Admissions Officers Arrive in Your Community

Late summer and fall months are prime travel opportunities for admissions officers to conduct travel for colleges and universities within many states and regions of the United States. Each college admissions office targets a nationally and internationally diverse applicant pool for its freshman class. In order to support that applicant pool, the admissions offices send admissions officers directly to cities and high schools.

What types of programs are available?

Instate colleges and universities offer a wide range of opportunities to learn more about the specific college or university. The visit to a community may include high school visits, college nights, college fairs, an on site application workshop or receptions in local communities. High school juniors and seniors are often included in these types of information sessions.

Out of state colleges and universities offer a range of on site visits as well. The high school visit is one option yet a reception in a larger city in an urban or suburban location may be more common.  This provides a larger venue for more students and parents to learn about the college or university. The reception may be hosted by a single college or university or it may be hosted by a group of colleges and universities. Admissions officers are present at any of these programs to present information and to answer questions. High school sophomores, juniors and seniors are often included in these programs. Alumni volunteers, who are trained by the admissions offices, often represent out of state colleges and universities at local, regional and national college fairs and college nights.

How are these programs promoted?

Instate and out of state colleges provide extensive information to high school guidance counselors and community based organizations throughout the nation to advertise receptions, high school visits or college fair attendance. Posters are sent to high schools and press releases are sent to local and regional newspapers and on line media sources.   Individual print invitations or e invitations are sent to students who have added contact information to college mailing lists which are available on admissions websites.

How are students in rural areas included?

Instate and out of state colleges and universities are interested in students from all geographic regions of each state. The admissions office often uses a strategy when selecting the reception sites and plans for a driving distance of one to three hours to reach the site. If a travel distance is too extensive or a state is not included in the list of reception sites, the admissions office attempts to staff a large instate college night or college fair with a local trained alumni volunteer or a faculty or staff member who is in the area for university or college related business.  The National Association for College Admission Counseling offers a broad set of free college fairs throughout the nation which are staffed by admissions officers or alumni volunteers. If a student registers on line  to attend the NACAC College Fair, individual contact information will be shared with all attending colleges and universities if the student provides permission to do so. If a student simply wishes to attend the NACAC College Fair to learn more about colleges, advance registration is not required.

College admissions officers travel extensively each fall season to help interested students learn more about the college or university.  The specific college or university admissions office website is the place to start to learn more about off campus travel plans.


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