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Cover Road:Cover - Teen Ink

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FOCUS<br />

COLLEGE<br />

FOCUS<br />

22<br />

Parting Ways by Nicholas Momeni, Franklin Lakes, NJ<br />

My brother is leaving for college<br />

soon, and my mom has<br />

been pestering him to clean<br />

out his desk and shelves. As we sort<br />

through the junk, we find a pen case<br />

from fourth grade, a souvenir bottle<br />

my dad brought from China when we<br />

were in elementary school, and a crystalline<br />

rock from our trip to the mines.<br />

Most significant of these artifacts is<br />

my brother’s journal, which he has had<br />

since elementary school and has filled<br />

with creative writing. I always made<br />

fun of his ideas, but he was<br />

tough-skinned and persistent,<br />

and now he plans on using<br />

his college education to one<br />

day write books from those<br />

stories.<br />

As I watch my brother<br />

throw out some papers, I notice how<br />

much we have grown up, how far we<br />

I envy<br />

him for<br />

leaving<br />

have come in life, and how much has<br />

changed. My brother looks like a man<br />

with his beard, collared shirt,<br />

and dress pants. I think back to<br />

how he looked in elementary<br />

school – dorky glasses, toothy<br />

grin, and constant optimism as<br />

he wrote in his journal. I can’t<br />

believe he’s going to college.<br />

We are separated by just 13 months,<br />

and he has been my best friend since<br />

bobcatS WANTED. LOCATION, LOCATION,<br />

We’ve got Class.<br />

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LOCATION<br />

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ATHLETICS<br />

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STUDENT LIFE<br />

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ARTs AND SCIENCEs Business Communications Health Sciences Education Law<br />

<strong>Teen</strong> <strong>Ink</strong> • APRIL ’09 • COLLEGE CONNECTION<br />

day one. Now it’ll be months until I<br />

see him again.<br />

He was planning a trip for us to go<br />

to California to visit our cousin, but I<br />

have decided he should go without<br />

me. I think it’s best if we part ways<br />

sooner rather than later so he can<br />

come of age on this trip and realize<br />

that he isn’t one of two parts; he is his<br />

own person. “Have fun on your own,”<br />

I say with heavy eyes. Then we hug<br />

and I tell him not to call for advice<br />

while he is away, because it is his<br />

time, not ours.<br />

But his journey won’t be too different<br />

from mine. While he is off without<br />

me, in California and at college, I will<br />

be exploring my own independence.<br />

My experience will help me become<br />

an individual, and so leaving home to<br />

pursue a higher education will be<br />

easier for me.<br />

My brother’s absence will allow me<br />

step out of my home environment and<br />

reach out to a more diverse crowd. I<br />

envy him for leaving, because he is<br />

entering a place I want to experience<br />

too: the world outside my suburban<br />

shelter that allows exposure to deeper<br />

meanings and complexities. This is the<br />

world I sampled while taking an acting<br />

course at Fordham University last<br />

summer. This is the world I am eager<br />

to partake in.<br />

I give my brother a hug and tell him<br />

to be excited for his trips. I know he is<br />

ready for the next four years. I’ll be<br />

heartbroken the day he leaves, but I’ll<br />

use those emotions as motivation to<br />

make the most of my last year in high<br />

school. I hand him his journal and tell<br />

him not to leave his creativity behind.<br />

Now it’s time to get ready for my next<br />

four years, and my new, mature sense<br />

of self will help me through it. ✎<br />

Profile of<br />

Undergraduates<br />

Degree program All Men Women<br />

Bachelor’s degree 47% 50% 45%<br />

Associate degree 37% 34% 38%<br />

Certificate program 7% 6% 8%<br />

Unclassified 10% 10% 10%<br />

Acceptance Rates<br />

Private Public<br />

Less than 10% ....................0% 1%<br />

10.0% to 24.9%..................1% 3%<br />

25.0% to 49.9%................10% 13%<br />

50.0% to 74.9%................38% 37%<br />

75.0% to 89.9%................27% 23%<br />

More than 90%...................9% 10%<br />

Institution has no<br />

application criteria.............14% 14%<br />

SOURCE: U.S. Education Dept., 2006-7

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