It’s that time of year again! Juniors have begun studying for their AP exams, solidifying their SAT scores, and most importantly, touring college prospects for the near future.
When choosing which colleges to tour, students consider what their ideal college experience would look like. While sometimes students are looking for more of a city-scene, others are looking for a traditional campus with a green landscape. Some want to attend massively populated state schools, while others wish to attend private institutions. There are a wide variety of colleges that peak the interest of Wayne Hills juniors, as well as a handful of popular ones which several students have visited.
As expected, students have been scoping out schools in the Boston, Massachusetts region. Three of the most popular colleges in this region include Boston College, Boston University, and Northeastern University.
According to juniors Luna Han and Rebecca Siuffe, Boston College has a beautiful campus–specifically, one that “resembles Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series.” Rebecca exhibited a particular interest in BC’s business school, which didn’t fall short of impressing her. Boston College is known for its stunning architecture and exceptional education, so it’s not surprising that juniors are already adding it to their list.
Junior Emily Sorrentino toured these same three colleges, but was not particularly pleased with the appearance of Boston University. As I stated earlier, some students, like Emily, are not interested in schools which have cities that act as their campuses. “BU doesn’t have much of a community campus, it’s more so just buildings on a street,” Emily admitted. Although she was not the biggest fan of BU’s city-scene, she was pleased with Northeastern University’s traditional-style campus and selection of business majors.
Like Emily, junior Zach Zardezed envisions being on a traditional college campus. He flew all the way to Ohio, where he visited Case Western Reserve University. This college is known for having stellar science majors and pre-medical concentrations. Zach believes that this college might help him follow “any creative interest [he] may have in the science and/or medical fields.”
Colleges at the Ivy League level have sparked a particular interest in some students, as well. Over spring break, juniors Ethan Kim and Gargi Srivats toured Princeton University. They both agreed that Princeton’s campus is stunning, and Gargi appreciated the abundance of “resources for undergrads, including mandated classes that have to be taught by full fledged professors.”
Ethan even visited Princeton a second time to get a closer look at their engineering program, and was more impressed than the first time. “The engineering quadrant was really cool,” he said. “I even got to look into some classes and talk to the tour guide about his own experience at Princeton.” Princeton University was clearly a hit, and will surely be considered by a number of juniors when the application process begins.
As the school year winds down, the junior class is continuing to search for and tour even more colleges. They have a variety of different schools in mind, and are anticipating to explore their options further this summer. The list of college prospects is only growing, so it will certainly be exciting to see which colleges students send their applications to in the fall!
