Tips for coping with adhd/ocd?

i relate to this so hard. unfortunately for me, my solution was to not continue school after i graduated high school. the fact that you’re still pushing through and looking for ways to assist your college experience is already a great thing, in my opinion! one thing i will say is to please always keep your professors up to date. i feel like honest communication is the best method for dealing with problems like this. lying only makes you feel worse, and being honest without any explanation or context just makes it feel like excuses. none of those are good for our mental health, and definitely won’t help you feel better. try to see if you can meet with your new professors before classes start and maybe you can discuss things you know you might have a hard time with throughout the year. this will show you care and want to learn but are doing it to your fullest capabilities.

Yes!! You sound literally exactly how I was in college. Find your Student Accommodation department and set up a meeting with them as soon as you can. Academic accommodations that really helped me were extensions on all assignments(I had 5 extra days on everything, sometimes I used it, sometimes I didn’t and that’s okay). Extra time on exams! Again even if you’re super test smart and do it fast, the extra time can help ease the anxiety and stress of “not finishing in time”. Along with that is test and class breaks. This puts it in writing that you can temporarily leave class at any point to take a break or get some water or a snack. Test breaks literally let you pause the time taking your test so you can take a breather, use the bathroom, snack, etc. Another thing is to communicate crazily with your professors. Ask them as many questions as you need to understand their expectations of an assignment. Maybe ask to see examples of past student work to gadge how much you should be doing. You can also schedule meetings with your professors weekly if you want to hold yourself accountable that way. Remember they are literally being paid to answer your questions. If your professor is genuinely good and likes their job, they also will truly want to help you, and care, and see you succeed. In comparison to High School, College is actually much more understanding(most of the time). Theres more of a general consensus that we are all people who all have different things going on in our lives. Sometimes your professor will put things off too and they have to figure it out. I’ve learned that a little bit of opening up can create a lot of understanding and flexibility. As long as the work eventually gets done and there is effort put in, that’s all they really care about. Something else I did which may or may not work for you is that after I had a class I would find some sort of common space and just work on whatever I had due for two hours, and then walk back to my dorm. The environment kept my brain in school mode and kept the momentum of learning going which made it easier to not procrastinate. Anyway, Congrats on graduating High School and starting this new leap into college! Always remember, you are paying to go there, these people are there to help support you, you’re paying them to do it!! Good luck!

Don’t be afraid to let your professors know about your mental health condition and that you’re working with the disability resource center. I had to ask for so many extensions in college and by the grace of God it all worked out. Find a good therapist and maybe try meds! Figure out what helps you study best: maybe being somewhere where there’s other people. A certain spot in the library that’s your focus zone. Maybe a routine like I get a coffee, turn on my phone blocking app and my pomodoro timer app (helps!) and I chew gum and listen to an adhd focus playlist. And then be like just every day I’m just gonna sit down at this time and just start working and don’t worry about how much you get done each day.

Oh also adhd help: it helps to schedule free time each day where you can do something fun or quirky or adventurous or new, and also I think getting a little exercise in helps with focus too!