Class of '24 applies to colleges

By Winter Brooks

Editor in Chief

High school seniors are finishing their college search as deadlines creep closer. College and scholarship applications are closing soon and it’s time to decide. Picking a university can be challenging because there are so many options to choose from. 

“My top 3 colleges are William Penn University, Crown College, and Illinois State University,” said senior Jerilyn Hale. 

Jerilyn has been accepted into 20 colleges and has yet to receive any rejection letters. She recently committed to William Penn University in Iowa and will attend on a $20,000 volleyball scholarship. 

Jerilyn Hale committing to William Penn University. (Photo by Jessica Hale)

“I plan on being involved in volleyball, student government, and maybe an insurance type of club. I’m not completely sure yet,” Hale said. 

Clubs are a hot topic when it comes to college. Freshman schedules are packed in college and it's difficult to manage time with activities and courses. 

“Maybe I’ll join some martial arts club or a building type club,” said senior Nisha Sharma. “And my brother told me if I go to UIC (University of Illinois Chicago) I should join their baha club because they need graphic design people.”

Nisha has been accepted to all eight of the Universities she applied to and plans to major in graphic design. 

“My top 3 schools are University of Illinois Chicago, Ball State University, and Iowa State University. In that order,” Sharma said, “To be honest though, Illinois Tech is also really good but it's private and expensive so I’ve removed it from my mental list even though their program is really good.”

Nisha is still deciding what University she wants to attend, but is currently leaning toward University of Illinois Chicago. If she goes to UIC or Ball State University, she will move in with one of her siblings and commute, but if she attends Iowa State University, she will have to live in the dorms. 

“My top 3 colleges are Georgia Tech Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and University of Illinois,” Says senior Corey Holt. 

Right now Corey has applied to one college and hasn’t received a letter yet. He has applied to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He plans to major in computer science.

“If I’m out of state, I’ll live on campus. If the college is less than an hour away I’ll just commute” Holt said. 

Corey plans to be in track during college as he has been part of it for all of high school. He is currently still deciding on a university and his degree will take about 4 years to complete.