Heading to my first college fair soon. I know what questions I want to ask the colleges, but what questions could they ask me? I’d like to be prepared. Thanks!
what is your email address?
And I suggest you use a new one just for college.
I usually try to start you talking by asking if you know what you want to major in. You can say no, or yes; it actually doesn’t matter. It’s just a conversation starter. I’m trying to get you to ask questions, that’s all.
Some colleges can have you fill out a form to get more info from them. Others won’t - they’ll just have you go online to enter your info.
Some may ask if you are a current junior or sophomore since they might have programs or deadlines that are specific to one class or the other.
College fairs can be a lot of schools and very little time. One great time saver is to do labels. On the label put name, address, phone (if you want a lot of calls), email addy, SAT/ACT score, GPA and scale (4 point or 5 point) weighted or unweighted. Major or area of interest, Activities and if room honors/awards. Yes, it will fit. Schools always have cards out for you to fill out and they add you to their mailiing/email list. This saves time and becomes a point of conversation. They are also legible so no errors due to possible handwriting issues. You can cut the sheets into strips to make them manageable to carry. As soon as you approach the table, grab a card, peel and stick and hand them the card. They will look at it and tell you what they have to offer that fits what you are looking for, if you might qualify for honors college or merit aid etc. You’ll be able to hit more school tables using the labels than if you had to take the time to fill out each schools card.
Our experience is that they really don’t ask students anything. They are there to answer questions and hand out literature. It’s usually so crowded that’s it’s hard to have more than a few minutes with any rep before they need to turn to the next person.
PRO TIP: Print out a bunch of labels with your name, email, school and Date of graduation on it. You will be asked to fill out many info cards.
PRO TIP: Get a new email just for college applications…sometimes it is handy to share it with your parents too if you need help
I do college fairs and sometimes the students/parents ask me questions, but if they don’t I ask them about their major and ECs and then talk about what we have.
A question you could ask: What type of student attends your University/College?
The pre-printed label is a great idea. I took my D to a CTCL fair last fall. They had a single card to fill out and you could check the colleges you wanted to follow up with. But my D’s writing was apparently not legible and one letter was off in the way they transcribed her email address. I only realized it because the parent email was also listed and I started getting copied on some emails and I could see her email address was wrong.
They don’t ask you much…you’re supposed to have questions to ask them.
For UCLA we are there mainly to promote the school and answer any questions applicants have. Since we don’t track demonstrated interest we don’t take names or anything.
You might ask whether they offer specialty housing for students with particular interests.
The college fair my S went to was mobbed and there was little or no time for individual conversations. I would just have an answer for why you are interested in the college, what you are looking for in a college etc.
Agree with the pre-printed label idea. Wish we had done that.
Many college fairs are how digital and have either a barcode or RFID reader to scan your registration so you don’t have to fill out cards over and over.
We had done preprinted labels— 15 years ago 