When OVS senior Jessi Ponce Sanchez applied to college this year, sending applications to 20 schools across the country, she didn’t know what to expect.
Then the good news came rolling in.
The University of Hawaii was the first to say yes. Then she got admission offers from 13 other schools. But then came the biggest news of all: she got accepted to Pomona College, which has a six percent acceptance rate, and was offered a full-ride scholarship.
“I can’t believe I got accepted into one of my actual dream schools, so I knew immediately that I needed to go there,” Jessi said.
Applying to college is the process that almost every senior has to go through to enter the next step in their life. Seniors at OVS have been planning and preparing for applications since the spring of junior year, making sure all of their requirements are squared away to begin their stressful endeavors of picking and choosing the right university for them.
And they scored big.
Our OVS seniors were accepted into some incredibly prestigious universities. They were accepted to UC Berkeley, NYU, UCLA, Boston University, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and many more.
The 24 Seniors in the Class of 2026 applied to more than 300 colleges and universities and earned a record 184 acceptances through long, hard work and dedication.
College Counselor Fred Alvarez said he couldn’t be more proud.
“These seniors have worked incredibly hard to get to this point, and they deserve all the recognition they can get,” Mr. Alvarez said. “I can’t wait to hear all about their adventures next year.”
Every senior’s experience applying to colleges is unique to them. For some, it’s easy, and they know which place is for them as soon as they visit. For others, it’s harder to decide where they would fit in.
The question is, how did they make the decisions they did about which college they are going to attend?
Applying to colleges is different for everyone. Some people go exactly where they want to, and others go to a place they would never expect.
Some people end up attending college that they never thought they would never see themselves attending, like Rumi Way.
Rumi earned acceptances to seven colleges, and she weighed multiple factors in making her final decision. The biggest factor was the amount of financial aid she was able to receive.
“I ended up committing to a school that I told everyone I wasn’t going to go to,” she said.
For Rumi, applying to colleges was quite a stressful experience. She didn’t exactly know where she was going to go, and it took her up to commitment day to decide, but she ended up at San Diego State University.
“A lot of my decision was money-based,” Rumi said. “SDSU was one of my cheapest options, but it also came down to location and environment, and where I wanted to be, and touring the schools to see how I felt when I was there.”
However, Vincent Bell knew right away.
Vince applied to 12 schools and got accepted to seven. But, within those seven acceptances, the University of California, Berkeley, with an 11 percent acceptance rate, was calling his name.
Not only was he offered a spot, but that spot was accompanied by a scholarship. Vincent knew immediately that Berkeley was where he was going to go.
“I’ve never really had a dream school, but I definitely got into one of my top schools,” Vince said.
Vince was excited to start his college journey, away from Southern California. He was nervous, but ready.
“I’m a little nervous, but I’m excited to meet new people, experience new things that I wasn’t able to in high school, and have more freedom at a different school,” Vince said.
As their last year of high school comes to an end, seniors begin to feel the bittersweet feeling of holding onto memories while also letting go of their high school years.
This is their last month of high school, walking through the familiar halls of OVS. As graduation rehearsals begin and summer creeps up, the feeling of excitement, with a background of nostalgia, is hard to ignore.
Our seniors are about to open up the door to their new lives away from high school.
“I am excited to figure out who I am outside of OVS,” Jessi said.
