College Applications: Challenges and Advice from the Senior Class

The 2022-2023 fall semester is almost over, and many students are excited for the next half of the year. Seniors especially are on the fence about graduation slowly creeping up on them. However, we have been working hard to plan out our next steps after leaveing Eagle. Many of us are choosing to go to college, which means going through the sometimes very challenging college application process. From picking colleges, to writing essays, to completing FAFSA, most of the work has already been completed, and now it is time for us to sit back and wait for the results.

For those going to college, many universities have already announced admission to some students. As more and more colleges give out admission results, Ivan Jackson, our amazing college counselor and proud alumni of Eagle Bronx, has been very supportive and helpful to our students. In his own words he believes, “helping the kids this year was rewarding.” Mr. Jackson goes on to explain some of the accomplishments of the senior class this year, “I’m proud because before even the second half of the year we accomplished about $250,000 worth of scholarships. This shows a lot about the 2023 class of Eagle and they will go on to do many amazing things!” Mr. Jackson worked tirelessly with seniors to make sure they understood the college application process and had the best options available to them. Mr. Jackson said, “it was completely a student lead post secondary process. The students this year could teach the next upcoming class and it’ll be fine because they know exactly what to do and when to do it.” I decided to sit down with members of the senior class to find out how the college application process was for them, and what schools they have already gotten accepted into. 

Charles Solarzano, Varsity Basketball

Accepted into: Mary Balwin University in Virginia

Dream College: University of Connecticut

Challenges of College Applications:  “procrastination and stress”

Elijah Carter, Senior Scholar

Accepted into: Twelve colleges, including John Jay CUNY and Western Connecticut State University

Dream College: John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NYC

Advice: “Don’t stall. Do everything as soon as you can.”

Harry Samo, Varsity Basketball

Accepted into: Sixteen colleges, including Mercy College and Hartwick College

Dream College: SUNY Brockton

Challenges of College Applications: “None. It was easy, ’cause Ivan set me up to do it. I just executed the plan and everything worked well.”

Advice: “Don’t stress yourself over the process.”

Bevon McKoy, Eagle Ambassador 

Accepted into: Six colleges, including Saint Bonaventure University and Lehman College

Dream College: Binghampton University

Challenges of College Applications: “Expressing myself in my college essay, and capturing who I am as a person.”

Pameshwar Seeram, Varsity Wrestling

Accepted into: Nine colleges, including Hunter College, University at Buffalo and Hult International Business School

Dream College: Columbia University

Advice: “Explore all your options. Don’t believe that you are limited, when we have all these amazing resources here at Eagle.”