College freshman alumni will answer questions about their college experience so far at the Alumni Panel on Friday, Jan. 9. Below, some freshmen unable to attend the panel answer similar questions.
Eric Hilton attends Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
Q: What are the pros and cons of going to a liberal arts college?
A: Pros would be that you have a good relationship with your teacher, and there are not a lot of people, so (there are) small classes.
(The cons are) I have to take two PE credits and a health and wellness class. It’s not bad. It’s just annoying.
Q: How have AP credits helped you?
A: A lot. I’m actually a sophomore now going into this semester. I’m allowed to have a parking permit. And I got exempted from my freshman writing requirement.
Q: Do you have an on-campus job?
A: I work for the newspaper. I’m a section editor, so I write headlines, captions (and) subheads, and I edit stories. I make $40 every two weeks.
Q: What did you learn at Country Day that’s helped you in college?
A: How to write. Fels’s English class played a big part—the Sophomore Project as well. Knowing how to properly cite sources and write in a coherent manner made a big difference in my first semester.
Q: Are you at the college that’s right for you?
A: Yes. I enjoy all my classes. It’s small like Country Day. It’s a similar environment. I’m not out of my comfort zone, but I’m still in a place that’s different and allows me to grow.
Maya Kuppermann attends Stanford University.
Q: What are the pros to attending Stanford?
A: (I’m) close to home, still in California. Everything’s super nice. (In) Palo Alto, (I) never have to worry about any danger.
It’s a really great campus. There are so many opportunities.
Everybody’s just really into what they do. So you have a really active student body.
Q: And the cons?
A: It’s really frickin’ hard! The sciences are just really rough. I’m going to do premed, and I’m nervous for that. But everyone’s really supportive.
Going in, I was really worried about people being really competitive, but everyone bonds together over the difficulty of the subjects.
Q: What do you wish you knew now that you didn’t know when you applied to Stanford?
A: I wish I knew that I was going to get in because I applied to way too many schools. I wish I knew how much I wanted to stay in California because I applied to all schools on the East Coast, and this was my only option (in California).
I love California, and I wanted to be close to my family. I should have applied to more schools closer to home.
That being said, I’m far enough away where I don’t see my family enough for it to be “Oh, I’m still home.” (But) if I want to go home to see (sister and junior) Elie’s dance show one night, I can.
Q: Are you at the right school for you?
A: I think so. I’m able to participate in everything I want to. And I’m in dance groups.
College is what you make of it. There are so many students. You just need to find your little circle and the school should fit you.
Sarah Wilks attends UC Santa Cruz.
Q: How have AP credits helped you?
A: Probably the biggest thing that they’ve helped me with is writing, because I’ve already completed Writing II, and that’s all the writing requirements I need for my major. If I hadn’t passed the AP English test, I’d have to take another quarter of writing.
Q: What have you learned at Country Day that’s helped you in college?
A: Probably study habits. And I didn’t realize how important writing skills were.
Q: Do you have an on-campus job?
A: I work at the food co-op.
Q: Are you at the right school for you?
A: Definitely. I think the student population’s just really diverse. Not really ethnically. Like the different personalities. There are enough of them where you can find a group of friends that you really connect with. And it’s just very friendly here.
I like how a lot of the assignments they have are really broad, so you can mold (them) to something that you’re interested in. Like for the writing class that I was in this quarter, our final project was to write a paper or make some sort of art project that related to the themes of the class, which were power and representation.
So I made a zine (mini magazine), and it was about the lack of graffiti in Santa Cruz.
I also really like the location of the school because it’s up on a hill. It’s just so beautiful. If you’re ever stressed out, you can just go on a hike and be in the forest.
