The next student written blog about the college process is from senior, Gianluca Milea. He has a ton of great advice and experience to share. Enjoy!
The college process can be very intimidating at times. While it is very important to have numerous options, I found it difficult to apply to a limited number of schools. Although Xavier does not put a maximum on how many schools to which you are allowed to apply, application fees are very expensive and at the end of the day you will only be attending one college.
To begin the process, I visited a myriad of schools, some of which were unrealistic options for me. After visiting four schools in two days, I decided to create guidelines for my potential college. While academic rigor is essential, there are many other factors that go into a final college decision: food, campus life, off-campus life, greek life, religious affiliation, athletic programs, housing, location and possibly two of the most important things, tuition cost, and how comfortable you feel on the campus tour. Ultimately, this will be your home for the next four years, and while it may seem like high school flew by, you want to make sure that you enjoy your time in college as much as you were fortunate enough to enjoy your time at Xavier. These parameters allowed for me to narrow down my search and my college list to a comfortable number.
Something that I was unaware of before beginning my college process is that many universities give automatic scholarships for activities outside of academics. For instance, Catholic University has a scholarship if you know someone that attended their university and also a Parish Scholarship for weekly churchgoers. Many schools have similar scholarships and they can be a great way to estimate a tuition (as you will definitely receive some type of financial assistance) and make sure it is affordable before spending money on an application fee.
I would also highly recommend keeping the number of schools that you apply to without visiting to a minimum. Getting a feel for a campus is essential in the process and should not be overestimated. Personally, I visited all of my schools except for a couple of reach schools, and will eventually visit them pending my admissions decision. After visiting I would suggest using Naviance; it is a great website to keep order during a hectic time. Naviance allows you to make a list of “Colleges I’m Thinking About” and rank them in your order of interest. Another helpful feature of the website is that it gives scattergrams, which give you the opportunity to compare yourself to past Xavier students. Overall, Naviance is a great tool that Xavier offers its students and you should really take full advantage of it.
Finally, while the college process can be overwhelming, it is completely worth it. Make sure that you do not miss out on the opportunity to apply to a school because you were too lazy to write a supplement. It is a great feeling when you hit ‘send’ and all of your applications have been submitted. All in all: do your research, visit schools, make a comprehensive list, do not wait until the night before to apply, and then relax and wait for the decisions to roll in. Good Luck!
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