It was on one Zoom call that senior Meghan Harrington realized her dreams had come true. As she sat in her bedroom, talking to softball coaches on a screen, a smile spread across her face and stayed plastered there for the rest of the call.
As soon as the meeting ended, Harrington jumped from her seat and sprinted to where her parents were sitting in the other room. Hugging them, she announced that she will be committing to the application process as a student and softball athlete at Princeton University.
Harrington received the offer of admission into Princeton on Sept. 1. “I was honestly speechless when I found out. I was so excited and happy and really grateful to have been given the opportunity,” said Harrington.
When she told her family about her admission, she said they were so happy. “They went through the process with me, and I really couldn’t have done it without them,” said Harrington. “We spent the whole night after I committed calling close friends, family and coaches to tell them, and it was so much fun talking to everyone and hearing their reactions.”
Harrington said her travel softball team’s reaction was by far her favorite. “We are like a family, and a lot of us have been playing together for many years.” She added that with some of these girls, such as juniors Payton Swart and Meredith Wayland, she has been playing with since the t-ball level. “It was so sweet seeing how excited my team was when I told them,” said Harrington.
Earning recruitment was not an easy, quick application. Harrington has 12 years of softball experience under her belt. She is primarily a pitcher but also plays as a first baseman.
Harrington began attending recruitment camps in middle school and college-specific recruitment camps in the beginning of high school. She attended her first Princeton camp three years ago and attended two other camps with the university since then. She also attended showcases, where college coaches watched athletes play, with her travel softball team. Because COVID-19 shut down in-person recruiting, Harrington also sent lots of emails and game footage to recruiters.
Princeton was Harrington’s top choice, but she never saw it as a possibility. “They only take one pitcher per class, so it’s very competitive,” she said. Before commiting to Princeton, Harrington also received offers from other well-known colleges including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lafayette College and Christopher Newport University (CNU). However, she chose to wait to hear from Princeton since it was her dream college, which paid off in the end.
Now that Harrington has committed to Princeton, she will submit her application early and possibly get an admission letter for Ivy League student-athletes, which is received earlier than the normal admission letter. Harrington plans on studying mechanical and aerospace engineering in college. “I feel super excited for what’s to come. I know I’ll be happy at Princeton, and I can’t wait to play another four years of softball!” said Harrington.
When asked for advice for current and rising seniors looking to achieve similar success, Harrington said, “I have learned that the process is never what you expect it to be, and it is also different from person to person. My advice would be to keep working hard, be patient and, most importantly, have fun along the way.”