In the upcoming months, seniors in the class of 2017 will experience a rollercoaster of emotions. As the first college acceptances decisions have come out, seniors are beginning to envision the next four years, and a life after Williston, as a reality, not just a dream.

Many of the seniors have had different college search processes. Some have been more complex and others are short and clear cut.

Senior Caroline Musicant went into the entire process very prepared.

Musicant has been accepted to Tulane University, in New Orleans, Louisiana. For her, the college process began with creating a checklist of her must-haves in a college that narrowed down the search. After spending a spring break touring seven schools, the only one that completely fit her checklist was Tulane. She fell in the love with the school and culture of New Orleans, and it just happened that it was her mom’s alma mater.

During the summer, she spent endless hours crafting a perfect college essay, along with a supplement that would express her love for the school. She submitted in October and then it was just a waiting game until the decision came out.

Musicant said she really enjoyed the atmosphere at the Louisiana college.

“Other than the climate, I love the spirit that everyone has,” she said. “New Orleans is such a vibrant place and there’s constantly something to do for anyone with any kind of interest.” She is looking forwards to the freshman program, known as Tides, where she will be immersed in the culture of New Orleans.

Molly Zawacki has been accepted to University of Pennsylvania .

Zawacki felt comfortable on the Philadelphia campus.

“It was a school that I could see myself at and knew I would be happy going to.”

Since her old brother goes there, she is familiar with the school, but still considered other schools. She applied early decision to UPenn, so her process, from application to acceptance letter, was short.

“Early decision was probably one of the best decisions that I made, since I am done with it now.” She is excited to explore the city of Philadelphia with her free time and more flexible schedule.

Next fall, Gabriella Mercier will be at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. During her junior year, she started communicating with several different college diving coaches. Her summer consisted of touring schools and meeting interested coaches

In the fall, she narrowed down her choices to Williams, Wellesley, Dartmouth, and Tufts. In the end, she felt Williams was the perfect fit for her because of the academics, the size of the school, the diving coach, and its rigorous swimming and diving program. In November, she committed to the Williams diving team.

Mercier looks forward to new academic challenges in areas that interest her, as well as the challenges she will face in the pool.

“I am excited to have the chance to be a part of Williams’ tutorial program where two students are paired with a professor for a semester-long course of debating and critiquing. However, I am mostly looking forward to a new adventure,” she said.

Alexis Ryan has been accepted to Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Ms. Talbot started helping Alexis look for colleges at the beginning of sophomore year. She began talking to coaches and touring all schools across New England and New York.  Junior year, she was deciding which division she would enjoy playing for; she decided that division two would be a better fit for the balance between athletics and a rigorous academic program. Senior year, she narrowed her search to Trinity, Bowdoin, Connecticut College, and Middlebury, and did overnights at all four, meeting coaches, players, and classes.

Ryan was impressed by the community at the small Vermont school.

“I liked how involved the professors were with the students and the class size. The hockey team was close knit and I connected with the coach,” said Ryan. She is excited to be academically and athletically challenged. She will also be competing in Track and Field at Middlebury.

Sebi Herrera will attend Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He decided to go to Bucknell after visiting over a dozen different colleges. He was looking for a small liberal arts college. The tour he received at Bucknell made him enjoy the campus and the other aspects of the school. After visiting, he knew he wanted to apply early decision.

Herrera is excited to get to know new people.

“After four years of Williston, I believes it is a time for a change and I believe that Bucknell is my next adventure,” Herrera, who is excited to play club sports and watch division one basketball, said.

Mark Wei has been accepted to NYU Tisch in New York City. He decided early on that he was going to apply to Tisch early decision. He was attracted to Tisch because it has one of the most competitive photography programs in the world. Wei likes competition, and most importantly, he loves New York City. For him, the college process was stressful; he spent almost six hours every day in the photo lab on top of the heavy course load.

“I am excited about being in the city and having the ability to experiment with all kinds of photography,” Wei said.

David Fitch has been accepted to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. His college process was pretty easy, he said. He met the Kenyon coach at a swim meet and planned his visit to go soon after. Swimming played a major part in his process.

“I wanted a team with previous success, that I could easily connect,” Fitch said. “I wanted to be able to positively impact the team without being the most valuable swimmer as a freshman.”

Fitch is excited to compete at the collegiate level and reconnect with the people he met at swimming events.

“I am looking forward to be challenged with the practice schedule and a new team to get used to,” said Fitch.