Businessweek

The Big Choice

Introducing the Class of 2029.

In 2007 most Americans didn’t realize the country was barreling toward the Great Recession, and optimistic families enjoying rising stock prices and a stable job market kept growing. A record 4.3 million births were recorded in the US that year, the largest baby boom in history. Now, 18 years later, that final cohort of infants conceived before the crash is about to graduate from high school.

Those kids are facing the biggest decision of their young lives: where to go to college. The application process and school itself for these rising freshmen will look a lot different than it did for their parents’ generation—prices are up, demographic data is forbidden in admissions considerations, and the future of federal funding is fraught. But one thing is the same: These incoming students are full of enthusiasm, humor and promise, befitting America’s future.

Portrait of Earl Melebeck — Earl Melebeck Willis, Texas Melebeck, 17, is active, social and unfailingly polite. The multi-sport athlete—track and football, plus two years of basketball—is so diplomatic, he won’t even take sides in the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud. “I feel like too many people hate on Drake,” he says, ultimately declining to throw his support behind either musician. “I’m in the middle.” The senior also appreciates high fashion (Balenciaga is a personal favorite), goes to church and works 30 hours a week at a car wash. Saving for anything specific? “No, ma’am. I just like to have money in my back pocket.” Melebeck knew he wanted a midsize college—“not too big, but not an itty-bitty school, either”—ideally a plane ride away. Several contacted him about opportunities to play football, but, he says, “I just wanted to be a regular student.” The defensive back and occasional receiver had an undefeated senior season with the Willis High School Wildkats that came to an end at the regional semifinals. He looked at several in-state schools, including Sam Houston State University, a public research institution an hour north of Houston, and Huston-Tillotson University, a private historically Black school in Austin. Ultimately, the desire for distance won out. He’ll enroll at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, where he plans to study business or finance. “It was the perfect location. It wasn’t too far, too close, and it’s an HBCU,” he says. “My dad went to an HBCU, so I feel I get a lot of value from that.” Photographer: Arturo Olmos for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portrait of JJ Dunn — JJ Dunn Alexandria, Virginia A theater kid who says they’re “probably the biggest English nerd in my school,” Dunn, 18, is reading four books at once, “two for class, two for fun.” (Tom Stoppard’s absurdist tragicomedy *Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead* lands in the “fun” pile.) They dream of one day writing their own books or perhaps teaching literature at the kind of diverse public school they attend now. Identifying as nonbinary, Dunn says feeling safe on campus was a nonnegotiable criterion for the college search. Their first visit was to Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in part because their grandmother had gone there. Dunn didn’t see a lot of student diversity on the campus tour, but they felt safe and liked the emphasis on study abroad. They also considered Brandeis University, in the Boston suburbs, which makes it easy to double or even triple major, meaning they wouldn’t have had to choose between English and creative writing. They ultimately went with Bryn Mawr College, a small liberal arts school half an hour by car outside Philadelphia. One of the historic women’s colleges known as the Seven Sisters, Bryn Mawr welcomes multiple gender identities, and Dunn says everyone was waving at one another between classes. “I was there on a rainyish day, overcast, right before spring break, and everyone I saw on campus was super happy to be there.” Photographer: Jared Soares for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portrait of Nayaeli Cortex Ramos — Nayaeli Cortez Ramos Oakland, California “My name’s Nayeli. I’m an older sister,” says Cortez Ramos, 18. It’s not surprising that talk of family is the first thing out of her mouth: Her mother and little sister—along with her mom’s 11 local siblings—are everything to her. How’s her 10-year-old sister doing with the idea of her going away to school? “She’s devastated,” Cortez Ramos says. “She literally texts me all the time: ‘Please don’t leave, please stay, don’t go.’ My mom’s like, ‘You better call me every night, or else I’m taking you back with me.’” Besides school, Cortez Ramos, who’s considering studying sociology, fills her time working 20 hours a week as a social impact intern, riding her bike, ice skating and blasting Bad Bunny. She originally didn’t limit herself geographically, focusing instead on finding the best small to midsize school with a diverse campus. She thinks she might have liked Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, or Washington University in St. Louis, but she quickly realized she didn’t want to go so far away. Working with QuestBridge, a nonprofit that connects high-achieving, low-income students with top schools, Cortez Ramos ranked her choices, putting in-state campuses such as Stanford University, Claremont McKenna College and Pomona College near the top of her list. She and Pomona matched via the binding process, so she’ll be getting a full scholarship to attend the small liberal arts school located 35 miles from Los Angeles—and 400 miles from her mom and sister. “I look forward to being surrounded by a new environment, meeting new people,” Cortez Ramos says. “But definitely keeping in touch with them is very important to me.” Photographer: Cayce Clifford for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portrait of Sophia Lee — Sophia Lee Dublin, California A varsity golfer, competitive recurve archer and applied mathematics buff, Lee gets so busy at times that she has to eat lunch during class. With that kind of schedule, the 18-year-old can’t help being organized with her college search. “All my friends make fun of me for this,” she says, “but it was really, really important: I have a 20-page document of notes” on top schools. She meticulously researched student life, alumni networks, academics and—an athlete favorite—dining-hall food. “As silly as they are, they