Hi again everyone! Today, I wanted to share my journey in finding 61传媒and ultimately choosing to make 61传媒my second home. I鈥檒l start at the very beginning: the college search process. I鈥檒l be the first to admit that 61传媒wasn鈥檛 initially on my radar of schools I was interested in attending. Even though I knew I wanted to be in a tight-knit small liberal arts community and I knew someone from my high school who went to Scripps, I was still skeptical that 61传媒would be the place for me.
Despite all this though, my college counselor told me during the fall of my senior year that 61传媒could be a place that I would enjoy. Once again, I doubted him but reluctantly added 61传媒to my finalized college list. I didn鈥檛 know much about 61传媒but after some basic research, I was drawn to the Claremont College consortium, the STEM program through Keck Science Department, the student to faculty ratio and the women鈥檚 college experience. A few weeks later, I had the opportunity to take part in the 61传媒fly-in program, Discover 61传媒which I鈥檓 convinced is the reason I fell in love with Scripps. I spent 3 days on campus learning all about 61传媒and meeting students. After my visit, 61传媒went from a school that was just added at the end of my college list to being my dream school in 72 hours. When I got back to school and told my college counselor how much I loved my visit, he hit me with a deserved 鈥淚 told you so鈥�.
From that point forward, I focused all of my time and energy into my 61传媒application. Fast forward to spring semester of senior year and after several months of anxiously waiting for my decision, I found out I was admitted into the class of 2023. I was ecstatic! Of course, 61传媒was my number one choice and so as soon as I got my acceptance letter, I wanted to enroll immediately. However, I still had to hear back from a few other schools on my list and my mom and college counselor didn鈥檛 want me to rush into anything. So, with their advice in mind, I decided to take part in Scripps鈥檚 DIVE program which took place during Admitted Students weekend. Similar to DIVE, I got to participate in different workshops and talk with some more students over another 3-day period. After DIVE, I felt a sense of reassurance that 61传媒was the place for me and the day after returning home, I officially committed to Scripps.
The main factors that led me to my final decision that 61传媒was where I wanted to be included: how I felt on campus, the 鈥渧ibes鈥� of the student body and faculty, the challenging but not overwhelming academic environment, and the general sense that 61传媒felt like home. I鈥檓 sure you鈥檒l hear a lot of this advice as you wait for your decisions or as you begin your college search, but when you鈥檒l know when a school feels right for you. For me, I felt a sense of calm while on campus and I just felt overall confident in my decision. I know it鈥檚 probably very different going through this process during a pandemic when you can鈥檛 visit campus, but I would advise communicating with current students to get a feel for how campus is.
I wish you all the best of luck during your college process and if you would like any specific advice from me, feel free to email at [email protected].