College Info Nights - Are They Worth Attending?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

We now live on the West Coast, which makes travel to do college visits on the East Coast and in the Midwest more costly and difficult to schedule. 

 

I had my kids attend a couple big college fairs in previous years.  They were huge events, where it was difficult to actually get to the tables of popular schools to even ask questions.

 

We did a few college visits, which were good in that it helped my kids see that college would be interesting, exciting and achievable. But as general college visits, didn't give them much of a feel for what their life within a major might be.  (These visits were done when they were freshmen and sophomores.)

 

Purdue is coming to the area for a college info night.  This is a school that I think would be a good fit, especially for my oldest. 

 

We've been to info events for service academies and for ROTC.  But I don't really know what to expect from an event that is just one school (or the type that have a handful of schools like the College That Change Lives events).

 

Does anyone have thoughts and experiences?  Especially about the value for schools that the student might not visit in person before applying.  If you had a chance to attend an event like this, what would you want to come away knowing?

 

[Bootsie]

What the university chooses to highlight in these presentations can be telling.  At times you can get a sense of the school:  Is the program well organized?  Are handouts helpful?  Are PowerPoints, or other materials used, prepared with care (free of grammatical errors, etc.), Does the person presenting seem happy and content with their employment.  These can be subtle things, but they can be important.  You won't pick up on these things at every presentation, but outliers will stand out.

 

Also, I know that some schools base acceptance and merit awards, to some degree, on the interest the student shows in the school.  Some keep a database with every time the student contacts the university in some way, email, phone call, attending an info session, etc.  The university is selling itself at these meetings, but it is also a situation in which they are gathering info about the student.

[MariaT]

We just attended a college fair in Chicago this weekend to see the Sarah Lawrence rep, and it was for the same reasons-- the school is too far for us to visit right now. We wanted DS to have a chance to meet a counselor, make an impression. He brought a resume, was the first student to the booth, was already knowledgeable about the school. He was able to talk a bit about himself. He left his resume, got her card and he'll follow up with a thank you email. He is doing the same with a couple other East Coast schools that are coming out next month-- meet the rep, treat it like a mini-interview, leave a resume, follow up with a thank you email.

 

It's the best we can do right now to get on the counselor's radar before application deadlines.

 

While DS did his thing, I wandered up and down the aisles until he was done and started looking for me. He didn't pick up any brochures!-- got to see the brochures, to see what they are and are not promoting-- so I backtracked to the booth while he waited outside the venue. I waited while a handful of students stopped by. None of them knew anything about the school, which is not so unusual-- this fair was very heavy on Midwestern schools. Still, I am hopeful that my kid would stand out. In a good way.

Maria

[angela in ohio]

It depends on why you want to attend the night and what other things you have to do with that time. I don't think they are anything to miss another event for. With my oldest, we did a few of them. Most were for about four schools, but one was a single school. If you know nothing about the schools, and you would choose to listen to someone go over the information rather than read it from the school's site, it would be helpful. None of the ones we attended tracked anything beyond simple attendance, so all of the students trying to wow the admissions folks were nameless faces. :D I saw quite a few parents with long faces after they or their child had cornered the admission rep and recited lists of their child's accomplishments, and they were never asked for their name.

 

Far most useful were the local interviews, either with admissions folks or alumni. Another better option is to find a friendly nearby private school which receives reps and would allow you to come in.

[gingersmom]

My daughter has been and leaves thinking she loves some schools, till we go visit in person.

 

Purdue was a love that became a hate.