‘Tis the season to apply to college! As a recent addition to the Bottom Line staff in Worcester, MA, I cannot believe how quickly time has gone by. I joined the Worcester office in late October, when only a few students from the Class of 2014 had applied to college; but last week, we hit an exciting milestone––our 100th student applied to college this year! Since it was an exciting moment for me as a new counselor, our office as a whole, and, of course, our student, I wanted to take a moment to share this student’s insights about his college application process.
Name: Carlos Rivera
High School: Worcester Technical High School
Number of college applications submitted: Eight
What is your first choice and why? My first choice is Harvard because it is an Ivy League school. It is not a school that just anyone can get into; you have to have good grades and be a really good student.
How has your counselor helped with the application process? She has helped me with writing my college essays and editing them. She has also helped me get my Common Application together and finished and motivated me to do things on time instead of leaving things for the day before they’re due.
Why is a college education important to you? A college education is important to me because I want to become a veterinarian, and without college, there’s no way you can become one.
What does it mean to you and your family to be the first to go to college? It shows that if you work hard in school and are academically successful, college is within reach. I am passionate about taking care of animals and my dream is to become a veterinarian. Specifically, I want to be a vet that serves pet owners from low-income backgrounds and helps them take care of their pets.
What is the most challenging part of application process? Getting all my stuff organized and doing one thing at a time. Having so many things to do, it is hard to focus on doing just one thing at a time. You can get distracted and stressed by the deadlines and amount of stuff you have to do.
What is one thing you learned from the application process? The earlier you get your work done, the easier it will be, because you don’t want to do the things for your application the day before the application is due. As a whole, it’s really complicated and time consuming.
What do you plan to do this winter and spring to help make sure you are ready for college next fall? I plan to work at Tufts at Tech Veterinary Clinic, and I might do an internship or be a volunteer at a zoo. I want to get all of my college shopping done for my dorm room, too.
What are you most excited about for college? Being independent. I want to create my own world outside of my parents’ house. I am looking forward to facing the world all by myself.
Advice for students interested in Bottom Line: Definitely join Bottom Line! Without it, I never would have been able to apply to college. That’s a fact. Even though I struggled to get my essays and assignments required to apply to college done, Bottom Line was always there.
– Emily Shuki, Bottom Line – Worcester Access Counselor
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