FIRST IMPRESSIONS

1. FIRST IMPRESSIONS HOW TO WOW COLLEGE RECRUITERS

2. COLLEGE FAIRS Come prepared/pen and notebook Bring resume or business card Do your homework Dress appropriately Smile Make eye contact Shake hands and introduce yourself Ask questions Students first/Parents second

3. Resume/Business Card Street Number and Name City, State and Zip Code Phone Number Email Address

4. Do Your Homework Review college website CollegeinColorado.org Fastweb.com Talk to alumni and students

5. Dress Appropriately

6. Dress Appropriately

7. Dress Appropriately

8. Ask Questions • QUESTIONS TO ASK COLLEGE RECRUITERS • Start off with "Hello, how are you?" or "Hi, my name is..." for a relaxed beginning to your conversation. • Try not to ask a vague question like "Tell me about your college," since the rep will have no idea where to start. That can be frustrating for the college rep and the student, because the conversation will have no direction. • Be specific with questions by saying things like "Tell me about class spirit" or "Can you give me examples of some campus traditions," instead. Those types of questions will give you a sense of the atmosphere and give the rep something specific to talk about. • Ask for a list of majors that you can take with you and look over later. • Ask about the enrollment deadline and the recommendations for taking the SAT. Some colleges will need scores earlier. • Ask if subject scores (like SAT II Math or History) are required or recommended. • Feel free to ask if the rep can waive your application fee, but know that this usually works best at private colleges. • Ask if there are any scholarship secrets. There are many little-known tricks that differ from college to college, but the conversation doesn't always get around to this in a rushed environment like a college fair. • You will want to know the admission requirements, of course, but you may also want to ask whether admissions officers make decisions on numbers, or if they really do consider activities. Some college go by scores and grades and follow a formula. Other colleges really give greater weight to activities, experience, and interests. • Ask if a student leader can contact you to give you a student's perspective. Provide an email address for this. • Go ahead and ask about the food. Sometimes there are many choices and other times there aren't. Remember, you'll have to live with it for four years. • Find out the safety history of the campus and the surrounding town. Sometimes the campus rests in an area where high crime takes place just outside the area considered the campus. A representative may not mention this. This is also something you should research on your own, before you get too attached to the dream. Be safe! • Ask how many of the students drop out, transfer away, or how many stay and graduate. College reps may cringe at this one, because student retention is a touchy issue at many colleges. A low retention rate may be a warning sign, though. • Ask: "What's the biggest complaint from current students?" • Is tutoring available? • If class size is important, ask about it. Keep in mind, however, that class sizes are less important when good individual tutoring is available. • Find out if tutoring is free. • Ask for a direct phone number for an admission counselor and a financial aid counselor, to avoid getting caught up in an automated phone quagmire at some point. Smaller colleges will be happy to provide this, but larger colleges may not. It's always worth a try. • Find out if the administration listens to student concerns. This is one of the things you might want to ask a student leader. • Ask if you'll have to pay for parking or if you'll have to walk a million miles from parking lot to classes. • Ask how the food plan works. • If you are very conservative or very liberal in your thinking, ask about the political/social climate. This is one of the things that could cause a feeling of discomfort or alienation down the road. It's not a silly question.

