What to expect? "Information session and reception"

<p>We are going to a college information session and reception today; there are about 4-5 schools there, but my DD is really interested in only one of them. What happens at these sessions? What should we be prepared for? She wants to know if the college admissions officer really wants to meet her and, if so, will he actually remember her? Any clues about what to expect appreciated!</p>

<p>Depends how many people are there, but likely they'll give a canned talk about the college search and selection process generally, maybe a few minutes on each of their schools, then maybe some open Q & A, followed hopefully by breakout sessions where prospective applicants get to ask individual questions of the representatives of each of the schools. They're just trying to drum up applications and interest in their schools. Likely they'll pass out cards to collect contact information so they can push additional mailings and e-mail traffic at your D. Not likely that there will be enough one-on-one time that anything memorable on way or the other will stick in the head of the admissions officer, but you never know. My D & I went to one of these yesterday and she had a very good conversation with the admissions officer from a school she's particularly interested in, who seemed to take special note of her and specifically asked her to repeat her name at the end of their conversation. My guess is it made a small impression that, if followed up in subsequent contacts, will go down as "strong interest" in the school---a plus at most smaller schools.</p>