National Decision Day

                    My Road to Success via a “World Class Education”

By, Shamonique Atwater

The end of the school year is approaching, Senioritis has totally kicked in, and now it’s grind time to begin our transitioning to college or life after graduation. National College Decision Day has come and now I know where most of my peers are attending to further their education. This day was very exciting yet, very exhausting. For me, I wasn’t really looking forward to this day because I was not sure at all of what college I wanted to go to, wasn’t even close to it.

During my Junior year I’ve visited many campuses (Kean University, Caldwell University, Fairleigh Dickinson University. and more) to weigh my options of the type of environment I would be spending the next four years or so of my life at. I’ve been impressed by many campuses and some weren’t really eye catching. Somehow I was more so interested in the food variety than the dorm rooms at some point of time, but then I had to get a reality check of what i should actually be considering attending a college.

I’ve applied to at least 10+ schools, intended to study Psychology or Criminal Justice, (Bloomfield College, Lincoln University, Caldwell University, University of Bridgeport, Rider University, Ramapo University, Kean University, and more) and I’ve been accepted to each and every one of them with Merit and/or Presidential Scholarships of $20,000 or more. Receiving all this offers really messed my head up because I was unsure of how to weigh my options wisely. Speaking with some of my teachers, they gave me suggestions on certain schools and their Psychology and Criminal Justice programs about how good they were and what they think I’d like.

As the day came closer and closer, I’ve become slightly more decisive on where I wanted to go. I just knew I didn’t want to go so far away from home, I’d want to be familiar with the campus, an outstanding program for my study, and a reasonable financial aid reward coming from the school of my choice. It all balled down to Lincoln, FDU, and Kean University. Each of those schools have given me great interest in studying there for all different reasons.

Making my final decision was really hard for me because I received two full scholarships to other schools. But they weren't schools I saw myself attending. I believe this decision will upset my parents because they expected me to go to a “better” school or maybe “further” away from home or to one of the two schools that gave me full scholarships. My final choice has made me happy and excited and I cannot wait to start my new life on my own, pursuing the start of my dreams and eating as many Auntie Anne’s Pretzels at Kean University starting the Fall of 2018.

High school was a blast. I’m sad it is soon to be over, but now it’s time to move on and grow to start this new transition in all our lives. We’re growing older, and soon to be completely on our own as adults. 

Congratulations Class of 2018 for your acceptances and you plans for success after high school. I wish you all the best. Four years from now, we'll all be college graduates and ready for the real world!