SHS Juniors Get Unfiltered Views of College from Returning Freshmen

"What kind of people go to your college?" "What classes should I take as a freshman?" "Are you in a sorority?" "How is the food on campus?" These are just some of the common questions high school juniors asked college students on College Night at Scarsdale High School.

Juniors, who will apply to college in the fall, were given the opportunity to talk with SHS alumni currently in college at the PTA event on Wednesday, May 24th. Each college was given its own table in the high school cafeteria, marked with flags bearing each college's name. Before the event, the juniors chose four schools they were interested in and were given a schedule indicating when they would visit those colleges' tables. Juniors met with alumni from each of their chosen schools in twenty minute sessions, and were provided an opportunity to ask them questions about the college they attend.

The event was received positively by both the juniors and the graduates. The high schoolers appreciated being able to ask questions about schools in a stress-free, casual environment as well as the candor of the alumni. Alex Fogel, a junior at SHS, thought the event "was really helpful" because she obtained the college students' "honest, unfiltered opinion." She contrasted the "generic information" provided by most college information sessions with College Night, in which she "got a real sense of the school." Zach Bernstein, a rising sophomore at Duke University, was happy simply to get "the name [of his school] out there." "If some kid goes home, having learned one cool fact about this place, you never know. It could turn into the next four years of their lives."