are really important, if I’m going to be living there for four years,” she says. Lee liked the school spirit at the University of Michigan, especially when friendly strangers on public transit would notice her wearing a Michigan sweatshirt and yell, “Go Blue!” But with more than 30,000 undergrads, the campus felt a little too big. She also liked Duke University, a smaller institution with outstanding research. She considered enrolling at one of California’s junior colleges, then transferring to another school, such as the University of California at Los Angeles, with all her prerequisites and several additional credits under her belt. But it looks like she’ll go with Harvard University, where, she says, the professors seem “so invested in the undergraduates.” Lee has been invited to some virtual physics office hours already and is just waiting for the financial aid package to come through. “It would be hard to turn down Harvard,” she says. Photographer: Cayce Clifford for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portait of Owen Fitchhorn — Owen FitchhornWoodbine, Iowa Raised in a small town of 1,600, Fitchhorn is used to driving an hour or more across the Iowa-Nebraska state line to grab groceries or catch a Billie Eilish concert. Luckily, the fourth of five children likes spending time in his 2016 Fiat 500X. The rest of the time, the 17-year-old can be found cooking in a local restaurant, planning service projects for Key Club and singing in his school’s show choir. Fitchhorn always thought he’d attend an institution within driving distance of home, such as Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, or the University of South Dakota, his mom’s alma mater. “I wanted to stay close,” he says. “I think I was scared of the thought of moving far away.” But as he started looking, Fitchhorn realized an increasingly vocal part of him yearned to leave the Midwest. So he sat down with his guidance counselor, an East Coast native, and they made a whole new list with campuses in coastal states. He remembers thinking, fresh list in hand: “‘I’ve got to apply to one today, or this isn’t going to be real.’ So I applied to Niagara University.” He quickly added other New York schools, including SUNY Geneseo and SUNY New Paltz. Geneseo offered a great scholarship—essentially in-state tuition—but his heart is set on New Paltz. In addition to having strong academics, it’s less than 90 miles from New York City, where he wants to travel on weekends to take in live music shows, ideally making the trek in his Fiat rather than by train. Starting college will mark Fitchhorn’s first time setting foot in New York state. “It’ll definitely be exciting and new,” he says. Photographer: Kathryn Gamble for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portrait of Abby Hopf — Abby Hopf Saugerties, New York Hopf is captain of the volleyball and flag football teams and works part time at a local pizza joint, but her current passion is digital advertising. A member of her high school’s business club, the senior from the Hudson Valley plans to major in business administration, work in New York City and eventually start her own marketing firm. “I want to be an independent businesswoman and inspire younger generations,” the 17-year-old says. She’s close to her parents and her two older half brothers, who—despite being in their 30s—continue to tease her about being the favorite child. “I’m the baby,” she laughs, shrugging. “I love it.” Chatting with Hopf is easy, but her college search was anything but. “I was absolutely lost,” she says. In her sophomore year, she planned on applying to “Southern, big, sorority” schools, such as the University of Georgia or Florida State University, with a goal of becoming a nurse. But she discovered the business electives at her high school and pivoted. She then considered a two-year community college but decided to pursue a four-year degree instead, focusing on affordable in-state programs with specific business tracks. She looked at SUNY Oswego on Lake Ontario, but she says the campus was “gloomy” and the distance was a hike. At the end of the day, Hopf fell in love with SUNY Oneonta, roughly a two-hour drive from home. The campus is compact, the people are outgoing, and she likes the business offerings. It doesn’t hurt that her best friend is also going there—but they’ve decided not to room together. “We both wanted to branch out and meet new people” rather than risk “ripping each other’s heads off,” she says. “I think it’s the mature thing to do.” Photographer: Axel Dupeux for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portrait of Will Holaday — Will Holaday Pikesville, Maryland Holaday, 18, is juggling rehearsals for back-to-back musicals this spring. At school he’s playing high school heartthrob Aaron Samuels in *Mean Girls* and…high school heartthrob Troy Bolton in his youth group’s staging of *High School Musical*. “They’re kind of the same role,” he concedes. Last year, playing snowman Olaf in *Frozen JR*. was more his style. “I love being the comedic relief and just being able to be super extra for no reason,” says Holaday, who also tours with the Maryland State Boychoir and mans third base for his varsity baseball team (when he’s not injured). He wants a college that will let him explore musical theater and play intramural baseball and Frisbee, though his ultimate career goal is to be an electrical engineer focusing on renewables. “I’ve always been interested in alternative energy, ever since I was a kid,” he says. “I had this one idea where I would put solar paint on a car, and then the sun would hit the car, and it would charge it just from the paint.” He looked at Towson University, about 15 minutes from his home, and liked its dual-degree engineering program. He also considered Loyola University Maryland, especially because of the generous scholarship it offered, and his state system’s flagship campus, University of Maryland, College Park. But the best fit was Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York, which offers a renewable energy track as well as an accelerated combined bachelor’s-master’s program. “Two degrees in five years, it gets a huge discount,” he says. “It ended up being a one-stop shop.” The downside? RIT is farther away from his girlfriend, three siblings and four cats than he’d have liked. “I still don’t want to go that far, but it’s the best place for me.” Photographer: Jared Soares for Bloomberg Businessweek

