The director of admissions for a school my son is interested in is coming to a city not terribly far from us. Having never been to one of these events, I’m not sure if he should bring a resume or anything else to give director of admissions (or is that overkill). Related, his school is going to start allowing college reps to visit- aside from introducing himself and asking relevant questions, should he bring anything more formal? Thanks in advance!
My D brought a resume to the first road show she attended, didn’t use it, and never brought it again. I haven’t seen others with anything either.
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Go, listen, eat.
They are there to sell you on applying, not to interview or evaluate your child.
That said, especially for a school that looks for demonstrating interest, asking a question or two (can be as simple as - would you describe your campus as competitive or collaborative (the answer is always collaborative, btw) - or what do you do on the weekends in X town.
Then introduce yourself after, thank them for the very helpful presentation, and send a follow up email…no resume.
Only do this at a school that measures interest…
But you don’t need to sell them. They are trying to sell you.
Good luck.
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No resume but a follow up email asking additional questions wouldn’t hurt.
For the college rep visits, make sure he signs in and if he can introduce himself and ask questions afterwards, that might help.
He should research the schools before attending these events and have some questions in mind.
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As others have noted above, this is the fun part of the process, when the schools are the sellers and the students and their families are the prospective customers. Our son (and sometimes we parents as well) attended a couple of college fairs in Tokyo where a large number of US colleges participated. It was a useful opportunity for him to get oriented to the process, meet some admissions officers and get a sense what they were like, meet some alumni, ask some questions and form some preliminary views as to what did and did not appeal to him in a college. Some of his reactions surprised us, but he stuck with them and they provided us with some helpful guideposts as he developed his list. He remained in friendly contact with a couple of the AOs he met at the fairs and later met them again when we visited the campus. He didn’t bring anything with him to these meetings, but the school will almost always have on hand a form the student can fill out, and it is important to do that to start creating a record of demonstrated interest. Thank you emails are probably also a good idea, although I don’t think my son did that.
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