Earlier this week, I helped my alma mater at a college fair. It has been probably 15 years since I've been to a college fair, and that time I was on the side of looking at the colleges. There were schools from all over the country represented! I had a good time, talking to the kids and parents and seeing the different places they are in - some are excited to be going away (some of the parents seem most excited for them to be going away), others are overwhelmed or shy (shy - that was me at that age!). It is a huge decision to make and such an exciting time in their lives.
Some area schools even brought the middle schoolers, I thought it was strange at first but a great idea really - never too early to think about college!
Luckily there was an admissions counselor with me, she could answer all the questions really well -- and tied the answer to the age of the kids, telling middle schoolers to study and the way to prepare is to read a lot to improve their vocabulary, and having much more specific answers to the high schoolers' questions. I felt like I should've studied before going! Even after having gone there for 4 years and worked for 6 years, I couldn't answer some of the questions, but I think that just comes with practice. The school has also changed a lot since I left, programs they have now and sports - we never had sports while I was there. I know that I was a help even without having all the answers. Rather than the admissions rep being able to talk to only 1 family at a time, I could also talk to one and we also had a student from the school so we could talk to 3 families at once. If they have to wait too long they may leave and never come back. If you have a chance to represent your school at a college fair, I recommend it. I will definitely do it again, but am glad I didn't do it as a job - its a tough schedule, fairs every night and in different parts of the state/country, tough to do with a spouse....I know that I miss Kevin when he's gone for only a few nights, and it would be really hard to do for weeks at a time...
Some area schools even brought the middle schoolers, I thought it was strange at first but a great idea really - never too early to think about college!
Luckily there was an admissions counselor with me, she could answer all the questions really well -- and tied the answer to the age of the kids, telling middle schoolers to study and the way to prepare is to read a lot to improve their vocabulary, and having much more specific answers to the high schoolers' questions. I felt like I should've studied before going! Even after having gone there for 4 years and worked for 6 years, I couldn't answer some of the questions, but I think that just comes with practice. The school has also changed a lot since I left, programs they have now and sports - we never had sports while I was there. I know that I was a help even without having all the answers. Rather than the admissions rep being able to talk to only 1 family at a time, I could also talk to one and we also had a student from the school so we could talk to 3 families at once. If they have to wait too long they may leave and never come back. If you have a chance to represent your school at a college fair, I recommend it. I will definitely do it again, but am glad I didn't do it as a job - its a tough schedule, fairs every night and in different parts of the state/country, tough to do with a spouse....I know that I miss Kevin when he's gone for only a few nights, and it would be really hard to do for weeks at a time...
Wow kudos to you Carol for doing that, go UST! I know I would need to study about what is going on now at UST considering its been you know almost 10 years ago we graduated shhhhh.
ReplyDelete