. This includes playing games that they find more difficult in order to have social experiences within groups. One can take away from these interviews the possibility that autistic people, while socially motivated, may lack the confidence to engage in unstructured social interactions (or they simply find this style of interaction less rewarding). Activities like board gaming may provide a valuable set of social constraints which allow autistic people to engage in ways that map onto their existing strengths and interests.

Study 2 interviewed autistic people who already play board games. Study 3 built on this by exploring the benefits of introducing board games to autistic individuals who were not previously involved in this hobby. To achieve this, four community centres for autistic individuals around the UK were visited. Attendees were introduced to a range of games over an afternoon play session and then focus groups were conducted to learn more about their experiences.

In this mixed methods study, the researchers visited community groups for autistic adults to play a range of commercially available board games (Dixit, Codenames, Werewolf, Spyfall, Hanabi, Deception Murder in Hong Kong. For a description of what these games entail, please see boardgamegeek.com). Twenty-eight individuals took part, 16 males and 12 females aged between 18 and 60 years old. The majority of these were not regular gamers. All participants had a diagnosis of ASC and were attendees at 1 of 3 different community groups for autistic adults in the UK in Plymouth (n = 10), Maidenhead (n = 8), Huddersfield (n = 5) and a neurodiversity group at a university in Liverpool (n = 5). Four separate game sessions and four separate focus groups were conducted, one at each of the above sites. Each play session lasted for around 2 h, and participants at each site played games with each other and with the two researchers. Following the game sessions, the participants at each site were interviewed about their experiences in a focus group, which lasted approximately 45–60 min. A range of community groups were invited to participate, and all who agreed to participate were included. All individuals had a formal diagnosis of autism from a medical professional.

The semi-structured interviews focused on the game’s experiences, including preferences and challenges, and how similar board games may be used in future group sessions. All participants gave full informed consent and were debriefed upon the conclusion of the interview. The study received full ethical approval from Edge Hill University’s ethical review board.

RQ1: What could hobbyist board gaming afford new autistic players?

RQ2: How do players conceptualise the intersection between board gaming and autism?

Two key themes arose from the interviews. See Table  8 for the frequency of themes within the interviews and selected quotes. These frequencies were based on the agreement between coders on the subthemes found across all interviews, and then each interview was recoded by one of the researchers to gain accurate frequency counts in the interviews for each subtheme and theme. Results highlighted how board gaming could be an alternative vehicle for forging social relationships and how board gaming can be both challenging but also a growing experience.

Theme 1: Board Games as an Alternative Vehicle for Forging Social Relationships

Participants described how playing games acted as a vehicle for creating and maintaining friendships. Games reduced the anxiety that comes with traditional avenues for making friends. Board games, in fact, created the perfect environment for socialisation because it eliminated small talk, which participants found dull and disingenuous. Similarly, the game provided a distraction from the pressure of usual conversations, while at the same time, the game provided the topic for the talk among players. The social interaction between autistic individuals and other players, therefore, occurred naturally, without imposition. This was rewarding for the players because, while playing the game, they got to know others while avoiding awkward situations. Eventually, for some participants, the fluid interaction with others was the only reason why they enjoyed the game.

In summary, participants in these sessions expressed how playing games offered a rewarding and enjoyable alternative form of social interaction, which helped alleviate many of the social pressures they often felt in unstructured social situations. Aside from the social side of board gaming, our participants also expressed a range of other competencies that they felt could benefit from board gaming, even though these also presented significant challenges.

Theme 2: Board Games Can Be Both a Challenge but Also a Growth Experience to Demonstrate and Build Skills

Participants described how games presented various challenges but also offered an avenue for skill development. For example, many of the deceptive/bluffing aspects of some games were problematic for some players, even though they provided a source of excitement and strategy.

Participants indicated that they did not like to lie because their non-verbal actions betrayed them.

Similarly, making up a credible lie was sometimes difficult for them. For these reasons, they felt they did a poor job in games requiring them to trick, bluff or deceive. Although individuals clearly expressed that they found deception challenging, they also noted how the games naturally help refine skills such as perspective-taking, bluffing, and reading other people. For example, participants talked at length about the way they observed other players’ behaviours to try and detect and untangle truthful vs bluffing statements in the games.

