Mark - Union College - Class of 2013

Many students do not apply to their local colleges, but my choice of Union College was positively influenced by the fact that I live nearby. Around Schenectady, everyone thinks highly of the school.

My strength in science helped my applications to liberal arts colleges

I think a few factors made my application stand out to the liberal arts colleges on my list. I am going into physics, a field that has few students at most of the liberal arts schools I applied to. I mentioned in my applications that I was not taking AP classes for most of my AP exams. I studied the material on my own and still did well on the tests. I also scored very highly on the Physics SAT Subject Test and the New York State Regents science exams.

Cost is the deciding factor

After five rejections and a waitlist, I found myself deciding between Siena, Union, and University of Rochester. Every other school that accepted me would have forced me to take out far too much in loans. Because I considered Siena a safety school, I eliminated it and looked next at Union and Rochester. I considered the two schools about equal in reputation and academic opportunity, so financial concerns were most influential. Although Rochester gave me more financial aid than Union, I would have had to live on campus and pay more in loans. Because my parents live about four blocks from Union's campus, I had the option of living at home. So I chose Union. Now I will pay about $2,500 for my first year, as opposed to $6,000 at Rochester.

My ups and downs

Filling out financial aid paperwork was most challenging for me. Since schools gather this information before making their decisions, I had to apply for financial aid at every college I applied to, even those that rejected me. It was hard using the FAFSA with so many schools. In addition, a few schools misplaced or incorrectly documented my financial aid documents, resulting in many calls to their financial aid offices.

The most positive part of the admissions process was finding schools to apply to. Being accepted to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or University of Rochester was my highest goal when I started out. But as I went on I added more prestigious schools, even Harvard, MIT, and Yale. Even with rejections, applying to schools like Harvard caused me to elevate my goals and think about what I could do in a different way.

What I learned

I learned that a college applicant should apply only to schools that he or she wants to go to. The person should be comfortable with the idea of going to a "safe school" because that's where he or she might well attend. Also, I learned that it's foolish to refrain from applying to a school simply because "it's too good for me." Even if you get rejected, it's still better than not applying. For example, even though I did not get accepted at Harvard, I don't regret my application. The rejection letter allowed me to say to myself, "Okay, now I have something to shoot for when I apply to graduate schools."

The money factor

I acquired a substantial scholarship from Union College, a smaller grant from my state, a Pell Grant, and a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. I also qualified for the Federal Work-Study Program. The rest will be paid for with a Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan. I will not be living on campus my first year so I will have no housing costs.