Making the college decision

Seniors Cindy Shen (UCLA) and Dorothy Akpowva (NYU) share about the college decision process
Deciding where to study after high school is a monumental milestone worth celebrating. On Wednesday, May 1, Rabun Gap seniors will recognize their college of choice on College Decision Day.

The Class of 2019 has a lot to celebrate. This year’s senior class earned acceptances to hundreds of prestigious colleges and universities in the United States and around the world.

Two seniors — Dorothy Akpovwa and Cindy Shen — applied to some of the nation’s top colleges and universities. Now at the end of their college search, they offer some insight into the process.

Dorothy will head to New York University this fall to study computer science. She’s been accepted into NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering and looks forward to pursuing a career in cybersecurity after college.

“In a nutshell, I chose NYU because the opportunities in New York are unmatched and I knew that if I went to any other school, I probably won’t get the same opportunities as I would get at NYU,” Dorothy said. “NYU’s location makes it easy to secure job opportunities which is a very important factor for me.

Before making her final decision, Dorothy applied to nine colleges and universities, including NYU, University of Georgia, Emory University, Georgia Tech, Purdue University, Penn State University, University of Texas at Austin, Drexel University and Georgia State University.  For Dorothy, finding a school in a well-known city with plenty of internship opportunities and chances to study abroad was important in her search.

“If I could give advice to a younger person I would say trust the process,” Dorothy said. “Just believe that all the work and effort you have been putting in since freshman year will surely show when it is your time to apply to colleges. I believe that God will always reward your efforts. If you work hard, you will definitely see the results.”

Dorothy said she relied on remembering a Bible verse that she saw on her phone everyday throughout the college application process — while she was taking the SAT and hearing back from colleges.

“Everyday, I saw this verse on my phone and said to myself that even if it’s hard now, all the hard work will pay off later. And I am glad to say that it certainly did,” she said.

During her time at Rabun Gap, Dorothy has been a part of the choir, community service, French Club and yearbook, and has participated in Model UN and performances in the Rearden Theater and Blackbox. She is currently secretary of the Global Awareness Panel and is originally from Nigeria.

Cindy Shen, a native of Shanghai, China, will be pursuing her dreams at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) next year. Cindy submitted 23 college applications to schools including UCLA, UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Tufts University and Cornell University. The location of UCLA and the opportunity to launch her career led Cindy to UCLA.

“I had visited UCLA, and I really like the campus and the vibe of it; I think I will be happy there,” she said. “Then I did research on how UCLA may support my academics. First of all, UCLA is strong in its biology and chemistry majors, which will be helpful to me since I am seeking the field of biopharmaceutics. Moreover, UCLA has its own hospital, which means there will be a lot of research opportunities available. Los Angeles is also a huge city, so it will be relatively easy to find internships. It is also an hour drive from San Diego, where more than 40 biopharmaceutics companies are located.”

Her number one tip for college applicants? Apply early.

“If a college offers early action, apply early; if a college has rolling admission, apply early. Applying early means that you would know the result early in most cases. Why is knowing the result early so important? Because if you get accepted, you will not feel as stressed since you know there is a school that you can go to,” Cindy said.

At UCLA, Cindy plans to major in biochemistry and would like to seek a minor or double major in nutrition. She would like to pursue a career in biopharmaceutics because she’s interested both in fitness and cosmetics.

“As a student who wants to go into the STEM field, I focus on the ranking of the majors, research opportunities, as well as location,” Cindy said about her college search.

Cindy has been a student at Rabun Gap since seventh grade and is excited to be a part of a new environment in college. She’s been very involved in student leadership as a prefect, vice-chair of Honor Council, and Head Gap Guide. She’s also involved in dance, chorus, orchestra, breakdance, PEACE Team, and Inclusion Initiative, in addition to being a member of the varsity swimming, cross country, and track teams during her Rabun Gap career.

The College Counseling Office works hard to help each student at Rabun Gap choose their best-fit college by running seminars, one-on-one guidance sessions, and college planning workshops. Planning for college starts in the ninth grade. Ms. Cheryl Barber and Ms. Jennifer Jones work daily with students on researching colleges, financial aid, study abroad programs, and more.  One-hundred percent of students at Rabun Gap are accepted to college.

“Our goal is to guide the student towards applying to a variety of colleges that meet academic, financial and social needs,” said Ms. Barber.  “The student who follows this advice has many options to choose from in planning their educational path. Options, in the college process, are a result of wise planning and research. We are thrilled with the dilemma of ‘making the decision.’”

For Dorothy and Cindy, the College Counseling Office provided great support in their college search.

“The college application is a long and hard process, which requires consistent effort,” Cindy said. “College counseling helped me a lot with school choices and kept me on top of everything.”

“The College Counseling office did a great job of making us start this process early and also coming up with a very realistic college list,” Dorothy said.
 
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Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School is a private, coeducational day and boarding school for grades Pre-K through 12. Centrally located between Atlanta, GA, Greenville, SC, and Asheville, NC, we prepare young people for college, career, and a lifetime of leadership and service.