Participants also enjoyed the metacognition that these games encouraged, such as thinking about their own thinking strategies, and other players’ choices. For example, a more logical/deductive strategy was often used to detect lies. Players enjoyed challenging themselves socially by building their persuasion and debate skills. However, participants recognised that autistic individuals might find other aspects of the games challenging, particularly in relation to the complexity of the game. Despite these issues, participants discussed how games allowed them to grow their confidence.

Others noted that although they find the process challenging, this challenge allows them to learn to adapt to change.

Autistic individuals, new to board gaming, expressed many of the same sentiments as more seasoned gamers in Study 2. They discussed the way in which board games can act as a social lubricant and the comfort found in the systems and rules inherent in games. They also discussed how they felt they struggled with the social deductive and bluffing aspects of games, yet also described the kinds of rich perspective-taking they engaged in when playing them. Unlike more seasoned players in Study 2, Study 3’s participants did not discuss game themes and passions, although this is not surprising since they were exposed to a significantly smaller range of games. Unlike Study 2’s participants, they also reported struggling more with some of the more complex rules, though this, too, is to be expected since they were less experienced.

General Discussion

We reported on a series of studies highlighting the unique potential that board gaming may have to impact and transform the lives of adults on the spectrum. In study 1, we explored the popularity of the hobby among autistic people. As predicted, across a sample of over 1600 board gamers, we found that autism (and anxiety, conditions that often co-occur) were elevated among board gamers, while other mental health conditions were not. Furthermore, we found that the BAP was also elevated in our sample. Clinical and subclinical cut-off rates for autistic traits presented in our sample occurred at a significantly higher rate than is typically seen in the general population. This study also highlights autistic players’ preferences and motivations within this hobby. In study 2, autistic board gamers indicated that the form of structured socialisation that took place during the game suited autistic ways of being. In study 3, we introduced board games to community groups of autistic adults around the UK, finding that board gaming ‘newbies’ echoed many of the sentiments of more seasoned gamers. Games made socialising easier, and it was fun to problem-solve within a set of rules. Perhaps most importantly, study 3 showed how board games could bring together diverse groups of autistic people who often have different needs and interests. Groups stated how they had come together for the first time rather than interacting within their smaller, well-established friendship circles. Together, our results suggest that board games may occupy an essential place in the social lives of autistic people. It also indicates that this may be a valuable hobby for autistic people, as it may benefit them cognitively and socially in several ways.

Improving mental health outcomes for autistic people is a pressing matter for autism research (Crane et al., 2019 ). Research suggests that as autistic people age, they are less likely to experience gains in quality of life compared to neurotypical people. This disparity is particularly pronounced for autistic people diagnosed later in life, which is a growing proportion of the autistic population (Atherton et al., 2021 ). To increase the quality of life for autistic people, understanding and promoting healthy leisure patterns may be essential (Potvin et al., 2013 ). A plethora of research suggests that friendship and social connection protect mental health (for a review, see King et al., 2016 ), with shared interests as a key factor in establishing relationships (Yang et al., 2011 ). This may be particularly important for autistic people who exhibit passions, which can be a source of bonding with others which can lead to an acceptance of atypical behaviours (Sosnowy et al., 2018 ), and allow for a more immediate connection and purpose within a social group (Chan et al., 2022 ).

Our findings suggest that board games may be particularly beneficial for autistic adults by allowing them to interact socially in a way that is suited to their social style. Research shows that autistic people struggle to socialise in more open-ended or loosely structured settings that require small talk (Pfeiffer et al., 2017 ). In situations where there is no structure to conversation, autistic people can miss social cues leading to social anxiety (Livingston et al., 2019 ), resulting in avoiding social situations where they might face rejection (Hull et al., 2017 ). This mismatch between neurotypical social styles and autistic ways of being may be at the heart of the many studies finding that autistic people experience significantly more loneliness than neurotypicals (Umagami et al., 2022 ). Despite a need for social connection, autistic people may feel that their social skills preclude them from entering social situations where they can cultivate friendships (Stice & Lavner, 2019 ).

