It’s never too early to start looking into college, and Stockton provides a lot of opportunities for high schoolers to explore their options. For high school seniors, this is the pivotal year to decide where they want to go, and Instant Decision Day was held on November 7 to give those seniors their official acceptance to Stockton University as they plan what ti o as a class of 2029 Osprey. Prospective new students and their families were able to attend and visit many areas of Stockton, with tables advertising Residential Life, Career Education and Development, and the Honors College. Admissions Ambassadors and the T.A.L.O.N.S. gave campus tours for students to explore the Nest.

Robert Heinrich, the Vice President for Enrollment Management, explained that Instant Decision Day is for “current high school seniors graduating in June 2025 who are interested in potentially coming to Stockton next Fall […] The benefit of applying through Instant Decision Day is that they’re going to get their acceptance decision in person.” He added, “This is an important event because a large number that do attend Instant Decision Day do end up choosing Stockton.”

Instant Decision Day is one of many days where prospective new students can see firsthand what it is like to be an Osprey. Heinrich stated, “[They have] the ability to meet with an Admissions Counselor and review their acceptance folder, and possibly even a scholarship if they are eligible”. Faculty and staff from the seven academic schools at Stockton were available for attendees to ask questions about the majors they were interested in declaring, and plenty of students were around so high schoolers could ask about student life in general. The proud Ospreys were happy to talk about all the benefits, opportunities, and experiences that Stockton offers through its programs, schools, resources, and extracurricular student life.

Grace Hind, the Assistant Director of Admissions, said, “This is the fourth [Instant Decision Day] that we’ve held this year. We always do it when the kids are out of school and have a couple days off. We’ve had over 80 students that RSVP’d to this event and so many of them showed up. Half of the students that attend the events do ultimately commit to Stockton.” In describing the experience for these incoming high schoolers, Hind stated, “They come in, they meet with faculty, we give them breakfast, they sit and get to ask any questions they have about all the academic programs.” She added, “We get students from all over, we have students from Hoboken, West Jersey, and all the way down to the tip of New Jersey. We got a good amount of athletes that attended today, and they also get their instant decision to find out if they qualified for any scholarships. It’s all just an offer, so we don’t force them to commit by any means today; we simply provide an offer and some next steps to guide these students.”

Instant Decision Day is a great opportunity for potential new Ospreys and their families to come to campus, especially if they have submitted their applications and documents ahead of time. This way, they can start planning for their future careers and objectives. This month’s Instant Decision Day was a successful one for the future class of 2029.