HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF VIRTUAL COLLEGE FAIRS
College Fairs have long been a way for students to quickly learn about many of the college opportunities available to them after high school. Pre-pandemic, this usually meant packing into the high school gym or local convention center with hundreds of booths lined up ready to greet students. Families would fight their way to snag two minutes of time from the college admissions officer and grab brochures that would be stuffed into a bag, sometimes never to be looked at again. Fast-forward to 2022 where things have moved virtual and students are able to get a great overview of a few choice colleges from the comfort of their homes.
Though there are a few things that students should really experience on a college campus like “What does a school with 20,000 students really feel like?”, the college fair is certainly an event that is more effective in the virtual environment. But, a student’s experience is only going to be as good as the effort they put into their attendance. So, how can a student get the most out of a virtual college fair?
Assess where you are in the college exploration and list-building process
Just starting out? If you’re at the very beginning of the college exploration process, I recommend hearing a brief overview from a variety of types of colleges. Big and small… Liberal arts and technical… Urban and rural… Variety is the key in the early stages of college exploration!
Refining your list? If you’ve already developed your preliminary list then you’ll want to pay attention to the details. Find out when the schools on your list are presenting and be sure to stay for the whole session. Ask questions and interact with the admissions representatives if you are given the opportunity.
Don’t try to do it all
College exploration is something that needs to be done in bite-sized chunks. Plan to virtually visit no more than three colleges in a single day. There are dozens of opportunities over the course of each year to attend college fairs. Spread it out so that you can remember the details and enjoy the process!
Plan ahead of time
You can easily go onto the organizers' websites to see which schools are planning to attend. Do a little preliminary research on the colleges and create a schedule of which sessions to attend.
Create a list of questions you’d like to ask. Many times there is not a huge crowd inside the college fair sessions and you may have the opportunity to ask questions so have them ready to go. Some of my favorite questions include:
What are some of the most popular student traditions?
What do students usually do on the weekends?
If a student is undecided about their major, what support does the college offer to help them figure it out?
How is the college continuing to build community and maintain campus culture during the pandemic?
Take notes
Jot down both your general impressions (maybe try giving each school a score on a 1-10 scale and a couple of sentences why you gave them that score) as well as the details that were presented. You will forget things and will be glad to have your notes to look back on!
Show Up
Now that you’ve done all of the preparation, make sure you remember to be there. Put it in your calendar and set an alarm on your phone. Whatever it takes!
What’s left?
The college exploration process can feel overwhelming. My recommendation is to just get started. Don’t worry about finding the perfect college to research, just pick a college and start learning more. After you’ve researched a few colleges, you’ll have a better idea of what you can expect from college and be more confident in your exploration and list building.