Board gaming offers a unique solution to these issues by removing the small talk and moving the attention from other implicit social cues such as body language, which autistic people often find challenging, to the game and its rules. Additionally, players can use a common language about the game (Knight et al., 2019 ), allowing them to discuss their passions with others who share these interests. Finally, the structure of gaming allows for further interactions over time, as indicated by participants who were both seasoned gamers (study 2) and new to gaming (study 3). Because board games can be played at a slower pace than video games or sports, players can converse more freely during the game. Over time, they can have the unstructured interactions that autistic people often find difficult to have immediately or with strangers.

Similarly, board gaming offers autistic people self-efficacy as it depends on cognitive skills particularly adapted to autistic ways of being. Since the earliest conceptualisations of autism, the condition was characterised as one where individuals enjoyed understanding systems and rules (Kanner, 1943 ). After more investigation, researchers found that autistic people (Wheelwright & Baron-Cohen, 2001 ) and their family members (Baron-Cohen, 1998 ) were more likely to be involved in the STEM fields, leading to the influential ‘empathising-systemising’ theory of autism (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001 ). In this theory, autistic people are posited to be ‘hyper-systemisers,’ meaning they are inclined to figure out the rules or structure underlying incoming information (Baron-Cohen, 2006 ). While the assertion that autistic people are not as empathetic as other people (a position taken by the systemising theory) has been the source of much debate (Duffy & Dorner, 2011 ), there is evidence that an autistic strength is the ability to decode the underlying ‘systems’ at play in our world (Greenberg et al., 2018 ). Systemising may also lie at the heart of autistic passions, as discussed, for instance, in interviews with highly successful autistic people (South & Sunderland, 2022 ).

Given autistic people’s penchant for systemising, the focus that board games place on understanding rules and the social aspects of conversing about the underlying structure of games makes this a particularly valuable pastime for autistic adults. Research shows that autistic people do particularly well in occupations where they can work with structures and passions (Bross & Travers, 2017 ). Few studies have focused on the potential for hobbies that build on an understanding and enjoyment of systems and passions. While several studies show that autistic people enjoy video games, research suggests that video games can become problematic for autistic people who, possibly in response to developing a special interest in video games, are more likely to meet the criteria for video game addiction (Coutelle et al., 2022 ). As discussed by participants in Study 2, board games offer similar pleasures to video games, while being more social. While they can be enjoyed by themselves online, all games can be played with others, and some games can only be played with others. The sociality of board games seemed to be particularly important for participants. In this way, board gaming may provide a vital opportunity for social networking for autistic people. This finding is also echoed in research on tabletop role playing games with autistic players (Atherton, Hathaway, et al., in press), where results showed that role playing through a character allowed for a deep bond with fellow players in a way that felt particularly natural and authentic.

Future research may want to understand how board gaming as a hobby can be used to benefit the lives of autistic people; research may also wish to focus on sub-populations with restricted language and the use of language-based games in relevant skill-building. Research comparing mental health outcomes in autistic board gamers and video gamers may be useful, as our research suggests that board games may offer advantages to video games. There is also scope to investigate board gaming interventions for autistic children and adults. Our research indicates that social and cognitive skills are helped through board gameplay, which may be particularly beneficial to autistic people. Investigating the benefits of board gaming in a controlled study would be an essential contribution.

There are several limitations to this study that would benefit from further research. First, this study focused on individuals with the cognitive capacity to play modern board games, which may exclude some individuals on this autism spectrum. That said, given that many commercial board games have now produced child-friendly versions of games, it may be that with the right support individuals with high cognitive needs may still be able to engage in the hobby with support and simpler gaming formats. One recent study has investigated board gaming in an adult autistic population with co-occurring intellectual disabilities (Atherton et al., 2024 ) and found similar benefits in this sample, suggesting that board games may be a useful hobby across the spectrum.

Another limitation of this study is that while approximately 1/3 of the sample was comprised of people with non-white ethnic backgrounds, the majority of participants were White, male, and highly educated compared to the global population. This homogeny is also found among board gaming hobbyists, including board game designers, who are disproportionately white males (see Dias, 2023 , for a review). Given that autism is also disproportionately diagnosed in males over females, and in White over minority children (Shenouda et al., 2023 ), it may be that this sample again speaks to the fact that a specific population may be more likely to both receive an autism diagnosis and be introduced to board gaming. Future research should focus on recruiting more diverse samples and exploring how board games may be beneficial to the wider autistic population, including females and those with minority ethnic identities.

