The Transitioning Senior

February 10, 2012

The Transitioning Senior

“Enthusiastically petrified.” Those are the words of a high school senior anticipating her transition to college. My interviewee, Melissa Aversa, both ardently awaits college and fears its implications. Let me first elaborate on her excitements of college.

Melissa excitedly awaits independence. Unlike high school, she will choose her own academic schedule and balance her academics and social life. Admittedly, she recognizes this has its challenges. But she eagerly wants to demonstrate it is possible to excel academically, maintain a social life, and still enjoy a normal sleeping routine!

Melissa cannot wait to escape from high school drama. She attended the smallest public high school in New Jersey, South Hunterdon. As she says, “Boy there is a lot of drama!” She has been classmates with most of the students since first grade, a span of twelve years. With less than one hundred students in her senior class, she is excited by the opportunity to form new college friendships!

(South Hunterdon High School-http://www.google.com/imgres?q=south+hunterdon+high+school&hl=en&)

Most admirably, Melissa embraces the academic challenge of college. Being an honors student in high school, she wants a rigorous schedule in college. As she says, “It will only help me when it comes to the real world.” This alludes to a second reason Melissa is excited about college academics: she recognizes the benefit and near necessity of a college degree for entering today’s tumultuous labor market.                         

                                                                  (Melissa Aversa)

On a pessimistic note: Melissa is not only excited about college but also weighed down by some current fears. She has an older sister, Katie, who graduated Georgetown University with significant debt. Affordability is a major concern of Melissa’s. Though I was the interviewer, Melissa posed a question to me. “What schools did you apply to, and why did you choose Rutgers?” I was forthright with my answer. I explained I was accepted to some top forty ranked schools, but that their price tags deterred me from going. Instead, Rutgers was a great appeal. I was accepted to their Honors Program with an academic merit scholarship, it is well known for academics, and has a fun student body. Melissa was intrigued. Acknowledging she just does not “know how much money is actually worth [undergraduate school].”

Meanwhile this revelation leads to Melissa’s second fear:  finding her ideal college. Melissa wants “to go to school in the Boston area because it’s so beautiful.” But she has hesitations of being away from home, even if it means attending her dream school, Boston University. Like many of her peers, Melissa embraces the idea of college independence, but is concerned by the prospect of living far from home.

                                           

                                (Boston University- http://www.google.com/imgres?q=boston+university&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=)

Melissa’s biggest fear is being unsuccessful. She is an ‘A’ student, who is active in high school. She is a two sport varsity athlete, and has spent two years in drama club. What worries Melissa is whether this success will transition to college. This is something that many high school seniors worry about. Yet as I explained to Melissa, “many of the same things needed to be successful in high school are needed for college.” You still need to work hard, be focused and attend class.

Instead, Melissa and all high school seniors should enjoy the last year of high school, and focus on why they have excitedly awaited college for eighteen years.

To reflect how this interview experience influences orientation programming, it is important to be insightful to the needs of incoming Rutgers students. For instance, a beneficial ice breaking game might be asking students to share their excitements and fears of college life at Rutgers. In this way, as Courtney and Brian emphasize, this helps students step out of their comfort zone, while achieving the ultimate goal of student orientation: making students comfortable with their transition to college. Conducting an interview with Melissa and seeing how relieved she was after talking about her fears and excitement of college, makes me recognize how beneficial it would be to utilize this type of approach in a small group setting.

Posted by Justin Harnett at 3pm