Seniors have been working for months trying to find the college that they will be calling home for the next four years.

Seniors such as Hannah Bergh and Chandler Sampson have already made dedications to colleges.

“I decided that I am attending The University of Massachusetts [Lowell],” Sampson said. He was offered a scholarship to play Men’s Division I Lacrosse for the university.

“I found out about my scholarship while I was on campus for my visit,” Sampson said. “They flew me out over MEA and the coach made the offer and told me about the scholarship.”

Colleges in Minnesota do not offer Division I Men’s Lacrosse as a sport, so Sampson had his mind set on going out of state. This allowed him to choose from a variety of schools and states.

“Other schools had [also] been offering me scholarships at the time,” Sampson said, “[the scholarship to U of Massachusetts.] made it a lot easier to pick a school.”
Sampson was also considering Dartmouth, Brown, Navy, Army, Marquette and Notre Dame to study finance.

Senior Hannah Bergh has also decided on a college to further her studies.

“I have decided on University of North Dakota (UND),” Bergh said.

Bergh will be attending UND with a scholarship to play softball on the women’s division I team.

“[The school is] a good size and a good distance from home,” Bergh said. She is interested in studying physical therapy, education and health and nutrition.

Other seniors have been filling out applications to colleges all over the United States. Last year, Orono applications went out to 41 of 50 states, including 4 international universities.

The college decision process can be hard and stressful. Many seniors fill out more than three or four applications.

Senior Thomas Mandel has filled out seven applications in search for the right one for him.

“They have to have a large body of water in a relatively close proximity and they have to have connections to businesses within Minnesota for summer internships as this is inevitably where I’d like to live,” Mandel said.

His criteria was very specific. He is looking to study biomedical engineering out of state while maintaining connections in Minnesota.

Some of the juniors have even started the college search.

“I’ve been thinking about colleges pretty much my entire life. I don’t exactly know why, but I’ve always been super excited for that part of my life,” junior MacKenzie Korsi said.
She started search for colleges during her sophomore year and has toured colleges as far away as Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

She, like many others, is looking to go out of state.

As more scholarships come in with acceptance letters and more applications are sent out through the year, seniors’ excitement and anxiety grow for decision day when they find out where they will next call home.