Portrait of Arunima Chaudhary — Arunima Chaudhary Chicago When Chaudhary, 18, became editor of her student paper, no one was reading it. So she oversaw an ambitious revamp: better interviews, a new layout, satire columns. Now her classmates pick it up. “Maybe they’re just reading the funny column, but at least they’re reading one thing, and then maybe they’ll turn the page and want to read something more,” she says. Chaudhary, who also competes in mock trial and academic decathlon, is drawn to classes that focus on knowledge for its own sake, not career prep. “Even learning the rules of evidence I think is really fun,” she says. “I can be passionate about anything.” Her family long assumed she’d attend the University of Chicago, with its main quad just five blocks from home. She loved its emphasis on broader learning, but she knew she’d end up living with her parents. Meanwhile, she couldn’t shake the memory of a pitch-perfect history textbook she’d read freshman year: “It showed the logic of every bit of history, the way the events fall like a domino.” It had been written by a Columbia University professor. In her junior year, the New York City Ivy became the epicenter of student protests over the latest Israel-Hamas war, giving her a unique chance to observe its student journalists in action. “The way that they were able to capture the nuances of the emotion and yet still have good, hard reporting—that balance was very beautiful that they were able to strike,” she says. She applied to Columbia early decision and got in. Photographer: Jaclyn Rivas for Bloomberg Businessweek

Earl Melebeck Willis, Texas Melebeck, 17, is active, social and unfailingly polite. The multi-sport athlete—track and football, plus two years of basketball—is so diplomatic, he won’t even take sides in the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud. “I feel like too many people hate on Drake,” he says, ultimately declining to throw his support behind either musician. “I’m in the middle.” The senior also appreciates high fashion (Balenciaga is a personal favorite), goes to church and works 30 hours a week at a car wash. Saving for anything specific? “No, ma’am. I just like to have money in my back pocket.” Melebeck knew he wanted a midsize college—“not too big, but not an itty-bitty school, either”—ideally a plane ride away. Several contacted him about opportunities to play football, but, he says, “I just wanted to be a regular student.” The defensive back and occasional receiver had an undefeated senior season with the Willis High School Wildkats that came to an end at the regional semifinals. He looked at several in-state schools, including Sam Houston State University, a public research institution an hour north of Houston, and Huston-Tillotson University, a private historically Black school in Austin. Ultimately, the desire for distance won out. He’ll enroll at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, where he plans to study business or finance. “It was the perfect location. It wasn’t too far, too close, and it’s an HBCU,” he says. “My dad went to an HBCU, so I feel I get a lot of value from that.”

Photographer: Arturo Olmos for Bloomberg Businessweek

JJ Dunn Alexandria, Virginia A theater kid who says they’re “probably the biggest English nerd in my school,” Dunn, 18, is reading four books at once, “two for class, two for fun.” (Tom Stoppard’s absurdist tragicomedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead lands in the “fun” pile.) They dream of one day writing their own books or perhaps teaching literature at the kind of diverse public school they attend now. Identifying as nonbinary, Dunn says feeling safe on campus was a nonnegotiable criterion for the college search. Their first visit was to Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in part because their grandmother had gone there. Dunn didn’t see a lot of student diversity on the campus tour, but they felt safe and liked the emphasis on study abroad. They also considered Brandeis University, in the Boston suburbs, which makes it easy to double or even triple major, meaning they wouldn’t have had to choose between English and creative writing. They ultimately went with Bryn Mawr College, a small liberal arts school half an hour by car outside Philadelphia. One of the historic women’s colleges known as the Seven Sisters, Bryn Mawr welcomes multiple gender identities, and Dunn says everyone was waving at one another between classes. “I was there on a rainyish day, overcast, right before spring break, and everyone I saw on campus was super happy to be there.”