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Cross, L., Belshaw, F., Piovesan, A. et al. Game Changer: Exploring the Role of Board Games in the Lives of Autistic People. J Autism Dev Disord (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06408-0

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College Application Guide for Neurodivergent Students

The college application process can seem overwhelming but breaking tasks into smaller steps using tracking tools and deadlines will minimize the stress of college admissions..

You’ve narrowed down your list of colleges, and now it’s time to tackle those applications. If your neurodivergent brain is dreading the arduous, multi-step process, this plan and system for tracking your tasks will help you get started with less stress.

1. Use Tracking Tools

Create a system to track college application deadlines. If you’re a paper person, try a big wall calendar, whiteboard, or use a weekly/monthly planner. If you prefer digital apps, use an e-calendar that’s accessible from different devices, like Microsoft Outlook or Google. Also consider using sticky notes, phone alerts, spreadsheets — whatever system works for you.

Check each school’s website for application deadlines. In your task tracker, build in cushions by scheduling each task’s deadline one week before it’s truly due. More than 1,000 colleges use the Common App program , wherein you apply to many schools with one application. Other schools use proprietary applications and requirements. Check the “Admissions” link on each college website to confirm its methods and dates. Ask someone you trust to double-check the deadlines in your tracker to ensure accuracy.

[ Free Download: Securing ADHD Accommodations in College ]

2. Give Thought to Essays

Determine how many essays you need to write and the topics allowed for each. Enter due dates in your tracker for each essay’s outline, first draft, second draft, review by a trusted adult, revisions, and final draft. Use graphic organizers, mind maps, or templates to organize your thoughts. Body doubling with a friend can increase motivation and accountability while you work.

3. Schedule Admission Exams

Many colleges are now “test optional,” but standardized admission exams are still required at other institutions. Don’t discount these exams since colleges may use SAT or ACT scores to award merit or other scholarships. Schedule and take any required exams as soon as possible in case you want to retest later. If you need testing accommodations, request them.

4. Request Recommendations

Decide which teachers, counselors, or other mentors you’ll ask to write letters of recommendation and provide them with early due dates when you make the requests. Offer suggestions to make it easier for them to write about you (e.g., list your clubs, activities, sports, internships, jobs, and volunteer work) Check-in if needed before the due date. Send thank-you notes when the recommendation letters have been completed.

5. Gather Transcripts

Ask your guidance counselor how to request transcripts and complete the college admissions process.

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6. Search for Scholarships

Research scholarships that are available from your school as well as from local and national organizations. Track requirements and deadlines and apply for applicable ones.

7. Consider Financial Aid

Check federal and state FAFSA deadlines (studentaid.gov) and track them. Gather financial records and complete the forms.

The application process can seem overwhelming but breaking big tasks into smaller steps can help. Review tasks weekly, track your progress, ask for help when needed, and celebrate each task you complete!

College Applications: Next Steps

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The Parents’ Guide to Raising a Teen with ADHD, Part Two

ChatGPT: Disruptive or Constructive?

Thursday, Jul 18, 2024 • Jeremiah Valentine : [email protected]

What is Chat GPT?

ChatGPT is a popular emerging technology using Artificial Intelligence. GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, which describes an AI program that looks for patterns in language and data learning to predict the next word in a sentence or the next paragraph in an essay. The website has a friendly interface that allows users to interact with AI in a n efficient conversational tone . ChatGPT provides another opportunity for students, instructors, researchers, workers, and others to find practical solutions to everyday and complicated problems.

At the root of this conversation is Artificial Intelligence. I plan to explore applicable uses of AI and ChatGPT in the classroom , entrepreneurial potential uses, and applications in industry .

Everyday Uses of Artificial Intelligence

The use of Artificial I ntelligence varies based on the user and their end goal. While many individuals will use certain programs or websites to meet specific objectives , many companies and apps have begun to utilize this emerging technology to better meet their customer's needs.

Duolingo is a popular foreign language learning application that I use to supplement my Spanish studies . The app uses Artificial Intelligence to assess users' knowledge and understanding as they interact with the program , thus streamlining users learning outcomes.

