Direct Admissions: Sending Seniors to College

This is the second year of the Direct Admissions program at Richfield High School, and seniors are excited about the pre-acceptance offers they have received from a variety of colleges and universities. The Direct Admissions program, coordinated by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and funded by the State of Minnesota, allows students to apply to these colleges for free, eliminating part of the cost barrier that many students face each year. 

In October, seniors on track to graduate this spring received an email with a personalized list of colleges and universities which they were directly admitted to based on their academic performance. Currently, students are in the process of reviewing their list, researching their many college options and completing the necessary steps to apply. 

Senior Alexis Mosqueda plans to take part in a law enforcement program and become a police officer with the goal of joining the Richfield Police Department one day. He is grateful for the Direct Admissions program because he didn’t have to worry about what colleges would accept him. “When I saw the colleges that said yes, I was so happy,” he said. “It took me a long time to make a decision on which ones to apply for.” Alexis decided to apply to Normandale Community College, Alexandria Technical and Community College and St. Cloud Technical College. 

Alexis shared that he is most proud of having good parents who made sure he continued to attend school. “My family has been through a lot,” he said. “My dad died last year, and when he did, I didn’t know what to do or what to think, and I just got lost. With the help of my friends and my teachers, I knew that I had to pass school for my dad and go to college because I knew it would have made him happy to see his first son be the first member of our family to pass school.” 

Alexis would give freshmen the same advice he would give himself if he could go back: “Whatever happens in the future, don’t give up, and don’t be so hard on yourself. You have a lot of people who love you.” If Alexis could meet anyone, he would like to see his dad again, so he can tell him that he graduated from high school and went to college. “I want to tell him I did it,” said Alexis. 

Current senior Khadija Aweis Abu is also grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Direct Admissions program. Khadija plans to attend a community college to get her associate degree before transferring to a university. 

“The Direct Admissions program helped me a lot,” she said, “because I didn’t have to stress about which colleges I would get into.” 

Originally piloted in the 2022-23 school year, last year’s graduates also participated in Direct Admissions and are now settled into the college routine. 

Lily Jacobsen is a full-time student at St. Olaf College in Northfield. She was grateful that the Direct Admissions program made her feel comfortable in her options. Even though her top choice wasn’t on the list, seeing how many other colleges had chosen to accept her made her feel confident and reassured in applying to her top choice college. 

Maggie Weiss said that Direct Admissions made applying for colleges less scary. She is in her first year at Grinnell College. “I appreciated it because I knew that I had some place to land,” she said. 

Isabella Collins is in the pre-Physicians Assistant program at the University of Minnesota. She was happy to receive a list of colleges through the Direct Admissions program last year. “It gave me many more options for schools I didn’t even know I wanted to apply to,” she said.

Max Lindley, a freshman at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, said that the Direct Admissions program “made applying to some schools very easy.”  

The Direct Admissions program at Richfield High School continues to pave the way to higher education for all of our graduates. With the promise of pre-acceptance into a variety of colleges and universities, along with the opportunity to apply for free, it has been a life-changing initiative for many of our seniors. The stories from students like Alexis, Khadija, Lily, Maddie, Isabella and Max are just a few examples of the impact this program has had. 

As we celebrate the success of last year's graduates and look forward to the bright futures of this year's seniors, it is evident that the Direct Admissions program has opened doors and given our students confidence as they move forward into the world.