May first was an important day for seniors all around the nation. It was the final day for future students to put down their academic deposits for the 2019-20 fall semester to the college/university they chose.

At Heritage High School, May first was an exciting day for seniors. They had breakfast provided by the school and time before class to talk and take pictures with their friends.  Some people took pictures in the gym and others went outside next to the colored rocks for their pictures.

Now for the big question, where are the seniors going? At first glance you would assume it was either Virginia Tech or James Madison University, but if you look around more you can see University of Virginia; William and Mary; Virginia Commonwealth University; West Virginia University, and more.

Let’s look at some of the students going to JMU. People like Kaley Scherrer, Lauren Kaine, Kate Bentley, and Endre Szakal, are heading to JMU. Lauren and Endre are following their parents and the rest are setting new paths. Some reasons why they picked JMU were because of the beautiful campus, the atmosphere and the people, and most importantly it was the best fit for them and their majors.

Now let’s see who is heading to Virginia Tech. First, Virginia Tech is considered one of the top schools in the nation for engineering compared to other schools.  Some students like Michael Kellogg, Danny Stover, and Charlie Spradling chose VT because they are all looking to major in engineering. Danny really liked Virginia Tech because of the different programs they are associated with like Hyperloop and the NASA Robotic Mining Competition.

It was not just VT and JMU students that were at decision day. Jamie Nyberg has decided to go to GMU for his next four years of college. Jamie is the only member of his family to head to GMU because it offered more opportunities for his current major of interest. “It also provided more postgraduate opportunities than the other colleges that  I applied to”, Jamie said. But most importantly Jamie added that it felt like the right college when he toured there.

Other people like Nate Gonzalez and Simona Brkic have decided to go to other colleges. Nate is going to Wayne State University which is located in Detroit, Michigan and Simona has decided to attend UVA for the upcoming years. Nate choose Wayne State because first his mother went to Wayne State and his grandpa is a teacher there, also to experience the city of Detroit, and to get out of Loudoun and experience something new.

On the other hand Simona has decided to stay in-state at UVA. She is the first of her family to go to a four year school. She chose UVA because of the “Good ranking it has, it is relatively cheap, it is close to home, and it has a pretty campus, and the most important thing is that UVA has engineering.”

As for those who are still deciding which college to go to, pick a college that is right for you. Don’t just go to school to be with your friends or party; pick a college or university that can help you reach your goals. And for those who are heading to college, Good Luck!