What’s this all about?
I attended my first college fair last week.
OK, so this was only the first college fair I’ve ever attended without a university’s logo on my chest, and the only one that I didn’t find myself behind the table representing that university. The fair was held by the Pittsburgh Diocese’s Catholic high schools, and several of those school’s counselors are dear friends. Even though I’d recently elected free agency with River’s Edge nearing its debut, I wanted to help out those friends, and see several of my admissions friends whom I already miss. I emceed a panel where reps from six colleges dished on the college admissions process to parents and students.
As I drove home from the South Hills, with The Menzingers’ “Everything I Ever Saw” playing on my Spotify, it got me reflecting on my own journey. I was not technically a first-generation student, but shared some similarities. Forgoing college, my dad entered the workforce directly from high school and my mom was what the current nomenclature would call a “post-traditional student.” She attended college part-time in the evenings, and I actually got to see her walk at graduation. This was a deeply impactful experience that I feel set me on the path that led me to working in higher education. I remember poking around the buildings on her campus, seeing the research posters on the walls, the coming-together of students and the validation that being an eager learner wasn’t “uncool,” like it sometimes felt in the schools or hockey locker rooms of my youth.
We didn’t have the financial resources or first-hand experiences of many of my peers, but my parents couldn’t have been more awesome or supportive of my and my sister’s journey to college. They attended financial aid workshops, drove us to every corner of the state to see campuses, and read every bit of literature they could find. My mom just said the other day that I knew where I was attending in middle school. And my sister, the moment she stepped foot in North Philly she knew she was going to be a Temple Owl. But we never had a college fair within a reasonable driving distance from our community, and I often wonder “what if” I had broadened my search a little bit? I only officially visited three campuses - a large urban public, a mid-size rural public, and a small, suburban private (all in PA). Maybe I would have ended up at the same place, maybe not. (Thankfully, my county has since added an annual college fair.)
My point with this is that, knowing what I now do about college admissions, I am a big proponent of students taking advantage of the immense time, effort, and resources colleges put into being accessible to them. If your school or community has a college fair, bring an open mind and use that time to learn about schools in places you’ve never been or heard of. Same goes for when colleges visit your high school, if that is available. Even if you have just a mild interest in the school, it can attune you to the things that are important to you, what questions you should be asking and answering, and so on. Finally, one of the biggest yet simplest resources is colleges’ admission websites. More often than not, these have a page where you can locate your region’s admissions contact. When I started in admissions, this was not yet commonplace, but has become the standard, and is a great way to make a connection. As I said in my last entry, if the person who is responsible for your state/region/high school does not at least know your name, you are doing yourself a disservice. I just heard an admissions officer say on a podcast, that the applications at his school are read by that region’s counselor, and that they look for reasons TO admit a student (as opposed to not admitting them). The podcast is the College Admissions Process podcast by Dr. John Durante, and I highly recommend it!
The title of this entry happens to be my all-time favorite question ever asked by a student, who stopped by my table at a college fair. I could tell he was a little exasperated, probably not sure where to start, and had never heard of my university. But it was just so genuine, and I so appreciated the courage it took to ask and start the conversation. If such an opportunity arises for you, I hope you will, in your way, summon that courage. In the coming weeks and months, I look forward to showing and telling you what River’s Edge is all about.
‘Til then,
--
AK
