<p>This is not supposed to be in the college search forum as I'm asking whether or not going to college fairs is important to gaining acceptance into colleges?</p>
<p>If I'm going to the college fair (today...), then I'll be talking to most of the Ivies' and other top-tiered schools' representatives and I guess my question is whether or not talking to them will give me any "edge" over anyone else? My instinct tells me no since everyone's going to be talking to those reps and they can't possibly remember everyone's name. But all my friends are going and I can't help but feel that I'm putting myself at a disadvantage by not going.</p>
<p>no it makes no difference whatsoever.
the only benefit is getting information…</p>
<p>Common sense will serve you well in college admissions too…</p>
<p>I know one application (Rice supplement) specifically asked if you had visited, gone to a college presentation for Rice, etc. So they must have had a purpose for it. Also, whenever I went to a presentation at my school, I wrote and email down. You never know if a college adcom will look to see if someone went to a presentation to find if they have some interest in the school.</p>
<p>College fairs can be big though - It may show extra interest in the school if you visit their booth and even sometimes it can be actually a supplement to your application.
I was accepted to Hamilton and when I was visiting, I found out that my short talk with their admissions rep at the college fair was MY INTERVIEW. I might not have gotten in without that interview because Hamilton happens to seriously weight interviews.</p>
<p>Basically all you do is ask the people questions, listen to their sales pitch, and get brochures. Sometimes they have a card that you fill out to get on their mailing list but it doesn’t help you for admissions at all.</p>
<p>I still think you should go though. You will learn a lot.</p>
<p>^Yeah, it’s definitely a good idea to go for discovery purposes. You may be turned on to a school that you would never have thought of before, which happened to me.</p>
<p>Eh, they can be useful, but it also may not make any difference whatsoever.</p>