Senior Loren Nienajadlo anxiously waited in his friend’s car at 8 a.m. An unopened letter from the University of Wisconsin stared back at him.

“I had asked [my friend] to read my college admissions letter for me because I was so nervous to find out,” Nienajadlo said. “They opened it, read it and I saw a big grin on their face. They said I had been accepted.”

Nienajadlo said he has wanted to go to the University of Wisconsin ever since he was ten years old. He said he has many family members that live in Wisconsin and a lot of other connections with the school itself. When he received the good news he said it was one of the best feelings in the world.

“When I found out, it was a huge sense of relief,” he said. “It felt like a big weight being lifted off my shoulders. It was very emotional for me because getting into this school has been a conversation between me and my family for quite some time now. My grandma, who recently passed, was from Wisconsin. We had talked about myself going to this school many times before. She knew I was interested in it and had always rooted for me to go there. So she was another reason why getting in felt so special to me.”

Nienajadlo’s mom Cindy Nienajadlo said she has encouraged her son to apply to UW-Madison ever since he told her he was interested. 

“When he told me he had been accepted I was thrilled,” Cindy Nienajadlo said. “I knew this is what he had always wanted. But in the end, I was sure he’d get in all along.”

Unlike his mother, Nienajadlo said he was quite uncertain about whether he’d be accepted or not. He said he knew he had the grades to get in but was afraid it still wouldn’t be enough.

“During the week leading up to the announcement, I was very nervous,” he said. “All my friends and family kept telling me that I’d be accepted, but I knew it was a really hard school to get into.”

Nienajadlo hasn’t officially committed to the school yet but said he hopes to enroll as a pre-medical major. 

“Regardless of the specific major I receive, I will be going into the medical field,” he said. “I’ve always felt that medicine in general interests me. I’ve shadowed some doctors and I’ve seen some surgeries. Anatomy in general has just always interested me.”

Whether a student believes they’ll get in or not, Nienajadlo said they should never sell themselves short of applying to their dream school. 

“No matter how expensive the cost of the school is and no matter how hard it is to get into, you should always just apply and see because you never know,” he said. “Then, when you get in, your whole perspective on high school will change. You will have felt like you just achieved the greatest thing and that your whole high school experience wasn’t for nothing. But if by some chance you don’t get in, I hope you realize you did earn it and how that school probably just made the biggest mistake in not accepting you.”