<p>For anyone interested in college fairs, here is a list. I haven't attended any of these but I hear they are fantastic.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nacac.com/exhibit/fair.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.nacac.com/exhibit/fair.cfm</a></p>
<p>Anyone been to one of these before?</p>
<p>They are finally coming to Houston - in April. Oh well, I guess I can take my son (HS freshman).</p>
<p>I've been to several college fairs with my daughter, including the enormous NACAC national fair. </p>
<p>My personal take: the larger ones, like the NACAC national fairs, tend to attract so many kids and parents that their usefulness is mainly limited to collecting large amounts of brochures and literature all at once...The same brochures you'll be getting in the mail for the next few years anyhow. College info. junkie that I am, I found the NACAC fair exciting, but my daughter found it overwhelming and frustrating at times. </p>
<p>You might spot a few schools you've never heard of, and that catch your child's interest but the booths of the "name brand" schools tend to overwhelmed with people. If you're lucky, and don't mind waiting on line, you might get to ask admissions reps of the more popular schools one or two basic questions. Plan your questions beforehand as you won't get but a moment or two to ask them before someone else pushes to the front of the crowd. Occaisonally, you may get to talk with an admissions rep in a little more detail, but not at the same level you would during a college visit. Don't go expecting to establish any sort of relationship with the admissions people of a particular school - that's not what these larger fairs are for. </p>
<p>Some of the seminars that are often run in conjunction with these fairs can offer useful general information about the admissions process, however. </p>
<p>I'd say if you're going to the NACAC fair, get the list of which schools will be attending beforehand and then focus on a few of particular interest first. As I said, have a few basic questions to ask. You can then see if any other schools catch your eye. If you want to get on the mailing lists of schools, it's useful to pre-print your name, address, date of graduation and email address on pre-pasted mailing labels. You can then stick those right on the business reply cards they hand out at each booth without having to rewrite your information at each booth.</p>
<p>I find the smaller, more specialized fairs - like the CTL fair, some of the church-related college fairs, the HBCU fairs, and the ones where there's a small group of colleges touring together - are more conducive to one-to-one discussions with admissions. I'd start with one of those before the NACAC fair.
I have a list of them, plus more tips on college fairs here:
<a href="http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2005/07/connecting-with-colleges-a_112249659113115958.html%5B/url%5D">http://collegehunt.blogspot.com/2005/07/connecting-with-colleges-a_112249659113115958.html</a></p>
<p>My kids have all been to the NACAC conference in Nashville as part of their school program. I think the first two were already pretty focused on which schools they were interested in and the NACAC conference had no real positive or negative influence on them. </p>
<p>S2 was surprisingly inspired by the evening's events last April, and came home really excited about Kenyon, which he continues to favor after a summer visit. I think I personally would find the vastness of the program difficult to navigate, but think Carolyn's advice is excellent to psyche out which colleges to check out ahead of time.</p>
<p>Momofthree,
Knowing the personality of your S2, I suspect there may also be an element of personality involved with whether a large college fair is a hit or a miss -- some kids may really enjoy large college fairs and get into all of the excitement. Others may need something smaller and more intimate. So maybe you need to kind of weigh what type of child you have too.</p>
<p>Carolyn,</p>
<p>I think you are exactly right about this! And I think S2's experience could actually itself have been "hit AND miss!" :)</p>
<p>The only benefit I found of attending the enormous college fair in New York (Long Island) when S was a sophomore was getting him used to the idea of the college search, and the enormity of it, and the idea of making it "real". Honestly, I don't know if the fairs are smaller in other locations, but this one is a virtual cattle call. Yes, you can fill out post cards and pick up brochures.But you're not going to spend quality time speaking to adcoms..and noone is going to remember your name.There are lines everywhere,for everything.You are better off doing the visits to your HS by ad people, or a regional meeting, or an info session at a regional hotel,IMHO.</p>
<p>Wealth, thanks for the link. D and I will try to attend the Spokane Fair. Do you know if the morning and evening activities/booths are the same? We live almost 2 hours away and I dont want to take D out of school in order to attend the morning session.</p>
<p>Carolyn, thanks for the idea about pre-printing stickers.</p>
<p>Ah, this brings back memories.</p>
<p>I recall working the Minneapolis fair and being placed by Bemidji State. I spent the day lending pens and table space to the legions of families crowding that table for information, filling out interest cards, etc. I was representing a small woman's college in VA and hour after hour got to watch packs of boys wander by who would inevitably give a friend a push and say "That's where YOU should go!" amidst guffaws. I was across the way from Colgate, who similarly got to enjoy comments like "Hey! A TOOTHPASTE college!" We shared a lot of looks, that Colgate rep and I.</p>
<p>In my experience, daytime is filled with large packs of students who come by bus. Evenings are family groups.</p>