By Nefertari Elshiekh, staff writer

On Friday, December 15, 2017, an admissions representative from the New York Institute of Technology came to Townsend Harris to review applications onsite. Current seniors expressed their interest in partaking in the onsite application process, where they were then given a specific time to meet one-on-one with the admissions representative. He then reviewed their applications with them, and students found out if they were accepted right then and there. In addition to finding out if you were accepted, students also found out their scholarship amounts.

The admissions representative talks to the students while he is reviewing their application in order to get a better sense of who they are. Senior Prajna Sahadeo, who found out on Friday that she was accepted to NYIT, recounts being asked “basic questions like what I wanted to study in college or what career I wanted to pursue.”

This is the first year NYIT has conducted onsite admissions at THHS, but both teachers and students, like finding out immediately. Prajna mentioned that at first “it was nerve-racking, but the moment it was over, I was so relieved because I didn’t have to stress about waiting to hear if I was accepted.”

Prajna continued on to say that “more schools should definitely review applications onsite because not only is it such a relief to get the response right away, but it is also cost effective. By having your application viewed onsite, you do not have to pay for the application fee.”

Guidance Counselor Jeremy Wang also believes that more schools should conduct onsite applications because it “tremendously reduces the stress and anticipation in waiting for a response from a college. There is such relief when you find out right away if you were accepted or not.”

Hopefully this won’t be NYIT’s first and last time conducting an onsite application day at THHS as both teachers and students praise this unique application process.