Are College Fairs/College Nights worthwhile?

[Anonymous]

There are some local college nights planned and I'm wondering if my junior DD would get anything out of them. Has anyone attended one and was it beneficial to their child? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I've been, it was enlightening. As my oldest was applying, I didn't know about the timing of SAT/ACT prep etc or the common data set or EFC or the academic index

[Anonymous]

It's a good experience for your student. Teaches him/her to walk up to school rep, introduce themselves, talk about themselves a bit and learn about the school. It is just a piece of the puzzle. Teach your student what you expect of them before you walk in the door.

[Anonymous]

My DC saw them as pretty boring and very formulaic. One (temporarily) turned her off wrt a school whose direct mail marketing had really intrigued her. (Subsequent campus visit convinced her to trust the mailings and ignore the info session vibe). As a parent, I find them an inefficient way to gather info (everything they tell you that matters is on their website).

But it really depends on what you and DC know already, how you prefer to get info, whether having an event gets DC to focus, whether you plan to do tours (whose info sessions are similar), etc.