Every spring, thousands of high school students await acceptance letters from the colleges and universities of their choice. Among these students are many of Eleanor Roosevelt High School’s seniors who are less than one hundred days away from graduating.

As the pressure is on to choose where they will attend, the students must evaluate what they are really looking for in a college.

“I want snow,” exclaimed ERHS Senior, Kate Monroe as she explained one of her criteria for choosing a college.

Monroe applied early decision to Middlebury College in Vermont. The school’s location is sure to bring her snow. However, to the notion that it already snows in Maryland, she responded, “That’s so boring.”

Students Amina Iro and Mariam Coker agreed with Monroe. Iro described her experience being an intern at UMD as “walk[ing] into freshman year all over again” as she sees people who graduated in past years. This feeling would explain UMD’s reputation as “Roosevelt 2.0” among ERHS students.

“That’s the main reason…why I did not apply,” explained Coker.

One student, however, liked the idea of attending the University of Maryland. “I love their campus and it’s close to home.” said Ashley Vasquez, later mentioning their good football program. Vasquez was the only interviewee to mention UMD in her top three college choices. There were a large number of college choices that were out of state.
Iro and Coker were both attracted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for their poetry program called “First Wave”. Iro passionately described how she was “lured in” by this “poetry as activism scholarship.”

Vasquez also applied to Penn State University and Saint John’s University in New York. “Well I’m big on religion,” she said, explaining why St. Johns University, a catholic school, was a good fit for her. She went on to mention that she looks for schools that are “big on sports,” which is why Penn State was also among her top three.
Monroe also considered going to Bowdoin College in Maine or Brown University in Rhode Island; colleges that offer good financial aid and fun extracurricular activities.

Overall, the many of the seniors found that they want to find a college that had the subject they wanted to major in and a good campus life. Senior Molly Septus described her desired school very simply; a place she is “comfortable with.” When choosing a college, not every ERHS senior wants to stay close to home.