By Kevin Sears
As we move through the middle of college application seasons, seniors will be deciding what they want to do after high school. Go to a four years? Community? Vocational? What do our Baron seniors have in mind?
All photos by Tyler Josephson.
“I’m going to apply to go to community college, specifically Irvine Valley College (IVC). I would like to transfer to University of California Irvine after transferring from IVC. I’m actually pretty excited because I feel like I can explore a lot of different opportunities in community college and different career paths because I’m not specifically set on one yet. And I feel like Community College is a great place to meet new people and find an interest that I’m really set on,” Kelly Tran said.
“[While in high school] I feel like I could have lowered my standards for myself academically throughout my three previous years because the standards to go to community college are not super excessively high, so I feel like I could have reduced my time spent on academics and [spent] more time with friends and doing hobbies, hobbies that I personally enjoy myself.”
“I’m hoping my goal is to get into a four-year immediately, [such as] UCI (University of California, Irvine), UCSD (University of California, San Diego) and I think USC (University of Southern California), or UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) as well. I’m honestly excited. But also, there’s a lot of fear of the unknown, and obviously, because, you know, applying all the details of it, there’s so much to consider,” David Nguyen said.
“I think [college] was never really on my mind. People would talk about it like ‘oh, what’s your dream school?’ But you know, I never thought much of it. And then boom, it’s in your head. And you know, I ended up making a lot of those decisions and choices of where I wanted to go, and I started research pretty late, but I think it’s better late than never. I think if I could go back in time, I would try to just research earlier on and get more information. So during my senior year, I wouldn’t have to worry as much, especially with my applications for personal stuff like clubs.”
“I would prefer to commute and stay at home. Dorming offers a cool experience, but that also adds on to another layer of new obstacles I have to face.”
“I really want to meet new people and expand my reach. Networking is a big part of college. But I’m also a little bit afraid because with everyone going into separate paths, it takes less time if you prioritize that there’s nothing really to be scared of.”
“Rely on your friends to help you because it’s a lot, you know,” Nguyen said.
“After high school, I’m planning to go to a four-year college. [College is] very daunting. [The] college applications and stuff like that are scary, but I guess it’s a new thing that I have to face anyways. [College is daunting because] I will be leaving my friends, I [will] have to take harder classes, and I [will] get less time to do [the] things I like to do,” Catherine Mixab said.
“I guess I’m looking forward to learning new things and maybe experiencing new things that a college campus has to offer. I don’t know if I’m dorming, but I heard if you dorm for a little bit, you can make better connections with people.”
“I want to tell my younger self that you know it’s not that scary. It’s gonna happen anyway. And try your best and enjoy your high school experience. It’ll turn out great anyway. These four years, they fly really, really fast. I can’t believe I’m a senior,” Mixab said.
“I plan on applying to Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, and UCI or UCR (University of California, Riverside). [To be] in the sports medicine field being like a physical therapist or something like that. Maybe working in a clinic of some sort,” Aidan Truong said.
“My dream school isn’t on that list, but I guess if I can get into USC, it will be expensive. [I think about] affordability and just the level of education at that campus and whether I enjoy the community there or not.”
“I plan on attending a four-year university to pursue a career in some STEM field. That’s what my mission is right now. My top choices are like UC Berkeley and Stanford. And then I’m just going to be applying to all the UCs and all the Cal States and see what happens,” Dylan Nguyen said.
“Right now I feel pretty scared because the college admissions process is pretty gnarly, because it’s like, reading all the essays and then seeing the results from people you know, and knowing just how much of a chance it is [to get in]. How luck-based it is. That’s pretty scary. I think that the system definitely needs to be revamped. Like just the whole process of like, students just being judged off of, paper, a list, and numbers. I think, while it is unfeasible with the number of applicants, I really think the best way to go about college admissions from a college standpoint is actually interviewing all the applicants and learning about them as people instead of just learning about them from paper.”
“As a senior, I’d probably just say you’re young [so] enjoy the earlier years while you can because it all goes by. It sounds so cliche, but it all goes by so fast that you should savor the moment,” Nguyen said.
