Survival Tips for College Students with ADHD

By Robert Tudisco, Edge Foundation Executive Director

I wish I knew back in college what I know now about living with ADHD.  I had to learn ways to cope the hard way because I wasn’t diagnosed until many years after I completed school.  Since my diagnosis I’ve developed many skills that have made a huge difference in my life.  Here are four survival skills I’ve discovered that any college student with ADHD can use to make college more productive and stress free.

READING COMPREHENSION

Many of my prelaw classes had heavy reading requirements that pushed my ADHD brain to its limit.  I tried everything I could think of to stay focused, but my mind always wandered and I struggled with comprehension and staying on task.

Then in senior year, a friend of mine who worked in an accounting firm mentioned that her firm routinely handed out foam earplugs for reading tax code.  The text was very boring and she said that it helped her stay focused.  I immediately went to the store and bought some.

When I inserted the earplugs into my ears, it was like shutting off the world so I could actually climb into what I was reading.  The effect was amazing.  Those small inexpensive foam earplugs got me through the rest of college, law school and the bar exam.

After law school, an office setting presented a new challenge:  I couldn’t just shut it off.  Phones were ringing, people asked questions and my earplugs were of little use.  I experimented with sound machines and music to filter out distractions.  After much trial and error, I determined that classical and guitar music struck the balance that I was looking for.

The important thing to note is that I didn’t give up.  I thought about my focus challenge.  I tried – failed – and tried again.  My thought process and commitment made all the difference.

OUTLINING

 

Another useful tool I use that also helps with procrastination is outlining.  If, like me, you’ve tried and given up on lists because they are long and intimidating, give outlining a try.  Outlines help me understand how each task is connected and provides me with a map for getting there.  I outline everything that I do, from articles to case briefs to scheduling my day.

  • An outline provides the structure my ADHD craves for whatever project or time frame that I need to plan.
  • An outline provides a hierarchy of concepts and shows how they are related to each other.
  • An outline breaks down projects to smaller subprojects and thereby makes them less intimidating.  Often the hardest part of task is getting started.  Breaking the project into the smallest components makes this much easier.

EXERCISE

 

After my diagnosis with ADHD, I went back and looked at my school transcripts and tried to correlate the times that I got the best grades with what was going on outside of school.  I quickly saw a pattern.  During the times when my grades were highest in college and law school, I was running to relieve my stress.

After this realization I embraced running and made it a part of my life.  I regularly run 4 to 5 days per week for approximately an hour.  My running helps me organize my thoughts and plan out how I am going to approach situations.

In recent years, research has shown that exercise can help reduce the symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, depression and other disorders.  Integrate exercise into your daily life.  If you keep at it, you’ll find it centers you, reduces your stress and brings you the clarity you need to move forward.

COACHING

 

One of the most important things that I have discovered in my journey to work with my ADHD is I need help to establish the structure, support and accountability that my ADHD mind so desperately needs.  That’s why I have worked with many different ADHD coaches since my diagnosis.

ADHD coaches offer an objective perspective on the challenges of ADHD.  They help us recognize and develop our talents, and learn where and why we struggle.  Each of my coaches has made a huge difference in how I approach obstacles while building my confidence about the specific talents that I have.

College is a key time to learn skills to work with your ADHD because it is much less structured than high school – especially for those students living away from home for the first time.  You may not have even realized all of the daily support your parents were providing until you are in over your head freshman year.  Even students who are extremely intelligent are at high risk because college requires new levels of self imposed structure and accountability.

An ADHD coach who specializes in the needs of high school and college students can provide the structure, support and accountability you need, not just to survive in college, but to reach your full potential throughout your life.

YOU CAN OVERCOME THE OBSTACLES OF ADHD

 

As someone with ADHD who has struggled all of his life with the challenges it has provided, I am living proof that there are ways to successfully address these obstacles.  The key is to understand yourself, be willing to try new things, reflect about how you respond to situations and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Keep that perspective and you will learn to gravitate toward your strengths and to avoid your weaknesses.  And always remember you are not alone.  There are a lot of us out there just like you.  Good luck!

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4 Responses

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by D von Pressentin and D von Pressentin, Laura Rolands. Laura Rolands said: Blog Post = Survival Tips for College Students with ADHD: By Robert Tudisco, Edge Fou.. http://bit.ly/aA89pD = via @EdgeFdn […]

  2. Nikki Weiner
    |

    I am a college student at Columbia University with ADHD. This year I am doing a research paper on college students with ADHD. Can you please post a link to this short survey for me, which will greatly help me further my studies. I am collecting my data by the latest on Saturday. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MV73CCVi

  3. Stacy Best
    |

    I just read the article “Survival Tips for College Students”, one of many articles of this nature lately and while I get how the solutions listed for the person who has shared what has helped in others experiences, as in this article. While their symptoms and or struggles they experience I definitely relate to, however time and time again the solutions that they say helped them get through for example; organization in college and in daily life, and all of the above will not and do not help me. It’s so frustrating when I find helpful sites for this disability, yet every time I get a paragraph or two into the articles & my stomach will just knot up because here I am once again reading another 3 or 4 helpful tools that helped someone that don’t fit or pertain to my lifestyle. So I still am left with no answers, while I continue to run in circles barely keeping my head above water feeling everyday that today is going to be the day that I breakdown and loose it, even though I have the exact same ADHD obstacles that most people with ADHD have, I just cant find any solutions, tools, etc. to work for me. I look daily for as long as I can stand looking hoping to read at least one small tool that has helped someone else with help me in anyway, while in doing so getting further and further behind in my schoolwork, laundry, dishes, cooking normal dinners for my family, etc. the lists go on and on! For ex. in this article she mentioned ear plugs, while Im very happy that worked for her their is no way I can use ear plugs to help at all!! I am a full-time student with 1 yr under my belt for an AAS degree & days age I turned 39. I have three girls 21, 15, and 5 yrs old and my 21 yr old also has an 18 month old girl & due with her 2nd baby in Sept. while also has a yr of college finished. We are both sophomores and I am going insane, I have had ADHD since I could remember, not until a yr ago when I started school did I decide I had no choice but to take medication and see a Dr. regular with this now HUGE problem in my life! For a yr even with the medication, etc. I have literally felt like the twist of dirt that the Tasmanian devil would leave after spinning for a non-stop yr. now and I have to do something or everything is going to fall on me. My family life is affected, a yr of student loans hang over my head, and Ive been on academic probation 3 times in 5 terms, I get it one term and fix it the next and so on! HELP

    • Peggy -- edge blogger
      |

      Stacy,
      Thank you for spending time on our site, reading and commenting at length on several articles. You are correct that each person’s ADHD is different — and what works for one person may not work for you. That’s where coaching comes in. Coaching can help you work with your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. He or she will guide you in discovering your unique style and figure out what will work for you. You can try out a coaching session for free right now until October 31, 2013. Check out: https://edgefoundation.org/blog/2013/07/19/students-try-adhd-coaching-today-free/ for more information.
      Good luck!