First college fair coming up with a ton of schools…what are your tips? What should the goals be? we have no experience and wondering how my child can make the most of it.
thanks
My DD didn’t find college fairs particularly useful. They tended to be too crowded. What she did do was make a list of which college tables she wanted to find, located them on a map if it was provided, briefly talked to the reps, and signed up for their mailing list.
College fairs are good for picking up materials on the schools you like, and for giving you a chance to consider schools that you may not be familiar with. Generally speaking, it’ll be too busy to spend more than a few seconds with each admissions rep, so you won’t get into much detail on each school at the fair. It can help if she comes up with 1-2 questions she can ask when she reaches a table, rather than having her fumble.
At many of the fairs where I work, the crowd dies WAY down after the first hour, so saving the schools she really wants to talk things over with until then might help. Also note that, at some fairs, if the last half hour or hour isn’t very busy, some of the schools pack up; so if there are schools she really wants to meet with, she should prioritize those. And it’s okay to visit a table more than once - especially if it’s busy at first, so you can’t ask questions.
Maybe explore the list of schools and see if you can pick out some out-of-the-box options that might be interesting, and where you might get to spend some more time with the rep, since most people know less about it. For example, I’m in the Mid-Atlantic. Santa Clara is in CA. But it was potentially a good fit for one of mine. So that’s one where locals might not be looking to closely, so maybe more opportunity to speak to the rep. Or just grab a rep who’s not busy and listen to their pitch, regardless of the school. You might learn something interesting, about that school or admissions in general, or just about the place where the school is located.
Sign up with the rep. It would show you are looking at the school, and contacts can be a factor in the admissions decision.
We found it is often most helpful to frame questions in a personal way. So not, “What does the school . . .” or “What do students . . .” But instead, “What do YOU love most about the school?” “What was YOUR favorite moment on campus?” For either a student or rep, “Who’s YOUR favorite professor?” “What’s one thing YOU’D change about the school?” People just tend to be more open and enthusiastic when offering their own experiences and opinions than when speaking about things generally.
Have fun!
College Fairs are good for the literature. Many of the reps, often local alumni volunteers, lack knowledge about their school.
However, college events which present only a handful of elite universities tend to be very helpful & useful. Allows one to speak directly with admissions officers.
A tip: Print out name, address, phone & e-mail labels for your student. That way, when signing up for literature, you just slap the label on, and don’t end up writing that information 14 times.
Brilliant, am going to use it as we are on to a fair this weekend.
If the y have pre-registration, do that. We went to one and the line to sign up was really long so we just skipped it and went in. But that meant DD (and her sister who couldn’t be there) couldn’t just scan the badge at every table.
We were in the south, and all the southern colleges were packed with people. The service academies were packed. All the schools these kids had heard of were packed. The U of Wyoming? Marquette? Anything in Kansas? W-i-d-e open! They gave us swag and brochures and pencils, talked to my daughter for 15-20 minutes. My daughter did end up at U of Wyoming so it worked for us.
We did not find college fairs useful at all. We identified potential colleges on Naviance and S signed up to receive mail from them. We got all of the literature that we would have gotten at a fair.
College fairs can be overcrowded, and are a poor substitute for an information session and a tour.
Having said that, my DD, an underclassman who didn’t feel she was going to be taken as seriously as the juniors and seniors, attended her school’s college fair and deliberately sought out tables with no crowds. She walked out with two potential “likely” schools that she got very excited about. Both have very strong programs in her area of study. The AOs were very supportive and each spent 15 minutes with her (reversing her worries about being taken seriously), and she got some interesting information from the conversations. So I call that a success.
Don’t be afraid to do the minimum and leave early. Also, the lit you’ll pick up is marketing. Not necessarily in depth decision-facilitating info.
First year we had a list of who had vet schools (his criteria) and went and talked to them. We first talked to Kansas State at a fair (knew NOTHING about it). They told us things we didn’t do and made it interesting enough to visit. We also talked to Iowa State there and ended up visiting it. Second year we only went to places that he had applied to for some last minute information. Some schools had alumni that knew nothing! Others were very helpful. Didn’t even bother going to the local schools with their huge lines. Have some quick questions, plan where you are going and leave when you are done!
If your kid is at all an introvert, college fairs are torture. I will never drag my D to another one. Totally horrific and useless. So loud you can’t even hear what the admissions rep is saying, and so many pushy kids and parents. We were literally elbowed out of the way at one booth. Everyone seems to know you’re just there to get a “swipe” and “show interest.” It made the whole college process seem completely scummy to us.