num_pages: 180
description: Introduction from the AuthorIn my trendy “first-day-of-senior-year outfit,” I pushed through my high school’s heavy red doors with my head held high. Along the way, I walked past clueless freshmen who couldn’t find their way around the A and B wings and stopped to give hugs to my summer-tanned friends that I hadn’t seen since June. After arriving to my first period class a few minutes late, I quietly slipped through the back door to my AP American Government class and slithered into a seat near the windows. Instead of listening to my teacher’s comments on the rigors of his class, I stared outside the window and daydreamed about lying upon a beach towel and listening to the ocean waves crash.That was until a tall stack of pamphlets and college brochures were dropped in front of me like a ton of bricks, crushing my sandcastle and tanning oil daydreams. Reality rudely socked me in the stomach as the college advisor stood in front of the room and announced that she was visiting all senior classrooms that morning. She notified us that after June, we would never walk through the heavy red doors again—that we would (gasp!) be in college. Suddenly, my worry-free mind was filled with FAFSA and meal plan fears. I did not decide to go to Rutgers until a day before the deadline to accept or decline my acceptance into the University. I completely, 100 percent understand the stress you, as a high school student, are experiencing right now. There are thousands of universities and colleges in America, and picking out the perfect one for you may feel like an impossible task.Applying to Rutgers was completely on a whim because I was primarily only applying to universities within my home state of New York. Two months later, I had my mind set on another university, until I received an immense amount of mail from Rutgers including an official letter of acceptance complete with a gold star (and traumatizing elementary school memories can tell you how much this gold star meant to me). The other college I had my heart set on did not show the same enthusiasm as Rutgers seemed to show. Everyday I came home from high school to find my mailbox flooded with pamphlets of smiling students in Rutgers sweatshirts on big red Rutgers accordion buses. It was as if Rutgers was choosing me to attend their college, instead of me choosing it.Unlike my first day of my senior year in high school, I no longer have an advisor making sure I am paying attention in class. Deans never breathe down your back making sure you are fulfilling your college requirements, and students don’t receive wake-up calls to tell them that their bus is outside waiting for them to board. Smaller universities shelter students, while Rutgers University embraces a student’s independence and encourages them to find their own wings to fly instead of just giving them a plane ticket.Taryn Sauthoff, AuthorRutgers New Brunswick
language: English
title: Rutgers University: Off the Record - College Prowler
titlecomplete: Rutgers University: Off the Record - College Prowler
publisher: College Prowler