It happens every fall. High school seniors all around the country are put under enormous stress from the college application process. Suddenly, students must balance their workload and activities (an already difficult task) with college visits, college essays, and applications.

After months of research and planning, students formulate a list of schools which they want to attend, with one particular college at the top. This top school is not just any university; it’s the school that students will stop at nothing to attend. The students worked tirelessly during their preceding high school years, particularly their junior year, because they knew they wanted to go to a top college, they just weren’t sure which one. At the beginning of senior year, as more and more students have an ideal target of where they want to go, they commence the most difficult time in their lives as they write college essays, complete the arduous course load required in senior classes, and continue their activities, which are now made more time-consuming by their new leadership roles. Still, Delbarton students find a way to cope with all of this stress, which they must do if they want to attend their dream school.

With that said, here are the results of the recent poll created by the Courier, asking students for their top college choice and whether or not they applied there early. Of the approximately 130 students in the grade, the Courier recorded 65 responses. Thus, these results consider only half of the grade; we presume the rest of the class was too busy with their applications to respond to the survey. The number of students next to each university name indicates how many students view the school as their top choice. The number also represents how many students applied there early, unless otherwise stated.

Boston College – 2

Boston University – 1

Brown University – 1

Bucknell – 1

Carnegie Mellon – 1

Cornell – 1

Duke – 4

Franklin and Marshall – 1

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering – 1 (none applied early)

Georgetown – 1

Georgia Tech – 1

Gettysburg – 1 (none applied early)

Middlebury College – 1

MIT – 1

North Carolina A&T – 1

Northwestern – 2

Notre Dame –10 (8 applied early)

NYU – 1

Princeton – 4

Rutgers – 1

Sacred  Heart – 1

Stanford – 3

Tufts – 1

UC Berkeley – 1 (none applied early)

UNC – 1

University of Colorado Boulder – 1

University of Greenland – 1 (none applied early)

University of Pennsylvania – 12 * (this number represents the entire grade)

University of St. Andrews – 1

University of Tampa – 1

Ursinus College– 1

University of Virginia – 1

Vanderbilt – 2

Villanova – 3

Villanova School of Business – 1

Wake Forest – 1

Yale – 2

Interestingly, of only half of the grade, eight students indicated that they applied to Notre Dame early. Conversely, only one student indicated they he applied to Georgetown early, a school that is usually a recipient of many early applications from Delbarton. This year also saw a huge amount of applicants to UPenn, something uncommon before this year. Otherwise, this year was relatively standard with regards to where students applied early. 

Good luck to all the seniors in their post-Delbarton pursuits.  Where ever you attend college, you will make significant contributions.