As the new school year begins, OVS seniors are off to the races, and the finish line is college acceptances. But for Gavin Floyd, an OVS student of seven years, college acceptances began rolling in before his senior year even started.
It all started during the spring break of Gavin’s junior year, when he and his father, Assistant Head of School Craig Floyd, visited a few colleges in the south.
While visiting the University of Alabama, Gavin was informed he could apply in July and receive a decision in September. This was also true for many other state universities, as Gavin applied early to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Coastal Carolina University, and the University of Missouri.
On August 20, weeks before his senior even started, Gavin was accepted to the University of Missouri. And, on September 8, Gavin was admitted to the University of Alabama, his #1 choice.
“I’ve been on campus here for so long, and I’ve seen how fun senior year can be,” said Gavin, who has completed the college application process and just this week learned that he gained entry into Coastal Carolina University. “I wanted to get into college before I even started my senior year so I can enjoy my last year of high school.”
OVS College Counselor Judy Oberlander thinks applying to a few colleges early is a great idea, as many of the applications don’t require essays or letters of recommendations, and getting into a college so early on relieves some of the stress senior year tends to pile on.
“This is a really cool thing that students can do, that a lot of students don’t realize they can do” Oberlander said.
While Gavin may done with the application process, the 24 other OVS seniors certainly are not. In fact, they’re just starting.
While OVS has been preparing students for college since freshman year, that does not stop senior year from being nerve wracking. The current seniors have gone to countless college counseling sessions, college fairs, and taken their fair share of AP classes, and senior year is when all of their hard work for the past four years comes to fruition.
Currently the seniors are working on finalizing their college lists and are preparing for the upcoming SAT test, held on October 1, and can begin sending out applications in November.
Jeffrey Lin is currently one of these preparing seniors.
While Jeffrey believes the college admission process is overly complicated and too uniformed, he’s excited for the future, and focused on keeping his head down and working hard.
“We have to embrace it and tackle it to the best of our ability,” he said. “I’m scared about all of the pressure I have to handle, but at the same time I’m excited to finish the application process and get on to college, because ultimately that’s what we’re all doing this for.”