SAYA Youth Visit 5 Colleges in the Boston Area

Each year, SAYA high school youth have the opportunity to attend two overnight college trips, one in the spring and one in the summer. This summer, 37 youth participated in the overnight trip to the Boston area and explored Amherst College, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Wheaton College and Worcester State University. 

By Rifaeat, 12th grade

Tufts University is a lush, green campus that is open and large. It has a lot of space to breathe and was by far one of the best colleges I’ve visited. The info session was filled with valuable advice and information about both applying to college as well as Tufts. It is a full need met college, which is a great opportunity for many students that visited Tufts University and it gives everyone a chance. Tufts does not look heavily upon grades, rather it looks on both grades as well as things you do outside of the classes. Extracurricular activities, college essays and anything outside of school look great. This university gives everyone a chance knowing that grades don’t make up a person as a whole. Along with this, Tufts is a very social college that encourages you to live on campus for the first two years to get to know the university and its students and be social and actively involved within the college. It’s a perfect college for students like me and many others that went on the trip with me. When you’re in the college, you have a variety of options as the university has over 100 majors and minors to choose from. Not many colleges stand out to me, but Tufts definitely piqued my interest and I’m glad I was able to have the chance to visit it.

By Jeff, 12th grade
It was time to leave Tufts University before heading out to the next college. By that time, I was exhausted, I wanted to go back to the hotel and the rain really didn’t help set the mood. We started walking to an entrance. It was just plain and dull, nothing really exciting. Seconds later, I was flabbergasted. The university looked as something from a sci-fi movie, it was so high tech. shortly after, the tour guides came out and welcomed us to Northeastern University.

The tour guides showed me around the campus, and it was enormous. Right off the bat, I was interested in exploring, and I didn’t mind pushing my tired body that had already gone through enough walking for one day, to go just a bit more further. The tour guides also showed me a dorm and it was a decent size, unlike the other colleges I visited on my trip. The tour guides also told me that students are required to dorm at the university for two years, to make students feel welcomed and part of a community.

My heart had already been set on attending Hofstra University. Their Computer Science program offers a co-op program that gives students the ability to take an internship at a big company like Google or Apple for a semester. As the tour guides were talking about liberal arts, I was looking around at the size of the building. Suddenly, I hear “we have a co-op program” I looked up and to my amazement, Northeastern University offers the same program that I one day would like to join. I fell in love with the campus, the technology, the dorms--it was a wonderful experience. When the tour was done and it was time to leave, I was bummed. I still wanted learn so much more.  As the bus started moving away, I said to myself, “this is the college I want to apply to.”

By Shiwani, 12th grade
When I first heard about Northeastern University I thought of it as a city school that had no
campus life. But after visiting the school I realized that there was a better campus life than the
ones in New York City. The location of the university made it feel like home because of the city
upbringing I had. Along with that, they offered a Co-op Program which gave students internships in the fields they wanted to practice. This was really important because if I was unsure about a career, I could get the real-life experience in the field. I would consider this university as one of my top 5 choices.

By Hirakh, 12th grade
Wheaton College is private liberal arts school located in Norton, Massachusetts, 39 miles away from Boston. When I arrived at the school, I saw a very spacious campus with a lot of greenery. For a small college I was surprised with the amount of space they possessed. The admission rate in the college is very low, making the college essay an important part of the application. I think that a student looking for a small friendly environment to be in would have Wheaton College on their list. They also offer a variety of study abroad programs for their students. They highly encourage their students to study abroad as it brings new experiences in a different countries. The students in the college are friendly and respectful making the campus a welcoming place for incoming freshmen.