SPORTS
Finally, the Class of 2016 is preparing to leave its nest, but where exactly does each student want to go?
It seems as if all of the senior Chargers have talked about college every second since they came out of our respective wombs, but I recently realized that I only know about my own college aspirations. With a burning curiosity about my peer’s futures, I decided to investigate the topic. I then sent out a survey to the Providence Day seniors to determine if there are any trends among college applications and future plans. I received more than 100 responses, and some of the answers surprised me.
I looked through everyone’s “dream schools” and rarely saw a duplicate. The only schools that had more than one response were NYU, Michigan, Colorado College, Vanderbilt, Columbia and UNC Chapel Hill. Also, the responses to the question, “what major are you interested in?” spanned across all different elements of majors. The STEM umbrella, business, and international relations were prevalent in the list, but it appears that most people in the class of 2016 have unique interests for their futures. For example, Grace Clements wants to major in archaeology and Egyptology. She wrote, "after college, I am hoping to travel to Egypt to work in the field. If the current issues in Egypt are still prevalent when I am ready to go over there, I will do some work in the United States or Europe.”
The piece of data that surprised me the most was the number of people who applied Early Decision to a college. Early decision is a common admission policy used to indicate to the university or college that the candidate considers that institution to be his or her top choice. Although I have had the same dream school since I was five years old, my fear of a serious commitment held me back from making a binding agreement to that school. To my surprise, 20.7 percent of students who filled out the survey are applying ED. That’s one in five students in our class who are certain about attending one school–all the power to you guys!
The last question of the survey was a fun on demand to gauge how the class was feeling towards college in general. The question asked, “on a scale of one to hype, how hype are you for college?” The responses ranged from “not hype at all,” “sorta hype,” and “HYPE.” Over this school year, I have talked to many people about college and every single person seemed very excited about the next four years. But when I looked at the responses, they shocked me.
After receiving this response, I went back to ask students why they were less than excited. The common responses were that most people have been so stressed from the application process itself that they don’t even have time to be excited for college and because many students are worried about leaving their families.
What I learned from the survey is that our grade is extremely intelligent–not that I didn’t know that already– and that each person has crafted hos or her own unique pathways for his or her future. I truly hope everyone finds joy in the school he or she chooses to attend. Just remember, Class of 2016, college is what you make of it!
Go B16 or go to college
Campus Life
An insight into the aspirations of our current Providence Day Seniors
by Maddie Reiser
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Maddie Reiser and her father walking through the Boston College campus during a school tour.
HYPE
SORT OF HYPE
NO HYPE AT ALL
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