<p>how can one make a good impression to an admission officer at a spring road tour event without sounding too desperate?</p>
<p>most of the info D needs is on the universities' website or here in CC. Afraid that if we ask the basic stuff it seems like we didn't do our research. But our brains are frozen after AP week to come with any intelligent questions. The colleges are all ivy or ivy equals that are hosting the event.</p>
<p>Since they will undoubtedly be meeting several students at once, would like to make an impact so that they MAY try to put a face to the application they are reading this fall.</p>
<p>I think the face isn't so important, and doesn't have much chance of being remembered in this context, but remembering her name can be critical. I think adcoms are looking for three main features: the student can handle the academic load, the school and the student are a good fit for each other, and that the student will contribute to the vitality of the school. She can try to frame her face-to-face contacts around these points, and then follow-up with an email so that the rep knows that your D was met and shows real interest. As she develops more specific questions, emailing the rep will reinforce the initial meeting. Our D's experience: After a 45-minute personal interview, three months later the rep did not remember her face (it was obvious), but upon seeing her name the rep really lit up. :)</p>
<p>My impression is this: at these info sessions, the reps of these types of schools are pouring info out and not really recruiting in a personal way. At a college fair, you might get admissions reps from lesser known schools trying to make more of a personal connection. I'm an HYP alum recruiter that's done the college fair a few dozen times. I've also accompanied our regional reps and they aren't taking names or anything like that. It's all PR and getting info points out to the audience.</p>
<p>However, I've definitely seen reps from other schools really trying to sell their schools face to face. The Ivies and peers get so much attn that it's hard to really connect in that way -- I don't think it's feasible.</p>
<p>thanks. last time we went, there were about 50 kids surrounding each ad rep, so i can see why it is hard for them to remember faces. Maybe emailing after the event will be more critical to show interest.</p>
<p>T26E4 - is email follow up with specific questions welcomed by these ad reps?</p>
<p>It could help. My impression is that the Ivies and their peers are so oversubscribed with potential applicants already that the reps don't invest energy into trying to remember ANYONE at the info sessions. "Demonstrated Interest" holds no weight with them. The lesser known schools which have to do pointed marketing look for signs of interest in order to direct their recruiting efforts. The Ivies and peers don't have to sell themselves. I'm not saying they aren't interested in attracting great kids -- they are. However, email questions or an enthusiastic face to face at a session is pretty commonplace, I believe.</p>