Dior Fall

Major: Management and Business; International Affairs

 

Dior Fall grew up in Senegal. A Pre-College alumna, she is now a first-year student at Skidmore College studying management and business and international affairs.

 

Finding Pre-College

I first found out about Skidmore’s pre-college from my guidance counselor back at my old school. She picked me because of my academic standing and achievements at the time. Around that time, my mom was set on not letting me go away for school. I figured the way I would convince her was to go a pre-college program and show her how well I could do. Once I finished the program, I realized how independent I was as a person and how I was slowly learning to depend on myself as a contingency plan, and my mom realized that as well because she agreed on me enrolling at Skidmore.

Life during Pre-College

Once I was on this campus, the first thing I noticed was how quiet the place was and how nice it felt not always to hear police sirens. Once I was walking around the campus, I started to get into the scenery and how green everything was. I also loved all the people I met and how close we have gotten over the month. It came to the point that every night we would play Uno in the standard rooms at the heart of every floor.

Learning during Pre-College

An experience that I will forever remember was a conversation that I had with my religion professor. He wanted to get to know each of us, and in our one on ones together, he wanted to talk about Skidmore and how I loved it. Once I told him of how my mom felt about me going to college, he encouraged me to apply and to follow my heart. I remember from that moment I knew that Skidmore had not only the peer support and the academic support I needed to succeed but also the emotional support.

Would I recommend Pre-College?

This program prepared me for college in a way that other previous programs didn’t. I always took college classes even in high school, but this program showed me how it felt to live away from home and being surrounded by people around your age group and how to make a home away from home. Now that I am a freshman I notice that my transition was a lot easier than many others because they never had to live away from home and this program allowed me that experience. My advice would be to utilize the resources carefully and to have fun and enjoy yourself honestly.