• Find the college fair. Well, obviously, but if your school doesn’t offer one, there are national fairs that happen on specific weekends in specific cities around the country. Find the one nearest to you!
• Register for the fair. Some of these national fairs require that students register. Not all, but some.
• Print a list of the colleges featured at your fair. Highlight the ones that peak your interest.
• Bring a pen!
• And a notebook.
• And a backpack or bag to hold brochures.
• Make sure you have a working email address. Some colleges will have a newsletter sign-up sheet for you to get more information about the school and its programs.
• Write down questions to ask representatives. Seriously. Do this! If you don’t know what to ask, take a look at Questions to Interview Your Potential College.
• Do not be afraid to attend an informational meeting or question session if it is offered! Even if you don’t know what to ask, hearing other important questions being answered will be beneficial.
• Take notes.
• Take more notes!
• Allow yourself time to visit booths that you didn’t highlight initially. They might surprise you!

When you get home after the fair, look at all the notes you took and brochures you collected. If there are schools that stood out, dig deeper into their websites to see if they are truly a good fit for you. Find colleges on Cappex and browse their profiles to learn more about them. In addition, find out what schools are similar to the ones you’ve collected. All of the colleges and universities available to you cannot possibly be represented in one college fair, so use the fair as a springboard for your search.

The college search process does not have to be frustrating and tedious. It may feel that way at times, but know that there is seldom just one school that suits your needs. There are tons of schools out there that will give you a great education and can make you a happy student!

Categorize

One way you can begin digging through all of the information you’ve picked up is to categorize everything. You can separate them by places you’re interested in and places you probably won’t be interested in, or by places you know a lot about and places you know little about. By splitting up the information into categorizes, you can have a better grasp on what it is you’ve actually picked up, and where you are in your college search.

Look at the Pictures

The information you receive will likely have pictures of the campus on it. Take time to actually look at these pictures. While a picture of the campus can’t make up for a real visitation, you can still tell a lot from the picture. Does this look like a place you could call home, or does it look scary? Do you find the campus attractive? Can you see yourself there?

Read the Majors List

You were likely given for many of the colleges a list of majors you could pursue at that college. Look at what the different colleges offer. What kind of school is this? You can often tell just by looking at the majors a little about that school’s culture. A technical school will probably have a higher value on sciences as opposed to a liberal arts school.

Re-Read Your Notes

If you took notes during the college fair, re-read them, while looking at the materials associated with the colleges you wrote about. This will allow you to get a more conceptualized idea of the different institutions.

Weed Some Out

There are some colleges you’ll know from the very start that you’re uninterested. While you may want to look over the material for these schools, just to be sure you haven’t missed something really great, you can start creating a pile of places you don’t want to attend based on whatever reason. Be sure to take note as to why you’re uninterested in these schools, as this is part of the process of narrowing down your perfect college match.

Hit the Web

Whatever you’ve received at the college fair, there’s more of it online. By going to the web sites of the schools you’re interested in, you can answer your own questions, get more information, and possibly continue to narrow down your search.

Make Contact

If you want to set up a college visit, talk to an advisor, shadow a student, or just get more information, there’s likely a business card for someone who can help you do that. Don’t be afraid to send them a quick email or give them a call. That’s their job!

Want to search for scholarships or find your perfect college fit? Make your profile today on Cappex!

You’ve spent the hours studying to get your grades up, the afternoons at extra-circular activities, and the evenings at SAT prep courses, and suddenly, it’s the end of your junior year and it’s time to really start thinking about college. If you’re not quite sure where to attend college, let alone where to even apply, a “college fair” is a fast and easy way to collect tons of information on colleges and universities in your local area.

 What You’ll Need:

• An hour or two
• A folder
• A notebook
• A pen
• An open mind

A college fair usually occurs on a weekday evening in a hall or gym in your community. Your adviser, councilor, or teachers can likely give you days and times for upcoming college fairs. College admissions representatives from the area set up tables stocked with fliers, information sheets, and occasionally pens, key chains and other fun marketing toys for you to collect! You’re free to wander around the tables you find interesting, asking the representatives any questions you might have on the various institutions. Even if you have a pretty good idea on what colleges you’ll be applying to, it may not be a bad idea to check out a few others anyway. Colleges are always working to make the college experience as successful and enjoyable as possible, whether that means adding additional programs or altering their residence life policies! You don’t know what you could be missing until you check it out!

As you walk from table to table, in your notebook, describe your thoughts as they’re fresh in your mind, and pick up everything they’ll let you take home. With so many colleges in one place handing out information, it can be easy to start confusing which college had what programs.

After leaving the fair, or within a few days, sort through the information you’ve obtained. It might be beneficial to create comparative charts of your top colleges so you can see their differences side by side. By going through your career fair information, you may also come up with some questions you hadn’t thought of asking. More than likely, you have a pile of business cards and contact sheets in your pile. Feel free to follow up with any representatives on questions or concerns you may have. That’s what they’re there for!

Let Cappex assist you in finding your perfect college fit by making a profile at www.cappex.com today! It’s free.