Last Wednesday and Thursday, the entire junior class attended the annual college fair in The Von Center, where over 120 schools were present over the two-day event.

The event was required and the college counseling office took attendance, but many students used the time to learn more about colleges they are interested in.

“It was a great way for us to get to learn about all the different schools out there, and get to talk about what they’re all about from the representatives,” Carly Hattman ’16 said.

Jason Honsel, Director of College Counseling, laid out his strategy for students at the fair.

“We encourage students to see a range of schools—not just the ‘most selective’ schools. More colleges are using ‘demonstrated interest’ in determining who to admit, so it is important for our students to begin to make contacts at these schools,” Honsel said.

Associate Director of College Counseling Leigh Wood agreed with Honsel’s approach.

“We put into Naviance (the online college planner that the College Counseling office uses) a list of schools for each student that has a range of possibilities, we try to mix it up,” Wood said.

Wood also mentioned that it was important for students to meet in-person the admissions officer that will most likely be the first one reading their application from each prospective school.

Matt Boyle ’16 also found that the face-to-face interaction with college representatives was important.

“It is much more helpful and personable to talk to an admissions rep from a school you are interested in as opposed to navigating through a website. It gives you a better taste of the school by meeting someone who works there and often graduated from that school,” Boyle said.

The spring college fair has been around for at least the past twenty years, with the College Counseling office selecting the colleges that attend. However, Honsel added that certain colleges chose not to participate, namely Penn, Dartmouth, and Yale.

Since the fair took place during lunchtime each day, the students received pizza and sandwiches after meeting with the representatives. However, the college office hopes exploring the many different options at the fair was more of a main course than an appetizer for the students.