On Wednesday, May 20, the Archie Williams College and Career Center held a panel for seniors to share their plans, advice, and regrets regarding their post-high school plans to juniors. College and Career Specialist Lisa Neumaier invited six seniors, each of whom will enter completely different paths next year, to expose juniors to a wide range of post-graduation paths. The seniors’ plans ranged from a gap year at a German language school to entering the University of California (UC) system.
The panel of seniors sat in a row and introduced themselves with their plans after high school. They then shared their personal processes, including how many schools or programs they applied to and the factors that determined their path. Junior attendees were able to ask the panel questions about the experience.
For many seniors, submitting college applications can be a challenging task and may feel overwhelming. Senior Tyler Staude, who will be attending the University of Michigan’s nursing program in the fall, suggests that rising seniors begin writing application essays as soon as possible, urging them not to procrastinate the process.
“You want your application to be looked at as many times as possible, especially if you are going for an impacted major, such as engineering, nursing, aerospace engineering, and stuff like that… You [also] need to give yourself hard deadlines to get your applications in early. It is pivotal to get that done,” Tyler said.
Senior Charleigh Clark, who will be attending UC Santa Barbara, suggested that seniors use August 1 as the hard deadline to complete both the Common App essay and Personal Insight Questions (PIQs) for the UC application. Charleigh explained that the work that comes with both senior year and the college application process is daunting, and could affect one’s financial aid.
“Early action is really important because if you can get your applications done it’s better for you because you don’t want to do it all during the fall of senior year. Merit aid is a big thing if you’re thinking, ‘senior year my grades can start slipping’; they look at those grades sometimes, all my years I was able to get a whole bunch of aid from merit,” Charleigh said.
Senior Julian Hernandez, who will be attending San Francisco State University, advised that seniors prioritize financial aid opportunities when compiling a college list. Ultimately suggesting that when applying for financial aid, it is best to apply to a wide variety of programs.
“I applied to 12 schools, some California State Universities and some UC schools, but I wanted to go to SF State because it was closer, and as a low-income student, I really wanted to kind of manage my money and see how much I would get through scholarships. I encourage everyone here to apply for financial aid as well, because it definitely helps a lot,” Julian said.
After attending the event, junior Sloane Korty believes that she learned valuable information she felt only fellow students could give. She was able to ask questions and get applicable answers. Sloane hopes the event continues but could be more organized to emphasise each point.
“The seniors had a great idea of what students would want to hear. It was very insightful in the way that you could hear the realities of college applications. Although [next year] they could improve the points being said, overall it was helpful and interesting,” Sloane said.
This panel provided an opportunity for rising seniors to discuss their post-graduation plans with seniors. The College and Career center is hosting Junior Workshop: Brainstorming Topics for the College Essay on Wednesday, May 27, which will help students brainstorm topics and get started on college essays.
