Payton DePalma

Welcome our new class of 2014 Interns to MyMajors.

Payton is a Senior at Horace Greeley High School:

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Name:
Payton Arianna DePalma
Activities/Work/Extracurricular/Sports:
DJing, Relay for Life, Working with children with special needs, Camp Counselor, Guitar, Piano, Ukulele
Intended Major:
Neuroscience with a minor in a language like sign language or linguistics in general
College Options:
Yale, Harvard, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, UPenn, Emory
Super Power:
FLYING! Not only could you get anywhere, but you could do it in the coolest way possible.
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A little more about Payton…

College visits are imperative to the decision-making process. Over spring break, I visited Harvard. My first tour guide was a senior from South Africa, and he shared the amazing things he planned to do after graduation. He was a mechanical engineering major, and I admired his enthusiasm about the school. The problem was, I couldn’t relate to any of his experiences. He spoke about the engineering clubs and such, and although his stories were fascinating, I found that none of his interests coincided with mine, so I struggled to see myself attending the university.
The next tour was a general tour of the campus. The guide was a small-town girl who lived in the northeast and was a neuroscience major. I had the opportunity to chat with her along the tour about why she picked Harvard. She sounded so much like me and we had so much in common, and I suddenly started falling in love with the school because I saw how my interests fit. After meeting someone who experienced how my passions integrated within the school, I got a feel for the environment that I myself would experience if I attended.

My recommendation for visiting colleges you’re interested in is to find students who are majoring in or involved in an activity you enjoy. Visit a class that you think you might like and strike up a conversation with someone after, or even have a meal in the dining hall and approach a table of students. It might be scary, but they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t in love with the school, so they will be happy sharing their experience with you and it will give you a feel for how you’d fit in! That’s what you’re going to college for; to follow and pursue your interest!