Photographer: Jared Soares for Bloomberg Businessweek

Nayaeli Cortez Ramos Oakland, California “My name’s Nayeli. I’m an older sister,” says Cortez Ramos, 18. It’s not surprising that talk of family is the first thing out of her mouth: Her mother and little sister—along with her mom’s 11 local siblings—are everything to her. How’s her 10-year-old sister doing with the idea of her going away to school? “She’s devastated,” Cortez Ramos says. “She literally texts me all the time: ‘Please don’t leave, please stay, don’t go.’ My mom’s like, ‘You better call me every night, or else I’m taking you back with me.’” Besides school, Cortez Ramos, who’s considering studying sociology, fills her time working 20 hours a week as a social impact intern, riding her bike, ice skating and blasting Bad Bunny. She originally didn’t limit herself geographically, focusing instead on finding the best small to midsize school with a diverse campus. She thinks she might have liked Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, or Washington University in St. Louis, but she quickly realized she didn’t want to go so far away. Working with QuestBridge, a nonprofit that connects high-achieving, low-income students with top schools, Cortez Ramos ranked her choices, putting in-state campuses such as Stanford University, Claremont McKenna College and Pomona College near the top of her list. She and Pomona matched via the binding process, so she’ll be getting a full scholarship to attend the small liberal arts school located 35 miles from Los Angeles—and 400 miles from her mom and sister. “I look forward to being surrounded by a new environment, meeting new people,” Cortez Ramos says. “But definitely keeping in touch with them is very important to me.”

Photographer: Cayce Clifford for Bloomberg Businessweek

Sophia Lee Dublin, California A varsity golfer, competitive recurve archer and applied mathematics buff, Lee gets so busy at times that she has to eat lunch during class. With that kind of schedule, the 18-year-old can’t help being organized with her college search. “All my friends make fun of me for this,” she says, “but it was really, really important: I have a 20-page document of notes” on top schools. She meticulously researched student life, alumni networks, academics and—an athlete favorite—dining-hall food. “As silly as they are, they are really important, if I’m going to be living there for four years,” she says. Lee liked the school spirit at the University of Michigan, especially when friendly strangers on public transit would notice her wearing a Michigan sweatshirt and yell, “Go Blue!” But with more than 30,000 undergrads, the campus felt a little too big. She also liked Duke University, a smaller institution with outstanding research. She considered enrolling at one of California’s junior colleges, then transferring to another school, such as the University of California at Los Angeles, with all her prerequisites and several additional credits under her belt. But it looks like she’ll go with Harvard University, where, she says, the professors seem “so invested in the undergraduates.” Lee has been invited to some virtual physics office hours already and is just waiting for the financial aid package to come through. “It would be hard to turn down Harvard,” she says.

Photographer: Cayce Clifford for Bloomberg Businessweek

Owen FitchhornWoodbine, Iowa Raised in a small town of 1,600, Fitchhorn is used to driving an hour or more across the Iowa-Nebraska state line to grab groceries or catch a Billie Eilish concert. Luckily, the fourth of five children likes spending time in his 2016 Fiat 500X. The rest of the time, the 17-year-old can be found cooking in a local restaurant, planning service projects for Key Club and singing in his school’s show choir. Fitchhorn always thought he’d attend an institution within driving distance of home, such as Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, or the University of South Dakota, his mom’s alma mater. “I wanted to stay close,” he says. “I think I was scared of the thought of moving far away.” But as he started looking, Fitchhorn realized an increasingly vocal part of him yearned to leave the Midwest. So he sat down with his guidance counselor, an East Coast native, and they made a whole new list with campuses in coastal states. He remembers thinking, fresh list in hand: “‘I’ve got to apply to one today, or this isn’t going to be real.’ So I applied to Niagara University.” He quickly added other New York schools, including SUNY Geneseo and SUNY New Paltz. Geneseo offered a great scholarship—essentially in-state tuition—but his heart is set on New Paltz. In addition to having strong academics, it’s less than 90 miles from New York City, where he wants to travel on weekends to take in live music shows, ideally making the trek in his Fiat rather than by train. Starting college will mark Fitchhorn’s first time setting foot in New York state. “It’ll definitely be exciting and new,” he says.

