<p>Is it like a mini college fair, with tables set up for each college and a chance to speak to an admissions rep? Or is it more like one of those hotel-based college nights, where a rep from each college gets up and gives a short talk about his school? I'm guessing it must be the former, since it only lasts 2 hours and there are nearly 40 schools in attendance.</p>
<p>If you've been to one, was it worth it? I'd really like to investigate some of these schools more closely but CTCL won't be in my area this year. I was considering flying to Atlanta for their CTCL event and combining it with a visit to Emory and Oxford.</p>
<p>There's a brief presentation to the assembled prospects, then, off to the tablses. The event I attended in NYC was very crowded, not much oppty for meaningful "face time," but might not be true in other cities.</p>
<p>I attended one about 3 years ago with my younger son, and it was like a mini college fair, except that there was a presentation to the whole group first. I think it was a slide show, and presented some of the virtues the schools had in common. It may have included some brief specifics on each school as well, but not speakers from each. There was a question and answer period following the presentation, and the group then adjourned to an adjacent room where individual tables were set up for each school. You could talk with admission reps, get info, and sign up to get on official mailing lists.
I felt it was definitely worthwhile, but the one we attended was local, so no travel was involved. I think it helped my son begin to get interested in the process. (We attended in August before his junior year). He ended up applying to several CTCL schools, and is attending one.</p>
<p>DD and I went to one near San Francisco a few years ago -- and she ended up at Knox, one of the CTCL schools.</p>
<p>One or two speakers then go to another room and make the round of tables. There were a lot of people there, but we were able to talk to everyone we wanted to talk to for as long as we needed to talk to them.</p>
<p>DD found several colleges that she found interesting.</p>
<p>I attended one by myself-D was off working @ camp and I think she might have even graduated from high school ( she took a year off)
She had already applied and been admitted to about 4 schools- but I thought it couldn't hurt to find out about a few more-
It was held at a hotel downtown and I think there were speakers but by the time I made it- it was just tables about 21-28? of college reps
I thought it was very helpful,I really liked the rep from Agnes Scott- and I spoke to Mr Pope for a bit- but I have a feeling that perhaps the CTCL school that she ended up graduating from- didn't have a table-or maybe it wasn't on our radar yet.</p>
<p>I feel it's definitely worth it, but I'm not sure it's worth traveling to. The thing I liked is that it gave my daughter a chance for face-to-face talks with admission reps from colleges she was interested in, and it may be a way to get kids to look seriously at many match/safety level colleges. </p>
<p>The event we attended was very crowded, and once my daughter had talked to the reps from the colleges she was interested in, she was in a hurry to get out -- so I wouldn't fly out of town to see one unless in conjunction with other plans.</p>
<p>Well, I wouldn't ordinarily fly out of town to a presentation like this, either, but since I want to take S to visit Emory sometime, it just seemed like it made sense to go in August when CTCL would be there. </p>
<p>But I'm not really sure that he would get much out of such a large group presentation. He didn't care much for the national college fair held locally. Guess I'll have to think on this a little more...</p>
<p>I think the real value is that it gets the kids looking at colleges they wouldn't ordinarily consider -- so it would be especially useful with kids who seem to be focusing too much on prestige or name schools. So if your kid already has the CTCL-level schools on his radar screen, it probably doesn't matter whether or not he goes to the conference.</p>
<p>My daughter and I enjoyed the CTCL event quite a bit. There was very little overlap with her school district's college night, so we were able to learn quite a bit about these schools. We got to learn about special programs, scholarships, etc. My daughter applied to three CTCL schools. Now I'm planning on taking my son (just finished freshman year) to the event in August.</p>
<p>A CTCL event last year was our first venture in looking at colleges. We had read through the book and D was interested in a few schools, primarily Wheaton. It turned out Wheaton was one of the few schools without a representative at the event. If you are interested in a particular school be sure to confirm their rep will be in attendance.</p>
<p>As stated before, there was a presentation to the assembled group, as I recall given by 2 or 3 of the college reps. We then adjourned to the hall next door where each college had a table. This is the only college fair I have attended so I have no way to compare, but it seemed there were way too many people in attendance...wall to wall parents/kids. It would have been difficult to get to a more than a few tables to talk to the reps. Having said that, D spent a lot of time with the reps of Hope and St. Olaf. We ended up visiting both on a midwest trip and I suspect she will be applying to both this fall. While St. Olaf seems to generate some discussion, I'm not sure that Hope would have gotten on her radar without the CTCL event.</p>
<p>The event usually lasts two hours. I found that a LOT of people cleared out after the first hour, and we were able to have good discussions with many adreps during the second hour.</p>
<p>We attended the fair last night, and enjoyed it. It was the first non-Internet college contact D has had, and I think it helped increase her level of engagement in the process. She had a couple questions of specific interest to her, which she asked over and over. I saw value in her gaining experience talking with the reps that will help her, I hope, when we do college tours or when she has to interview.</p>
<p>We went because of several schools that she had already expressed an interest in, but she ended up finding a few more possibilities. One of the advantages we felt was that Loren Pope has already done some of our leg-work in terms of what D wants from a school, so we were able to get a bit deeper in our brief discussions.</p>
<p>The event was supposed to last 2 hours, but went over. We got some good information. We had taken a list of schools we were most interested in, and targeted those schools first, since we knew we wouldn't have enough time to talk to all the schools. We started with her priority schools. If I could do it over, I'd start a bit lower on the list, to let her "warm up" and to let the crowds thin a bit to where the reps at the priority schools had more time. On the other hand, some of the schools had run out of info, so that's a reason to head to the favorites first. (Except that she will get the materials mailed to her for the schools she expressed interest in.)</p>
<p>I just took my son to CTCL on Saturday. Since I took my daughter 3 years ago, the number of participants has doubled; it was standing room only. No one booth seemed the most popular - they were all at least three or four students deep (plus parents). My son really enjoyed it, although he did have to wonder when I pointed out a few adreps I knew.</p>