Elder High School seniors have to officially have their college chosen within the next four months. Most have already chosen or are close to choosing. Among this year’s graduating seniors, there are the normal colleges that a lot of students go to every year, and there are some different college choices.

The most popular college has remained the same: the University of Cincinnati. UC is close, public, has good engineering programs, an award winning business school, and an award winning nursing program. People normally choose UC over XU from Elder because UC is normally cheaper and there are more UC than XU fans here.

Elder Senior Nick Maurer chose UC for family reasons. “My brother goes to UC. My mom and dad went to UC,” said Maurer.

Maurer also said he liked the campus and the atmosphere surrounding it. He also enjoyed, as many other students do, the proximity and price of UC being a public university.

Other colleges that have remained popular this year are Ohio University, The Ohio State University, Northern Kentucky University, and Xavier University. These schools normally round out the top five after UC.

Ohio University is known for parties, journalism, and business in that order. They have the reputation of being the biggest party school in Ohio. They have the best Journalism program in Ohio. And it is also only three hours away. These are the most popular reasons for the students in Elder’s class of 2018 who are going to OU.

The Ohio State University has a little bit of everything. It has about 60,000 students, and it has multiple campuses scattered throughout Ohio. Students like the choice of which city they want to attend OSU in, and they like the huge campus. It seems anyone who does not mind a huge campus and a lot of students will find their niche at OSU.

Senior Seth Sturwold plans to attend Ohio State next year. “I’m going to go into film production, and Ohio State just opened up a moving image production major. 2017 is these first year doing it. I can now pursue a bachelor’s degree there which not many colleges have that as a major,” said Sturwold.

He enjoys the campus and the togetherness of the students. He likes how you can identify people as a student just by the colors they are wearing. It’s the closest school for him that offers a moving image production major.

Northern Kentucky University is another popular school. It is just over the river, and it is a similar distance away from Elder as UC. NKU is much smaller than UC, and NKU is also known for accounting and Nursing. Most students that are choosing NKU like the smaller campus size, the proximity to home, and the similar majors to UC.

Maurer also considered NKU. “NKU offered me a pretty good scholarship, and it’s close. They’ve got a pretty good school. They’ve got a pretty good communication information school… My sister goes to NKU. It’s a little too small for me. It’s a really nice school, but it’s too small for me,” said Maurer.

Xavier University is the closest division one Catholic school to Elder. Xavier, being a Catholic school, is also a private school. That means tuition is higher than any of the Ohio public schools near hear. That is Xavier’s biggest drawback. The Elder seniors that are planning to go to Xavier are normally Xavier fans, and they want to go to a catholic college.

Senior Matthew Mahon is continuing his education at XU next year. He has family who have graduated from the university. He also likes the campus and the atmosphere surrounding it. “I like the campus. Everything looks the same. I think it’s a neat thing about the college. There really is not that much around it. I just feel like it’s a good school to go to.”

Other close and popular Catholic colleges for Elder students are Mount Saint Joseph’s University and Thomas More College. Elder students like that these are both very small schools that are great for students who want to stay close to home and want a college similar to their high school.

Senior Nate Hill considered both The Mount and Thomas More. He is going to The Mount. He likes that it is close, and he likes that it is similar to Elder. He chose The Mount because he thinks it will be more laid back there and because they are more focused on their students.

Most Elder students like staying close to home. The colleges that are farther away that students are seriously considering this year are the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University, and the University of Alabama. All of these schools have a few kids seriously considering attending them next year. Most students who are looking at these colleges are looking forward to being a little farther from home for four years. They also want to try something different besides Cincinnati.

Senior Sam ‘SK’ Kayse grew up a Kentucky fan and is considering going there. He likes campus and the town of Lexington. He said, “UK is just a really nice school.  I just like the environment and in general atmosphere.  It’s very new.”

His favorite part about the campus was the dorms. He thought they were the nicest dorms of any college, and that they looked more like hotel rooms than college dorms.

The only senior going to Alabama right now is Connor Hirth. He is majoring is engineering. “I want to go there because they have a good engineering program,” said Hirth.

He also likes the big campus and the architecture on it. He liked the city of Tuscaloosa because of the people and the things to do in it.

There are other colleges a few students are looking at, but these are the most popular choices. Most students in the Elder class of 2018, just like every other year, are staying close to home. Some students are going away to college while a few others are going to straight into the work force. The class of 2018 is a very diverse class, and their life choices will be no different.

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