7. College Rep Information Sessions And College Fairs
Every year, particularly during the fall, college representatives visit high schools throughout the country. These visits are usually offered to seniors, but sometimes are open to juniors. As noted in the Developing Relationships With Colleges guide, these visits are special opportunities to meet and develop relationships with different college reps, as well as gain insights into the colleges. Don’t pass them up.
While visiting schools in a city, sometimes college reps also hold open meetings at alumni homes, local hotels, or large high schools. These are further opportunities to find out about colleges.
Attending one of the regional college fairs that are scheduled in different locations throughout the United States is another way of gathering information about colleges and meeting reps. To find out when a fair is being offered in your area, go to the National Association of College Admissions Counselors’ (NACAC) website:
www.nacacnet.org/EventsTraining/CollegeFairs/ncf/Pages/default.aspx
As you can see, there are many ways of researching colleges. You can use all of them, or choose just one or two that seem to give you what you need.
Annie took two college trips during her junior year, visiting Midwest and East Coast colleges during Spring Break and West Coast colleges during two long weekends. She attended every informational session at her school offered by colleges on her list.
Annie also bought The Fiske Guide and Colleges That Change Lives and highlighted what she liked and didn’t like about the colleges. One of the things in The Fiske she liked best was the list of overlap colleges at the end of each college’s description. With those recommendations, she found other colleges similar to ones that she knew she liked.
As a result, she added Kalamazoo, Macalester and Goucher to her college list.
