<p>Has anyone been to this fair this year or in previous years? Is it worth it? It's a fair bit of travel for us - train into NYC, cab, dinner etc so just wondering. S has one or two of the schools on his long list. Wonder if it might save us a visit over the summer. Do the actual adcoms for this region attend?</p>
<p>We’re going to the NYC CTCL fair. For us I think it will be more productive than other college fairs because I’ve done my research and there are about 10 schools we want to stop at and gather more info. It should help my daughter get a little more excited about the search as well (I hope!).</p>
<p>We have received postcards telling us about the fair from the two or three schools we have already communicated with so the schools are publicizing the fair as well.</p>
<p>I have to see if S is really interested. Going into the City mid week makes for a long week. I’m also concerned since its in NYC that it might be really crowded and apart from picking up brochures that you won’t get to talk to anyone.</p>
<p>S has a couple of them on his list, but I’m not sure if seeing them at this tour is going to help. What can you learn that you won’t see on the website?</p>
<p>I think its worth attending, but not if travel time is unreasonable. (I mean, for me it was a half hour drive at most, no big deal) I don’t think there’s much you can learn different from web sites and brochures – the value in our case was more that it got my kids more directly involved in the college process, and they are hearing a message that is encouraging and reasonable, helping them to target a wider range of schools outside the super-reach, super-prestige category. </p>
<p>I’d note that my daughter was very interested in a CCTL college and had a very positive interaction at the college fair – thinking that school was a top choice – but was very disappointed after a college visit and dropped the school from her list. So I certainly don’t see any college fair as being a substitute for a visit – the admission reps are there to promote their college.</p>
<p>Agreed, nothing takes the place of a visit. Hampshire looked good, but quickly after arriving saw that it was not for S. That’s why I’m wondering if the fair is going to help if he’s already got 1-2 on his list. We have to go see them anyway. I’ll see if he wants to go.</p>
<p>I also agree that it’s no substitute for a visit to the campus but we’re going for many of the same reasons as calmom - to better engage my daughter in the process and to allow her to be confident thinking outside the box. </p>
<p>Interesting thought about it being extra crowded because it’s in the city - not sure if that’s so though, given the selection of colleges attending. We’ll see when we get there! It’s not a big deal for us to go into the city for an evening and lot’s of people from our neighborhood will be there so it should be fun.</p>
<p>I totally agree that CTCL helps one think outside the box. Especially in one’s sophomore or junior year, many students don’t know much about college and tend to concentrate on schools in their own region. CTCL programs help one realize that there are many great schools out there, and maybe one should (gasp) consider schools outside one’s region.</p>
<p>My D went to the CTCL college fair back in August & ended up applying to 2 of the schools. In all honesty, those two colleges were represented at the other college fairs that are in our area (one in April & one in October) with the same reps, but I wanted D to go to “get” the whole reasoning behind going to a smaller LAC.</p>
<p>She’s going to a state flagship in August ;)</p>
<p>A good friend went last year and found it very helpful. The talk(s) were a good intro, and the college reps were very approachable. It’s a good way to bring forward a whole set of excellent schools that are ignored by ‘trophy hunters’ too.
When my child went to a similar fair, it was useful as well. Talking to reps and asking questions seemed to bring out information in a different way than looking at websites.</p>
<p>Yes Rob, D my S will be applying to same state flagship in Aug (hopefully) :). May I ask if your D applied to 2, whether they offered any good merit packages? I’ve noticed that the merit packages at some of the CTCL are a little fuzzy, and although some of the scholarships of $12-$18K are generous, not so much when the COA is $48K. S’s one experience with Hampshire has him thinking that he won’t like an under 2000 student school, but thinking he will probably apply to one or two of these as they look like good values just the same. But, we will visit them first.</p>
<p>LDINCT - My son’s experience is pretty close to RobD’s daughter’s experience. We started the whole college thing off with a Big Ten football game, followed closely with the CTCL fair. He applied to 1 CTCL college but is ending up at the state flagship. The CTCL college, with the merit he got, would have been 5K cheaper each year than state flagship, but didn’t have the program he wanted.</p>
<p>The fair was worthwhile, but he spent a lot of time talking to the woman from Agnes Scott. After a long conversation, she nicely told him that Agnes Scott was a women’s college. He still wrote one of his essays about the long conversation. </p>
<p>Also, the one CTCL college that was closest to the fair was mobbed. Son could not talk with reps because so many other kids were talking to the reps. Colleges that are in distant locations - not mobbed.</p>
<p>We went to the CTCL fair for both of our kids, and they ended up applying to several and going to a CTCL college (Hampshire). The preliminary talks were really good, although if you had read the CTCL book, you might not be any wiser. The whole thing seemed so much more manageable than the classic giant more-comprehensive college fairs. If your goal is to go to a SLAC, and you are not obsessed with getting into the highest-status colleges, then it is definitely a worthwhile event. </p>
<p>If you are more interested in big universities or HYPSM or WASMW (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Wellesly), then it might not be worth your time or effort.</p>
<p>There are lots of schools that fit the CTCL profile (SLAC for kids w/ modest stats) that are not part of the tour or listed in the book. I prefer other combined fairs where the schools share common vibes/values (the Claremonts come to NYC every, so too a combined Reed- Oberlin program); the CLCL schools range from Hampshire to Wheaton (Ill.). I wouldn’t want to deal with the crowd to hit just to chat with an adcom for a couple minutes (though CTL schools often send the director of admissions to the NC event, not sure about other cities).</p>
<p>I think there is a lot of wisdom in the CTCL philosophy. I am a professor at a state flagship, a graduate of a CTCL college from back in the dark ages, and got my graduate degrees from Duke. So I have direct experience with a CTCL school, a high prestige national University, and a state flagship, and can do a resonable job comparing the educational products that each offers. I currently have a son at Kalamazoo (who chose to turn down admission offers from higher ranked LACs to go there) as well as a neice who is Earlham '14 (e.g., both are CTCL schools.) </p>
<p>Whether or not going to a CTCL college fair is a good idea is another question (one I will likely not need to worry for S2 since I don’t think one will ever happen within about a 12 hour drive.) Time spent in the book and on the college’s websites could be just as valuable (albeit never as valuable as a visit.) But the basic message–that the small and often unheraled LACs may offer the most transformative experiences–is one more people might think hard about.</p>