Find A College Through College Fairs

If you’re a high school student or a community college student looking to transfer, odds are, you’ve been asked “what university will you be going to?”  Most common answer, “I don’t know yet.”  Students struggle to find a college they are are 100% sure they want to go to for a number of reasons.  I will touch on these reasons in a later post.  Regardless of not knowing what college to choose or knowing exactly what college you want to transfer to, attending a college fair is one of the best ways to find a college that matches your wants and needs.

Find A College

Finding a college fair can be a little tricky if you have never done it before.  But once you know where to look, you’ll be set for future research.  For this example, I went to the local newspaper’s website.  In San Francisco, I often frequent the Examiner.  On their website, I simply typed in College Fair in their search field, and the results came back with an upcoming college fair.

The college fair I found is coming up on Saturday, April 17 from 1:30 -4:30 pm.  The location is in the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco.  Here is the link to the actual College Fair.  These colleges are great because you’re exposed to hundreds of colleges and workshops ranging from Financial Aid, Historically Black Colleges, University of California (UC’s), California State University (CSU’s), California Community Colleges, etc.  The workshops are great because they cover college applications, personal statements, and other college resources that are available for you.  There will even be bilingual volunteers to answer any questions from non-English speaking students or parents.

If you are planning to attend a college fair, especially one of this magnitude, be sure to pre-register to save you a spot.  The college fair websites provide registration information or you can call the contact listed on the college fair website.

Attending a college fair can be an overwhelming experience.  For new students attending for the first time, I would recommend you have an action plan for what you want to accomplish.  Prior to the event, you should research schools that you are thinking about attending and create a list of who you want to talk to.  Come prepared with specific questions about the individual schools.  This is your opportunity to find out why you should go to one school over another all in one day.

Use online resources like our College Directory to find a specific school, or other websites such as College Board or Peterson’s.  Be realistic about the schools you are interested in and use the fair as an opportunity to get information from those colleges that you are serious about.

With hundreds of students cramming to speak to the college reps, it’s important to make a meaningful introduction.

The Introduction To Find A College

Use your time with the college reps wisely as you will only have a few minutes to speak to them.

• Introduce yourself
• Express why you are interested in their school.
• Provide a quick snapshot of their background
• Ask your questions (majors, programs, statistics, sports, etc

By the end of the college fair, you and your parents (should they go with you), should have a better understanding of the resources, and facts about potential colleges and universities.  Hopefully this resource will help you find a college a little easier or at least point you in the right direction!

College Help: “To find a college, you must put in time doing research!”

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Tags: apply to college, choosing a college, college application, college degree search, college fair, college help, college information, college research, college search, find a college, finding the right college, us college search

One Response to “Find A College Through College Fairs”

1. Ask The Right Questions At A College Fair | College To Careers says:

   April 14, 2010 at 6:02 am

   [...] want to know what to ask at the college fair.  I wrote an article on finding a college through a college fair, but with all the emails we received about what to ask, we are providing you sample questions of [...]