Turned alumni/ae after they walked across the North Lawn stage in June, the Class of 2023 has mostly embarked on one of life’s biggest adventures: leaving home for college.

Hannah Brass chose Purdue University, and she’s studying engineering. “I wanted to go out of state so I could experience somewhere new,” Brass said.

She started the year with a hefty 18 credits, balancing her academic life with new social and extracurricular adventures. Brass joined rugby, choir, and medieval society. Even with such a full plate, she has found time for making new friends. It’s a combination of “going to clubs” and simply “wandering around the campus and talking to people,” she said.
Brass notes that socializing in the college environment has proved manageable.

“There’s so much to do and a lot of cool people, even for people like me who sometimes have a hard time meeting people,” she said.

Over at Dartmouth College, Maddy Fisher chose a path, then changed it. Initially considering a school in Scotland, she opted for Dartmouth because of its strong academics. “I didn’t think I was ready to go to a school that was a 13-hour travel day away,” Fisher said.

Her first weeks have been different than most, as Dartmouth’s freshmen travel to kick off the year.
“I did the most strenuous hiking trip; it was super chaotic and incredibly difficult but really fun,” Fisher said. “I like that the school does it because you get close to people you might not be in classes with.”

Now, Fisher is gearing up to join womens club soccer and using games as a place to meet friends. To build connections, she started a pickup soccer group chat.

Six hours south of Dartmouth near Philadelphia, Tenzin Bawa navigates his first few weeks of classes at Swarthmore College. Bawa enters as an undecided major but is leaning toward engineering and economics. “I wanted to attend college further from home so I could have some more space to grow independently,” he explained. “I definitely love and miss my parents and Minnesota, but I wanted to put myself in a new environment.”

He’s already been making friends with people in his dorm and classes. He predicts that “things will heat up pretty soon.”
The most memorable moment from his early weeks in college was leaving. “Ironically, one of my highlights so far wasn’t on campus, but in Philadelphia. We got on the train to the city and saw the sights, ate good food, and sweltered under the heat wave,” he said.

Although Bawa’s classes may intensify soon, he feels well-prepared for them.

According to the profile published by College Counseling, the 98 members of the Class of 2023 applied to 190 colleges and enrolled at 64 campuses.