Seniors, there are only a few days of high school left.

This means last memories of high school, a packed summer to make new memories and, most importantly, the inevitable journey ahead for each one of you. 

One key event happening  shortly after graduation for the majority of students is college. 

It’s no surprise that in such an affluent area as San Ramon, nearly all high school students are consistently graduating and have college plans right after high school. Since 2011, more than 97 percent of Cal students have graduated, according to ed-data.org.

Of the 637 students graduating this year, 409 (64 percent) are attending a four-year college, while 213 (33 percent) are headed to community college.

Most Cal students are staying in-state.  The  most popular four-year universities include UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which will be attended by a combined 61 students. The most popular out-of-state college is UNR with 13 students attending.

So many seniors are graduating, but each is taking a different path. Shelby Wong applied to 13 schools this year, while Noah Meyer only applied to one. 

“I applied to these schools because I wanted to go to them, or they were backups to my dream school,” said Wong, who will attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in September. 

Although these paths are very different, they both still have similar goals to achieve. 

“If I didn’t get into Azusa Pacific University, I would have just gone to DVC for a little while,” said Meyer. 

The first half of the year was no doubt stressful, with college applications rolling out and decisions flowing in, but by May 1 just about everybody had a home for the next few years. 

“I don’t know what I want to study, so DVC gives me time to decide,” said Garrett Dickinson.

Others want nothing more but to get out of California as fast as possible and prefer out of state private schools. 

“I think you get a better education in a private school,” said Kate Pawlowski who will be attending Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota. “I want to experience new places.” 

The privilege of sports drives some students to make their college decision and makes them even more eager to begin.

“I chose University of Nevada, Reno because the team was a good groups of guys similar to my Cal team and the coaching staff is supportive,” said Nick Bonasera who will play lacrosse for UNR in the fall.

Many of the students that plan to attend their chosen college in the fall went through a lot of planning and dedication. 

“I took some AP classes and tried to focus on getting good grades in school so I could get into a good college,” said Zoe Hui, who will be attending Texas A&M.  “I know a lot of people who did the same too.”