Most students here at Harwood begin their college application process shortly after their junior year but some will hopefully start as early as their freshmen year, attaining good grades and taking on extracurriculars. Students will then tour, write essays, and sell themselves to a various number of universities, only to wait for a response for months.
That can be stressful.
Commonground dives deeper into this process for Harwood students, as everyone has a unique experience with college applications.
Last year, over 75 percent of Harwood students applied for and pursued a college degree. Harwood seems to be following this trend and will most likely send more and more students to college every year.
These students go all over the nation, but tend to stay toward the Northeast. A question many have is why and how did these students choose their schools?
Common ground interviewed Harwood seniors to ask about their college application process.
When asked about the factors influencing students decisions, seniors responses varied:
“I was looking for a large D1 school, with a minimum of twenty thousand students,” stated senior Caleb Brookens.
Brookens is looking into the University of Washington and University of Oregon. Both universities have a somewhat of a Vermont feel with undergrad populations of over twenty-three thousand students.
On the contrary, senior Will Andrus said he was looking for “a smaller school with a great location and program for a business degree.”
Andrus applied and is going to Roger Williams University that is located on the water with an undergrad population of around five thousand.
Smaller schools can come with smaller class sizes and more personal connections to professors whereas larger schools may have a larger social scene with a larger variety of subjects and sports.
Both are valid options that come with completely different experiences.
While some are looking at students who are looking specifically at the college program, some are looking to just play sports in college.
Senior Steele Nelson stated, “I just want to play basketball, preferably at a decent program.”
Nelson has applied to and got into a few schools in the east but is undecided where he will pursue.
College applications can, as mentioned, be stressful as students really don’t want to fumble their dream school.
Commonground followed up, asking these seniors, “is there anything you wish you did or knew a year ago before starting the college application process?”
Some responded with “no” and one responded not to overcomplicate applications but most had something to say.
Senior Luke LaCroix said he wished he knew earlier that the Common App wasn’t the only way to apply to college. LaCroix found that he could simply interview at his college, Colby Sawyer, and was able to get in.
Brookens wishes that he worked on his extracurriculars at an earlier age as it would really strengthen his application.
Senior Milo Lavit stated he should have toured more schools to broaden his knowledge of colleges and similarly, Nelson wished he started his whole process earlier to give him time.
The trend of most of these statements are that students wished they did things earlier so that they would have more time to dive deeper and learn about the process. Underclassmen should take this into consideration when deciding when to start their process so that they feel fulfilled when their applications are completed.
Commonground hopes that the next wave of students to apply feel prepared and satisfied with their college decisions, ensuring that they avoid problems this year’s students faced.
