Share Your Senior Year Experience & Advice

Applying to College Admission Stories
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Hi!! I’m a senior who has just wrapped up my college application experience. I loved this experience even through the stress. I was hoping we could share our college experiences and decisions. I think everyone has something different to contribute and each has a little insight.

I’ll share first. I think the most surprising thing is that when I started, I had absolutely no idea what I truly wanted in a college or even as a major. So, I applied to a bunch, all undecided. I applied to a giant slew of schools, 10 in total, hoping something stuck. Each school had something I adored. I applied to big tens like OSU and Purdue, little liberals like Smith and Swarthmore, big city schools like BU and NYU, and then my safeties UNH & UMass. I did not even want to apply to UNH or Umass because they weren’t at the same caliber of the other schools in my mind. But, I was fortunate to get accepted almost everywhere. I was waitlisted at Bentley & GWU.

Then came financial aid packages. My family has high financial need, so this ruled out many options. My choices after ruling out the ones I could not afford were UNH, UMass, Smith, OSU, & Swarthmore.

Then, tours. I found that I despised the tiny liberal arts campuses of Smith and Swarthmore. I adored giant state schools. I fell in love with the school that was at the bottom of my list, UMass Amherst. I received a large scholarship & financial aid package, so I will be graduating from my top choice debt free. I am very proud to say that I am a part of UMass Amherst Class of 2017.

What I learned from this experience is to not go to a school based on what you think of it. And that you don’t know yourself as well as you think you do. Apply anywhere that strikes your fancy. Don’t care about the title of the school you go to. If you love it, who cares if it’s an ivy or your local public?

This experience has changed me as a person/ I found it to be the most terrifying, stressful, confusing, exhilarating, and amazing couple of months I’ve had in my life so far. Does anyone else have a similar experience. Please share, I’d love to hear other’s stories.

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There’s a forum that this discussion would be a perfect fit

[Admissions</a> Hindsight and Lessons Learned - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/]Admissions”>Admission Stories - College Confidential Forums)

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My advice for senior year is to get everything done first semester! Get all the applications over with, don’t wait until second semester. Have it in your head where you are going next year, have a plan. Then, sit and wait for those letters. Keep the grades up, keep your head up, and keep going to school, no matter how hard it is to stare at those grimy freshman every day! Just know that summer is almost here and you’ll be outta high school and on to bigger better things!