Student Perspective on the College Process

Hey Everyone,
I hope you are all enjoying the last month of your summer! I wanted to share with you a past Xavier student's recount of his college process, to hopefully help you as rising juniors and seniors. Below is the college process of Sal LaRussa '15 and his advice for all students going through it now. Enjoy!

 When many students begin the process of applying to college they are nervous, confused, and do not know what they want to do with the rest of their lives which is completely acceptable. This was true for me as well, and I hope to explain my college process and advice that I have for students.
My college process first began when I received letters sophomore year from many colleges and I was completely confused. I had just gotten comfortable at Xavier and now I felt I was being kicked out. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life so I continued to keep up my grades and study. Junior year came by and I began studying for the SAT. Many of my friends were taking SAT classes, but I wasn’t crazy about classes and was fortunate enough to get a tutor. I had worked with her for several months, and did okay on the SAT, but was not satisfied with my results. I was receiving a lot of school work and the tutor was giving me all of my work at one shot, so I told her to spread out the work, and I took the SAT in June and did great and achieved what I wanted. I still was confused though because I did not know my major, so I had visited some schools popular with Xavier guys. I also began looking at what I was good at and bad at. I hated English and anything with writing and was good at math and chemistry, so I began looking at majors that included those two and I found many medical professions. Realistically though, I did not want to  spend 8-10 more years in school after high school, so I found a major that would suite me which was Pharmacy. 

I looked at many schools throughout the summer, but also looked at schools with other medical professions to keep my options open. In addition, I worked at a Pharmacy and liked it so I applied to many Pharmacy schools that had science programs. Senior year came and I had taken the summer program which has helped me with common applications. I also looked at all of the programs and school and supplements that they required. I wrote them fast, and began requesting my transcripts in order of what was due earliest. I also sent my SAT scores, but some problems had occurred as sometimes it did not go through. I got into my top college choice and have gotten into all of my schools so far with scholarship money.
Some advice I would give is if you do not know what you want to do with yourself, focus on SAT scores mostly for junior year and in general because it gives you a lot of options for schools. Second realize what your good at and what you want to be doing your whole life. Third, look at schools over summer if possible as it greatly helps out. For instance I spent two days in Massachusetts and saw four colleges and had a nice time in Boston as I visited Fenway Park. Mr. Korfmacher's summer course also helped out greatly as I complete work and essays that I would have procrastinated on. 

 Another piece of advice is apply to schools where you feel comfortable. If you like being away and independent go to a far school, and if not stay nearby. Submit all of your SAT scores to the colleges at once and do it early because sometimes problems occur and it’s better to submit them extra early. 

 Finally, you do not need to apply to the top Ivy league schools...apply to a place where you can get a good education, can challenge yourself, will enjoy yourself, and hopefully get some money for it! Best of luck to everyone!

 Mr. Joseph D. Korfmacher

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