Hello all!

Being a senior about to graduate, I feel I can look back and reflect on my decision to come here. Furthermore, I hope to share this decision with you to help better make yours.

As I have said in the past, I have always wanted to fly as long as I can remember. In 8th Grade, Google was becoming the big thing, and I searched “Number One Flight School in America.” Among the top search hits was Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I had never heard of this school, however they kept putting quotes on their website saying, “Most advanced flying fleet”, and “A quarter of all Airline Pilots studied at Embry Riddle.” It was these types of statements that had me interested in the school in general. Like I have told you before, I am from Syracuse, NY and the Daytona Beach Campus is much closer than the Prescott, AZ campus. However, I decided to check out the Prescott Campus for two reasons. First, I have family in the Phoenix area and wanted to be closer to them. Second, because of flying, I looked for the diversity in high altitude operations that Prescott has to offer.

In 10th grade I flew out to Arizona and toured the school. As soon as I stood on the campus I was convinced this was where I wanted to study. The mountains, the campus, the smaller town feeling, I knew this was a place where I could be successful. The tour guides where more than helpful, and my Admissions Counselor Bryan Doughtery (Now Dean of Enrollment Management) also showed me every option I had at Embry Riddle. With that knowledge in hand, I applied in 11th grade and got an early acceptance.

One last choice I made was to attend Accepted Student Preview Day before coming in the fall. Preview Day is essentially a tour on steroids. All the labs, all the professors, all the facilities are open to only the accepted students to give you more of an idea of what being a student here is all about. You can get your student ID card, and make your schedule even. It was exciting to get into the mind set of attending college. This year’s Accepted Student Preview Day is March 28th, 2015 hope you can attend! For me though, after August of 2011 the rest is history and I am very happy with everything that I have accomplished here.

Finally, I will provide you some suggestions to better put your mind at ease about choosing this school. Firstly, ask yourself is this really what you want to do? If yes, then Embry-Riddle will provide the tools to make that dream a reality. Secondly, are you willing to put forth the effort during the good times and the bad? Honestly, it is not all a picnic getting a college degree at any school, and you need to have the vision to get to where you want to go, no matter what. Finally, I suggest you visit multiple schools. If I could change anything about my college making process, it is that I did not visit any school other than Embry-Riddle. That said, at the end of the day, ERAU is the best at what they do and that was what I wanted.

Overall four years later, I am very happy with my decision to come to this school. I will always recommend it to anyone interested in the programs Embry-Riddle has to offer.

I wish the best for you on your journey of making what is the biggest decision of your lift so far. A blog on my Spring Break in the Caribbean to come soon! Take care!