Photographer: Kathryn Gamble for Bloomberg Businessweek

Abby Hopf Saugerties, New York Hopf is captain of the volleyball and flag football teams and works part time at a local pizza joint, but her current passion is digital advertising. A member of her high school’s business club, the senior from the Hudson Valley plans to major in business administration, work in New York City and eventually start her own marketing firm. “I want to be an independent businesswoman and inspire younger generations,” the 17-year-old says. She’s close to her parents and her two older half brothers, who—despite being in their 30s—continue to tease her about being the favorite child. “I’m the baby,” she laughs, shrugging. “I love it.” Chatting with Hopf is easy, but her college search was anything but. “I was absolutely lost,” she says. In her sophomore year, she planned on applying to “Southern, big, sorority” schools, such as the University of Georgia or Florida State University, with a goal of becoming a nurse. But she discovered the business electives at her high school and pivoted. She then considered a two-year community college but decided to pursue a four-year degree instead, focusing on affordable in-state programs with specific business tracks. She looked at SUNY Oswego on Lake Ontario, but she says the campus was “gloomy” and the distance was a hike. At the end of the day, Hopf fell in love with SUNY Oneonta, roughly a two-hour drive from home. The campus is compact, the people are outgoing, and she likes the business offerings. It doesn’t hurt that her best friend is also going there—but they’ve decided not to room together. “We both wanted to branch out and meet new people” rather than risk “ripping each other’s heads off,” she says. “I think it’s the mature thing to do.”

Photographer: Axel Dupeux for Bloomberg Businessweek

Will Holaday Pikesville, Maryland Holaday, 18, is juggling rehearsals for back-to-back musicals this spring. At school he’s playing high school heartthrob Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls and…high school heartthrob Troy Bolton in his youth group’s staging of High School Musical. “They’re kind of the same role,” he concedes. Last year, playing snowman Olaf in Frozen JR. was more his style. “I love being the comedic relief and just being able to be super extra for no reason,” says Holaday, who also tours with the Maryland State Boychoir and mans third base for his varsity baseball team (when he’s not injured). He wants a college that will let him explore musical theater and play intramural baseball and Frisbee, though his ultimate career goal is to be an electrical engineer focusing on renewables. “I’ve always been interested in alternative energy, ever since I was a kid,” he says. “I had this one idea where I would put solar paint on a car, and then the sun would hit the car, and it would charge it just from the paint.” He looked at Towson University, about 15 minutes from his home, and liked its dual-degree engineering program. He also considered Loyola University Maryland, especially because of the generous scholarship it offered, and his state system’s flagship campus, University of Maryland, College Park. But the best fit was Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York, which offers a renewable energy track as well as an accelerated combined bachelor’s-master’s program. “Two degrees in five years, it gets a huge discount,” he says. “It ended up being a one-stop shop.” The downside? RIT is farther away from his girlfriend, three siblings and four cats than he’d have liked. “I still don’t want to go that far, but it’s the best place for me.”

Photographer: Jared Soares for Bloomberg Businessweek

Arunima Chaudhary Chicago When Chaudhary, 18, became editor of her student paper, no one was reading it. So she oversaw an ambitious revamp: better interviews, a new layout, satire columns. Now her classmates pick it up. “Maybe they’re just reading the funny column, but at least they’re reading one thing, and then maybe they’ll turn the page and want to read something more,” she says. Chaudhary, who also competes in mock trial and academic decathlon, is drawn to classes that focus on knowledge for its own sake, not career prep. “Even learning the rules of evidence I think is really fun,” she says. “I can be passionate about anything.” Her family long assumed she’d attend the University of Chicago, with its main quad just five blocks from home. She loved its emphasis on broader learning, but she knew she’d end up living with her parents. Meanwhile, she couldn’t shake the memory of a pitch-perfect history textbook she’d read freshman year: “It showed the logic of every bit of history, the way the events fall like a domino.” It had been written by a Columbia University professor. In her junior year, the New York City Ivy became the epicenter of student protests over the latest Israel-Hamas war, giving her a unique chance to observe its student journalists in action. “The way that they were able to capture the nuances of the emotion and yet still have good, hard reporting—that balance was very beautiful that they were able to strike,” she says. She applied to Columbia early decision and got in.

Photographer: Jaclyn Rivas for Bloomberg Businessweek

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