As another example, Khan Academy is a free online resource that helps teachers and students learn any level of math or other grade school topics for free. They have created Khanmigo , using AI. The model acts as a tutor that helps work through a problem while not directly providing the answer. It can assist in writing an essay or solving a complex math problem step by step.

These everyday applications continue a trend of companies implementing this new technolog y into students and teachers' lives . . This new AI technology also allows business professionals to enhance aspects of their processes.

Entrepreneurs, A.I. and the Advantages

While AI already provides companies and organizations with new ways to interact with and better support their customers, AI could also provide emerging industries and entrepreneurs with new paths to business success. 

According to Entrpreneur.com, most businesses currently use AI for customer service purposes , however , AI could also help entrepreneurs create effective spreadsheets cataloging useful data with accuracy that can be incredibly specific or broad. Specifically with customer service, AI can quickly find what a customer needs and solve their problems efficiently. It could also analyze how effective marketing campaigns are influencing customers’ purchases.

As I researched for more information about this topic, I found an article in The Journal of Business Venturing Insights published in March 2023, sharing different techniques business students can use ChatGPT as an asset to generate entrepreneurial business pitches. The article titled “ The Artificially Intelligent Entrepreneur” written by Cole Short, an Assistant Professor of Strategy at Pepperdine University, and Jeremy C. Short, a UTA alumni and Professor at the University of North Texas at Denton, showcased different elevator pitch scenarios.

Students and entrepreneurs study CEOs who have impacted an industry dynamically; the CEO's mentality is an asset . I had the opportunity to question Dr. Jeremy Short on how he arrived at the initial question of using AI as a CEO archetype business consultant. An archetype is a symbol, term, or pattern of behavior which others have replicated or emulated.

He responded, “ We used this existing framework and selected a CEO from each archetype and used ChatGPT to create elevator pitches, social media pitches, and crowdfunding pitches. The strength of ChatGPT is based largely on the creativity of the prompt, which is where we aim as authors.”

CEO Archetypes and Prompt Engineering

ChatGPT allows the user to understand the archetypes of successful CEOs and collaborate with entrepreneurial styles. These archetypes are accessible options to consult with AI. Let ’ s break down different CEO archetypes students used during this study:

Creator CEOs are typically serial entrepreneurs and serve during the growth stages of developing new businesses. These individuals are risk takers recognizing opportunities that others don ’ t see. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter is the creator archetype.

Transformer CEOs are created by climbing the ladder of a successful business and adding new ideas . They have a firm understanding of the company's culture and work to dramatically change the company, separating it from missteps in the past. Indra Nooyi CEO of PepsiCo is the transformer archetype.

Savior CEOs rescue businesses on the verge of failure with disciplined actions, unique experience and insights they forge a successful path forward for declining businesses. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD is the savior archetype.

ChatGPT was prompted to write an elevator pitch in the style of the previously listed CEOs. 

The response for Elon Musk included language about “ building” a product with “ cutting-edge technology.” 

Indra Nooyi ’s response included phrases like “ the world is changing” and making “ a positive impact in the world.” 

Lisa Su's response produced a pitch speaking about being “ accountable, tough and disciplined” with an emphasis on “ a strong focus on efficiency and performance.”

However, I believe these positions can help entrepreneurs develop their own successful business practices; creating a product your former employer could use to gain an advantage over the competition is disruptive. B uying a company on the brink of bankruptcy that has been mismanaged is a scenario entrepreneurs have explored and practiced .

Prompt engineering is the description of a task AI can accomplish , with instructions embedded in the input. Using prompt engineering, users can fine-tune their input to achieve a desired output incorporating a task description to guide the AI model. 

Conversation around ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence

I asked Dr. Short about how students could use this technology as an asset that guides their learning and, additionally, how instructors can use this as well. He spoke about an assignment he is currently using in his classes. “ Chat GPT might be valuable in helping create a recipe for material that students can then refine. For example, in my social entrepreneurship class students create crowdfunding campaigns for either DonorsChoose , a platform that caters to public school teachers or GoFundMe , a service which allows a variety of project types to a larger userbase . I plan on students using ChatGPT to create a ‘rough draft’ to show me so I can see how they refine their responses for their particular campaigns this upcoming fall.” Th is approach allows students to take advantage of popular technology in a constructive way.

