College commitment sweeps Liberty

Elilse Sickinger, Managing Editor

Almost every upperclassman is familiar with the involuntary chills that run down your spine at the thought of college. It seems that every year tuition prices go up, and acceptance rates go down. However, one thing that many students, including Patriots, don’t know about college acceptance is that it can be more friendly than it first seems. When it feels like essays and applications will be the end of the world as we know it, what is it that could possibly make college more appealing? The answer: commitment. It’s more simple than most people think.
When asked what makes their college commitments special, many seniors have no hesitation when describing what caused their choice.
“They have a really specific program that I want to do, and nowhere else has it,” senior and Grand Canyon University commit Julie Jordan said. “It’s a mix of advertising and graphic design.”
Senior Seth Ryberg also went into detail about his decision to commit to a university for their baseball program.
“I fell in love with Point Loma Nazarene right away,” Ryberg said. “When I met the baseball coaches, they were young and approachable, and the players were as well. They were welcoming.”
Both Jordan and Ryberg agree that college is something you shouldn’t settle for. Even though students often worry about early admittance or scholarships, if a school is good fit for someone, then it will likely be apparent.
“As an athlete, especially going on multiple visits, you’ll know,” Ryberg said. “I didn’t believe in the feeling of a perfect fit, but I walked onto the campus and just knew. I didn’t believe in the feeling until it happened.”
The important thing for many students to remember is that the college application process is much broader than people think. There are hundreds of scholarship programs and counseling opportunities out there to ensure that people attend schools best suited to their needs or interests. Within the midst of application deadlines, student stress levels are certainly on the rise. While it can be easy to subject oneself to harsh criticism and obsess over the perfect school, the reality is that college can be realistic and reasonable. Julie Jordan sums it up best:
“I was really nervous that I wouldn’t get in while submitting my application,” Jordan said. “But the reality is, you’ll get in somewhere—there’s a perfect school out there for everyone.”