Many students choose to attend Peddie because of the school’s support throughout upperclassmen students’ college application process. The process is commonly seen as daunting and stressful, and most people, including myself, often find themselves struggling to actually begin. So, I went to the junior college fair, considering it the official beginning of my college process.
Juniors entered the college fair with varying experiences and familiarity with the college process — some went in simply having skimmed a couple of websites the night before, while others went in after years of curating a list of schools, going on in-person tours, and consulting family members. Due to this disparity, admissions officers were faced with questions about a wide variety of topics ranging from the average class size to the quality of the food. I personally felt insecure asking too many questions at first, worrying that I might be bothering the representatives by asking about something I could easily find after more research. Nevertheless, most admissions officers I talked to were ready to answer any of my questions with extreme detail, all while keeping a cordial smile on their faces. With every college booth I visited, I found myself more relaxed as I was confident that whatever I said would be received with understanding.
Another aspect I appreciated was the efficiency of the fair. Having been to only the fall college fair open to all upperclassmen from multiple high schools, I was expecting the same kind of chaos, scared that I’d be struggling to travel from one side of the room to another or visit more than three colleges. However, as the name suggests, the junior college fair was only open to juniors attending Peddie. It was also held in the Erik B. Hanson Field House, allowing for more than enough space for all students to walk around freely. Unlike at the fall college fair, where students had to manually fill out an information form at each college booth, juniors were able to use QR codes that colleges could scan for their information. This allowed students to only spend their time talking to the admissions officers rather than wasting valuable minutes trying to write out information. Due to the overall efficiency of the college fair, I ended up visiting all the colleges I planned to in less than thirty minutes. With my leftover time, I was able to visit other colleges that I knew very little about, which introduced me to schools that I now really like and gave me general insight into what I really wanted in a school.
As I walked out of the Athletic Center with a handful of college brochures, I felt that my experience at the junior college fair was an overall success. Even though I’m a little more nervous as I start to realize the junior class’ proximity to the college process, I now have a clearer understanding of what that process would look like. Thank you to the College Counseling Office for a great introduction to my college application process!
