What questions should I ask at a College Fair?

Burleson ISD’s College Fair is Monday, October 21 from 7:00-8:30 pm at Burleson High School. You’ll have the chance to visit with admissions representatives from over fifty colleges and universities. However, you may not know what you should be asking those representatives to get the most out of the evening. In this post, we’ll walk you through how to prepare for the College Fair and provide you two sets of questions – one set for schools you already know you’re interested in, and another for schools you aren’t familiar with.

Preparing for the Fair

There are two important steps to prepare for the fair: 1) Make a list of colleges you know you want to visit, and 2) register for the fair.

Step 1: Make a list of colleges

What colleges and universities might you be interested in attending? Many BISD students attend one of these five: Hill College, Tarrant County College, Tarleton State University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of North Texas. All five of them will be at the College Fair.

Are there others you might be interested in? Make a list! Having a plan for which colleges you want to visit helps make your time at the fair more valuable. If you are having trouble prioritizing your top 5 to visit, do a little research. You can look up colleges on College Board’s BigFuture search page. Once you have your list, head to step 2!

Step 2: Register for the fair

There are two registrations you’ll want to complete before the fair.

First, all adults and students should purchase free tickets from Hometown Tickets here beginning October 21st. 2024.

Second, students should register through TACRAO for contactless profile sharing with colleges and universities. Select the Burleson fair when registering. Parents do not need to register for this. Now on to preparing your questions!

Preparing your questions

While you’re at the fair, you’ll want to stop by the table for the schools on your list and ask some really good questions to impress the admissions representative. You won’t want to ask questions like “where is your school?” If the school is on your list of colleges to visit, you should already know the basics. However, you may also stop by tables of colleges you aren’t as familiar with, and it is fine to ask more basic questions there. In both cases, having a prepared list of questions helps you get the most out of the night. Make sure you bring a notebook to jot down the admissions representative’s responses.

Questions for schools on your list

You’ll want to be familiar with basic information about the schools on your list: where the school is located, the price range, size of the school, etc. You’ll want to ask some questions about majors you might be interested in, so you should have an idea about majors ahead of time. Here are some questions you can prepare for colleges and universities on your list (pick your favorites, you don’t need to ask all the questions):

Admissions

• Is there something specific your admissions officers look for when evaluating applications?
• What type of student ends up not being a good fit for your college?

Academics & Faculty

• What is unique about your college’s XYZ department?
• What makes XYZ major special at your college compared to other colleges?
• How would you describe the academic pressure and workload at your college?
• What are your college’s faculty like and how accessible are they outside of class?

Finances & Career Planning

• What unique financial aid services does your college offer?
• What internships are available specific to XYZ major?
• How do students find jobs on campus?
• How does your career planning department support students and how does it compare to other colleges?

School Culture

• What options are available for intramural and club sports?
• What you enjoy most about the city where the school is located?
• What are dorms like? Are there other housing options?

Questions for schools you aren’t familiar with

For the schools you aren’t as familiar with, you can ask some basic questions, and then go back to questions for schools on your list.

• What do students like about your school?
• What academic programs are most popular at your college?
• Does the school have a big athletic culture? What is a typical game day like?
• Do most students eat in dining halls?
• Where do students hang out on your campus?