9. Campus Visits • Getting the Most Out of a College Visit • There's more to a college visit than simply taking a tour • Students settle in at McGill University • Courtesy of Thomas Campbell, StockXchng Photos • Plan Ahead: Plan your visit for a time when classes are in session and the school is bustling. Visiting colleges as part of your summer vacation may seem like a good, cost-conscious idea, but there are many reasons to avoid that. Instead, visit over Veterans Day or Martin Luther King weekends, your high school's spring break or the Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving break - dates when high schools are typically closed, but colleges are open. • Reserve a Tour: Some schools have drop-in tours, but most require reservations ahead of time. And if you want anything special – a meeting with an admissions officer or a professor, for example, the chance to sit in on a lecture or even stay overnight in a dorm, you may need to book that anywhere from a week to six weeks ahead of time. Plan your day carefully - you'll want time to explore the campus, experience academic life and take care of any admissions interviews or financial aid discussions. (If your child is a prospective music major, it's particularly important that he schedule a lesson with a member of the faculty to make sure that relationship is a good fit. He'll probably also want to hear one of the performing ensembles rehearse or perform.) Those requests to the school should come directly from your child, and most arrangements can be made online. So this is also a good time for your child to change his or her e-mail address from Hotchick123@aol or Keggerlover@gmail to something a tad more serious, like his name. • Arrive Early: Download a campus map and any additional paperwork the school has sent. Allow enough time to get lost, to look for parking, and to find the admissions office on an unfamiliar, possibly very large campus. Most campus tours leave from the admissions office, where your child may be asked to fill out extra forms assessing his interests or asking questions about his GPA or test scores, so jot those numbers down. • Ask Questions: Campus tours are a great way to get oriented but bear in mind that your charming, backward-walking tour guide is paid to be perky. He or she has a script to follow and their stats reflect what’s in the campus brochure. So sit down with your child beforehand and think about the questions that aren’t answered in the printed materials or on the university web site. And when you ask questions – and you should, if your child is having a shyness attack and no other student on the tour is speaking up – draw from that list. (Click here for a sampling of 17 good college tour questions.)

10. Campus Visits • Escape the Tour: Your tour guide will show you the highlights, but it's important to do some exploring on our own. If the dorms are not included on the tour, ask if you can peek anyway. Sometimes an R.A. can show you around. If your child is interested in a specific department, make arrangements for him to meet with a professor or sit in on a class. (If it's a huge lecture hall, it's fine for a parent to sit in the back. If it's a small seminar, go get a latte while your child attends without you.) But whether or not you have an appointment, make a point of swinging by the department office to read the bulletin boards in the hallway, look at the types of events hosted, and ask questions. Prospective German or Italian majors, for example, may discover they've already completed all the language courses a small college offers in their discipline. Woodwind players may discover the music department only has programs for strings. • Scope Out the Big Three: Laptop and bicycle burglaries top any university's crime statistics, but unfortunately, violence lurks there too. So colleges install call stations – a simple telephone kiosk topped with a blue light so students who are in trouble or frightened can summon campus security. The more blue phones, the higher the crime rate, so scope out the campus security situation - how big a problem is crime, what kinds occur, and what is the school doing to keep its students safe? Many schools offer a nighttime taxi (or Cushman cart) service to ferry students home from the library or student union after dark. Check out campus health facilities too - how extensive are the medical and mental health services? And, get a peek inside those dorms. • Find Students: Talk to regular students too, not just your tour guide. If your child has friends (or siblings of friends) who go to this school, arrange to meet them for coffee or lunch. Have them show you around. Pepper them with questions. No connections? Strike up a conversation with students in the student union, quad or dining hall - ask them how they like the school, what they'd change if they could, the pros and the cons. • Play tourist: Half the fun of a college campus is the college town, so take time to explore the surrounding neighborhoods. Find your tour guide’s favorite coffee house or famous pizzeria. If your child ends up attending this school, you’ll be spending a lot of time here, so scout out nice hotels and a good restaurant to celebrate your kid’s fantastic report card. And while you're strolling about, chat with your child about his impressions. What did he think of the school, the area, the people? Do these people look like his high school’s population or are they more or less diverse? Can he see himself here, strolling these halls and studying and playing with these people? Can you?

