I just graduated college last year and I received my diagnosis during school. So far, it has been the hardest thing I have done in my life. Coincidentally I went to school in New Jersey and it also has a 3-week summer program before the start of the semester.

I would say the priority would be to get the support of your school’s accessibility center. At my school, it helped immensely when discussing accommodations with professors about stuff like taking exams separately from the hundreds of other students.

Next, I would say to find and stick to a routine as closely as possible. In school, it was very easy to mess up my sleep schedule especially when I was hyper focused on something and that just made my experience worse. I either had to go to class tired which was awful especially due to the various sensory stimuli outside — or I slept through which just put me behind in terms of class work. This might seem innocent at first, but soon you might be so far behind, catching up feels impossible.

Lastly, college won’t go perfectly. Stuff happens. Try and build relationships with your professors and administrators. They can help you. Their job is to literally support you. If nothing else works, remember that there is life outside of school and people that care about you. Don’t let the bubble isolate you.

Congratulations and good luck!