Insight Alma Mater: Trinity College

We return to our Insight blog series “Insight Alma Mater” with counselor Zach Pava. Zach attended Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut and is our Newton-based counselor! Set up a meeting with Zach by emailing us at info@insight-education.net 

I didn’t know my first choice college the summer before my senior year of high school. Come to think of it, I still didn’t know my top choice come November 1st, the most common early deadline for freshman applicants. 

But even though my plan at the time involved waiting for January 1st to submit apps to keep my options open, I knew that one of the favorites on my list, Trinity College, offered the opportunity to receive a binding offer through Early Decision 2, less common at the time but an option more colleges now seem to be adding each year.

I didn’t come to an ironclad conclusion until my second visit for a follow-up interview at Trinity. After that interview though, I knew that Trinity, with just over 2,000 undergraduate students, and a 9:1 student/faculty ratio, was the right school for me.  It offered a beautiful, green campus within an urban environment. It offered a range of academic opportunities and majors, and mostly small class sizes that allowed students to get to know their professors well. It offered a series of extracurricular opportunities, from the school newspaper, The Trinity Tripod, to intramural sports each season. And though Hartford, Connecticut isn’t universally recognized as a beautiful city in the same way that, let’s say, Honolulu is, it nonetheless hit a number of appealing check marks. Notably, I had relatives that lived nearby, and Hartford’s proximity to both Boston (my hometown), and New York City was hard to ignore.

During my time at Trinity, I made lifelong friends, got my bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and took a range of writing courses.  I even managed to finish a full screenplay. My favorite course was Behavioral and Social Psychology, a class that inspired me to write what is probably still the best paper I’ve ever written – it focused on that old Snickers commercial in which an injured football player believes he’s Batman.

As I explored my independence, the little things became enjoyable everyday tasks, from trekking down the lower long walk to Cinestudio to carrying my sneakers through the February snow to play pick-up basketball at the Ferris Athletic Center. Even grabbing my mail was oddly satisfying, as Mather Hall always meant bumping into at least a few friends on their way in or out of the Cave. Freshman year was especially fun, as due to my North Campus residence, my roommate and I found ourselves near mostly dorms with older students, Greek life on Vernon Street, and the Bistro, which offered a create your own pasta station that was awesome! 

My closest friends and I later moved across campus and found a quad every year, eventually making our way from Cook to Summit Suites.  One of the nice things about Trinity is that you can walk from one side of campus to the other and rarely need to rely on transportation.

While Trinity was terrific, I do have a few regrets. Within my major, I wish it’d been easier to take more classes in areas I was primarily interested in without satisfying requirements that seemed like a reach (I’m still not entirely sold that a Biology class focusing on plant life needs to be part of anyone’s Psych curriculum). There are times I wish I’d experienced a bigger school with D1 football and basketball games to attend. And if I had to redo my college experience, I’d almost certainly study abroad for one semester. Still, during the middle of spring weekend, with 70-degree weather and music in the air, I definitely wasn’t thinking about any of this 🙂 

Go Bantams!

Zach and friends during college

Join Zach at our free family seminar at Newton South High School on Saturday, April 6, 2019!