Tips for Making the Most Out of College Fairs

Recently, NACAC (The National Association of College Admission Counselors) announced the spring college fair schedule. These are big productions, though not as exciting as your favorite band coming to town, and should not be missed. Click HERE for the schedule. Also, check with your high school college counseling center to see when and where others will be held in your area this spring too.

The following is advice from a former Admission Counselor who spent hours upon hours standing (that’s right standing, not sitting) behind cloth covered tables waiting anxiously to talk to kids just like you.

1. You don’t have to shake hands, but introduce yourself!    

Introduce yourself to the Admission (or alumni) representative standing behind the table of your favorite school(s). While it’s not very likely they will remember your name after just one time, if it’s one of many visits it might start to click when they see you thereafter. But just as importantly (or maybe more importantly) do it yourself. Do not have your mom or dad introduce you. Show that you have the confidence, initiative, and an interest by walking up to a representative. It will go much further than standing quietly by the side while your confident and interested mom or dad does this. You are the one seeking Admission, after all. And by the way - if you are sick or have just sneezed, don’t shake their hand.

2. Do ask questions, but not ones to which you could have easily obtained the answer in a guide book. 

If you want to know how many students attend the school, where they are located, or whether they have English as a major – go online. Use the people who have traveled (perhaps from very far away) and gotten all dressed up to meet you to ask questions that are less likely to be answered on the school’s website. If you love English, ask the representative to tell you about everyone’s favorite professor or about the style in which most of them teach. And definitely do not ask what their most popular program is. That answer rarely helps a student decide if it’s the school for them, and as a former Admission Counselor, hearing it is like nails on a chalkboard.

3. Go Green.

Admission Counselors bring a lot of reading materials to a college fair, and they want you to take them. But if you are not a musician or do not have any interest in taking classes in the Music department at the college, don’t take the music brochure. You’ll just end up throwing it away later. If you do happen to take more than you need, or find that you’ve gotten all you can out of a brochure you picked up, take it to your high school counseling office for others to use.

4. It should be fun, but it isn’t social hour.

It’s possible that 25 of your closest friends are going to the same college fair but it doesn’t mean it’s time to socialize. Use the time you have been given (whether it’s during school or in the evening) to go around to the various tables and learn about colleges. There’s bound to be a better time to catch up, gossip, or make weekend plans than at a college fair. And nothing turns an Admission counselor off faster than seeing that you are more engaged in your friends than their school.