April 2, 2007 10:23 AM
In and on my way
Decisions are in and we Seniors are solidifying our plans for the next level(s) of our educations. I've got my options before me and a gap year in Great Britain before I enroll, so here is what I'm thinking right now
I have three acceptances and two places on Wait Lists out of my nine applications to various institutions throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. But before enrolling at Columbia University, Middlebury College, or Colby College or accepting a place on the Wait lists of the University of Pennsylvania or Georgetown University, I will be taking a post-graduate year in a British public school.
After an extensive application and interview process, I was accepted into the English-Speaking Union's Secondary School Exchange program about two months ago. My enrollment was contingent upon a college acceptance, so, with three of them under my belt, I will be travelling with fellow Senior Julia to a yet-to-be-assigned British boarding school where I will study in the sixth form. I cannot wait to spend an entire school year in a different country and educational system and I am extremely grateful to the infrastructure here at Mercersburg that has allowed me to gain admission into the program.
I also must decide where to defer enrollment. I am faced with two very different sets of schools: urban and rural, large and small, universities and small liberal arts colleges, sort of cold and really cold. I am excited to have the sort of options that I do and the decision ahead of me, I know, will not come easily. In the coming days, I will be meeting with Mercersburg faculty (from my teachers to my college counsellor) and delving deeper into what I want and what I need after four years here in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
With four years of an essentially liberal arts experience here, I know that I would get along well at Colby or Middlebury, but I also know that the resources of the Big Apple are also enticing. As I hope to go on and study Political Science or International Relations, all three schools offer their own pros and cons.
With an education from Mercersburg, I am confident that I will do well wherever I end up and, as this process so poignantly reminds me, my time and Mercersburg is running out. I have one month to let these schools know and only two before I walk across the graduation platform, concluding my four, amazing years here.
Posted by at April 2, 2007 10:23 AM