11. Campus Visits • College Visit Questions • Ask these questions during your college visit and campus tour. • Your guide on a campus visit is one of your best sources to answer questions about college. • The guides are often college students, so they have first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to live and study on campus. • But don’t depend solely on the guide to answer your questions. Ask professors, the admissions office and other college students, too. • Here are a few college visit questions you can ask during your campus tour: • Questions About Campus Housing • Can students choose which college dorm they live in? • What amenities (air conditioning, refrigerator, bathroom, etc.) do the rooms have? • How many roommates are assigned to a dorm room? • How are roommates chosen? • Do all students live on-campus? Do only freshmen? • What types of security measures are in place at the dorms? • Questions About Classes • How difficult is it to enroll in the courses you need? • What is the distance between the dorms and classroom buildings? • How many students are in each class? What is the faculty-student ratio? • How many hours per week do you spend in class? How many hours do you study? • Questions About Getting Around • Does the college have a campus shuttle service? • Can students bring a car to campus? • If there is no transportation, are there stores for supplies and groceries within walking distance? • Questions About Activities • What types of clubs are offered? • Does the college have intramural sports? • What events (speakers, movies, festivals, etc.) does the college host? • What is student life like on the weekends? Weeknights? • Other Questions • How do you like the cafeteria food? How many cafeterias does the college have? Do they all offer the same food? • Are on-campus jobs available? • Do you feel safe on-campus? Off-campus? • Is the community welcoming of students? • What do you like best about this college? Worst?

12. Preparing for the Interview • The College Interview • The Basics • A college interview is a chance to show that you're more than just test scores and grades. And it’s an exchange of information — you learn about the college and the college learns about you. Not every college requires an interview: it may be mandatory, optional or not offered at all. • The interview is just one of many factors in the admission decision and it is rarely the deciding one. Still, if a borderline student turns out to be impressive, the interviewer has the authority to write a letter supporting admission. • Types of Interviews • Interviews vary depending on the college, student and particular situation. You could find yourself interviewing with an admission officer, a student or an alumnus. Most of these interviews last between 30 and 60 minutes. • There are also other, less formal, interview situations. You may have the opportunity to participate in a group information session with admission staff members and current students. Many high schools hold college fairs, where you can meet with representatives on an individual basis. • If you intend to attend a music, drama or dance institute, you should plan on performing an audition or submitting a portfolio, in addition to taking part in any necessary interview.  • Why Interview? • Most colleges don't require an interview; however, there are many benefits to meeting face-to-face with an admission officer. Interviews give you the chance to: • Show that you are seriously interested in attending. • Convey what you can bring to a campus community. • Learn more about a college’s programs. • Explain variations in your record — for example, changes in your grades. • Be Your Own Best Advocate • The admission officers learn about you from a group of documents: your transcript, test scores and application. While your essay and recommendations can offer an impression of who you are, words on paper can reveal only so much. The interview is your chance to be your own advocate by talking positively about your interests and enthusiasms, to show your personality, and to boost your chance of admission. • Discuss Special Circumstances • The interview is a good time to explain anything unusual in your transcript or discuss any personal circumstances that affected your studies. Any problems that you may find difficult to write about in the application are often easier to discuss with a sympathetic admission counselor. For example: • You may not be the best math student, but it never stopped you from taking AP® Calculus — tell the interviewer why you persisted despite such difficulties. • During sophomore year, your parents divorced and your academic work took a downturn. • You have a learning disability and need to make an extra effort with every assignment.

13. Preparing for the Interview • Making Your Interview a Positive Experience • You can’t pass or fail, so don’t be nervous. As long as you've prepared and practiced, you can probably make a good impression. Here are some other tips: • Accept a college’s offer of an interview. • Be on time. • Go into the interview alone, without your parents. • Be polite to everyone you meet. • Act naturally. • Respond conversationally — don’t memorize a speech. • Use appropriate language and avoid slang. • Be confident but not arrogant. • Tell the truth. • Express interest in the college and its programs. • Ask questions not covered by the college catalog or website. • Avoid eating or drinking during the interview. • Dress neatly and cleanly; don’t wear T-shirts or other casual clothing. • Be Sure to Ask Questions • Asking questions shows that you're interested in the college and what the admission officer has to say. You should try to ask questions that indicate you’ve done some research about the college and know why you consider it a good fit for you. Also, asking questions can help you discover characteristics that colleges can't convey in a catalog.

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