The journal article provided some notable conclusions about ChatGPT , i ncluding “ quality control is essential when using automated tools; a hallmark of success for large language models is their vast associative memory, this strength can also be a weakness. Specifically, models such as OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 are capable of confidently generating “ hallucinated” output that appears correct but, it is incorrect or completely fabricated. ChatGPT serves as an emerging tool that can efficiently and flexibly produce a range of narrative content for entrepreneurs and serve to inspire future research at the intersection of entrepreneurship and AI.” ChatGPT ’s limitations and potential applications are continually being explored.

Industry Application

After researching various applications of AI, I spoke with Dr. George Benson, Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Management at The University of Texas at Arlington, about AI and ChatGPT from an industry perspective. His research focuses on Artificial Intelligence with Human Resource Management .

Dr. Benson told me that Artificial Intelligence is being invested heavily by human resource departments who are looking to automate hiring practices. Specifically, he mentioned “ HR is using this as a market opportunity. AI is a useful tool to sift through potential applicants by scanning their resumes for qualifications and experiences. Allowing professionals to hire applicants faster.”

This application allows the technology to handle low-level tasks, but the results generated are being handed to a human to review and act on. He spoke about the potential of A.I. “ There are a lot of unknowns, but the technology is new and getting better.” Looking towards the future, technology is already being applied in different ways . These applications are being explored in the classrooms of UTA as well.

Exploration of AI at UTA

The College of Business conduct ed a survey to understand the faculty’s attitude towards A I in the classroom. It was a part of the “Teaching with Chat GPT” workshop on Friday February 9 th , which focus ed on how to integrate Chat GPT and other AI platforms into teaching . 

Dr. Kevin Carr, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Marketing at UTA, was a part of the workshop ; he currently teaches Advanced Business Communication . I talked to him about the purpose of the workshop and what he hopes to gain from the group's sessions. 

Dr. Carr explained "The point of the workshop is designed to give faculty ideas for instruction and to develop classroom activities to work with students . Our goal for th e workshop is to introduce Artificial Intelligence as a teaching tool for faculty, including showing what AI can do potentially in the classroom. We are going to be very open to faculty’s direction, in terms of ongoing discu ssions and meetings.”

Personal Take

Artificial Intelligence or Chat GPT , in my view, is another useful tool in the toolbox of technology. It will take the air out of certain industries, and it will change jobs, yet every major technological advancement has the potential to do so. The automobile was considered radical, the use of plastic, computers in the workplace, and alternative energy have been impactful on society. 

Alternative energy was headlined as the end of oil use. The automobile changed the way cities were formed and led to the creation of a national highway system. Society has always found a way to adapt and overcome major technological innovations, artificial intelligence is not any different.

AI is the technology of tomorrow. It reminds me of something Dr. George Benson said , “ It's cool software that is a sophisticated search engine.” Google, one of the most popular search engines, reshaped the internet, as you search for resources, it is a natural starting point. AI and ChatGPT are an evolution, for students it is a tremendous resource consulting a CEO archetype, creating business pitches, and most importantly shaping the future .

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Application Prompts for 2024-2025

Your essay and short answer responses help us get to know you.

We’ve selected the following prompts for the UNC-specific portion for the first-year and transfer applications for 2024-2025. We’re proud of the Carolina community and how each student makes us better through their excellence, intellect, and character. In reading your responses, we hope to learn what being a part of the Carolina community would mean to you.

Short answer prompts

We’d like to know how you’d contribute to the Carolina community and ask that you respond to each prompt in up to 250 words.

• Discuss one of your personal qualities and share a story, anecdote, or memory of how it helped you make a positive impact on a community. This could be your current community or another community you have engaged.
• Discuss an academic topic that you’re excited to explore and learn more about in college. Why does this topic interest you? Topics could be a specific course of study, research interests, or any other area related to your academic experience in college.

Common Application essay

You’ll choose one Common Essay prompt to respond to in 250-650 words. These prompts are common to all schools who accept the Common Application, and you can view the prompts here. Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don’t feel obligated to do so. The Common Application also has an optional section where you’ll have the opportunity to write about how COVID-19 has affected you.

Your responses will be evaluated not only for admission, but also for possible selection for scholarships and other special opportunities. We look forward to learning more about you!

Advice for Your Application

First-year application, transfer application.