Every year during the fall and the spring the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) sponsors the National College Fair. This event brings in hundreds of colleges from around the United States to meet with potential students and their families. The event can be advantageous if students and families plan ahead.
The Structure of the College Fair
Usually held in a large convention center, the NACAC College Fair invites colleges to participate. Each college pays for a booth or space at the event. The booth will have at least one representative from the college, promotional material, and other informational material about the college.
The booths are lined up next to one another, and students go up and down rows visiting the booths. Also, students and families can opt to attend informational seminars on various college related topics. Concession food is usually also available.
How to Plan for the College Fair
The first step to plan for the college fair is to find out when the event will take place. This can be done by talking to a school counselor or accessing the information on the NACAC website. The event is usually two days long, but students need only attend the fair for a few hours on one of the days.
The second step is to obtain a list of all of the colleges that will be attending the fair. The list of colleges is also on the NACAC website. Finding which colleges will be in attendance is crucial to the planning process.
The third step is to highlight any college that appeals to the student. It could just be the name of the college or another aspect that interests the student to the college. Students should limit the number of highlighted colleges to 15 or fewer.
The fourth step is to obtain a map of the booths in the convention center. Using the names of the highlighted colleges, students should highlight the location of each booth of the college they would like to visit. This will create a map that the student will follow once in the convention center.
Activities at the College Fair
Upon entering the convention center can be daunting. Some venues host over 35,000 students during the event. Without a map and plan students and families can be overwhelmed.
Students can use their highlighted map to begin the event. They need to find the closest college booth according to the highlighted map. Once at the booth the student may need to wait until the representative finishes talking with other students and families.
When the representative is ready, the student can approach the representative and express that they are interested in attending the institution. The representative will usually facilitate the discussion from there; however, if the student has specific questions, they should be sure to ask during this time.
Because of the limited time the representative has to talk to each student, they will usually invite the student to sign up an email or address for information to be sent to the student. This step is two-fold: one, to get more information to the student; and two, to give the college admission office names of potential students to recruit.
Overall, the NACAC College Fair is a great opportunity for students to speak to multiple colleges and obtain information on several colleges at one time. While many students enjoy attending the event with friends, a better choice is for parents to attend the event with their student. This will provide the family an opportunity to plan the student’s future together.
 |
