I took my 10th grader to a local college information session a few evenings ago. We picked up a few tips and hints that might help others, so here they are:
- The lines for popular colleges like UC [anything], Carnegie Mellon, etc. were very long. We didn't bother with UCB, as the wait time looked like an hour.
- One of the recruiters told us that because my son wants to study an area that's not super-common (paleontology), he'll have an advantage among recruiters and admissions committees.
- We discovered a couple of colleges that he hadn't found while digging through one of those big guides to US colleges. This happened when he asked college A about their paleontology program. Answer: "we don't have one, but the college two booths over does." It turns out we're taking a vacation near that college this summer so that my son can attend a paleontology dig, and we'll be able to visit.
- If your child is looking a college that isn't getting a ton of visitors, you can spend a lot of time chatting with the representative.
- College fairs are a quick and easy way of gathering a lot of bumph that your child can read at leisure. Going through a pile of brochures aimed at prospective students can be more efficient than wading through websites.
Overall, the fair was a lot of fun for both of us. There was a rep from my overseas alma mater there, and we had a great chat. My son got a lot of information and is now looking seriously at a university he didn't know about --- it has a giant paleontology museum and serious program.
