NATIONAL COLLEGE FAIR WORKSHEET/ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of this worksheet/assignment is to assist in making your day at the National College Fair as productive as possible. Your journey of exploring post-secondary educational programs and career options will be a life-long one, but it is critically important at this time. Please complete each section below. Your responses are to be submitted to Terry by Oct. 9th.

We suggest that you use the following questions as an interview guide, but certainly ask whatever questions you like:
 What is the average class size for freshman classes, as well as upper division?
 How would they describe the relationship between students and instructors at their college?
 Does their university place a greater emphasis on research or on teaching?
 What are their policies and procedures relative to financial aide, Scholarships, work-study, etc.?
 What internship, cooperative-education, and foreign study opportunities are available to undergraduate students?
 What major is their college best known for?
 What are the transfer policies and admissions standards for their college, including college testing such as SAT and/or ACT?
 How would they describe student life on their campus and in the local community?

1) To gain a broad perspective relative to the different types of colleges, campuses, and programs, provide the name and a brief description of the following: (Do not hesitate to explore colleges outside the Northwest states, do not use the same college twice, and do not simply list information available on their website.)

A public college:
University of Washington—
University of Washington has multiple internships available for undergraduate and graduate students, and close to home. architecture is only available on the Seattle campus.

A private college:
Stanford—
Though Stanford is a very prestigious school, it would be very hard to get into and would have a very good learning experience. The architecture major is new at Stanford, so I would be one of the first few years where we shape the program.

A rural college:
University of Oregon—
Going here would be a 5-year program, and focuses on a teacher-student relationship. PSEC credits would count, but I would still be considered a freshman with 5 years to go, but I might have some credits done.

A traditional large university:
Cardiff—
Cardiff is very large, with the ability to study abroad and over seas. You only need a minimum GPA of 3.0, so with my GPA it would probably be pretty easy to get in, but the separation and transition would be hard.

A small alternative college:
Evergreen—
Close to home, so again, like UW, I would be able to stay around home. I would not be able to pursue architecture though because Evergreen doesn’t have that major.

2) Select a college major that you might be interested in pursuing. (Architecture/ Structural Engineering) Find three colleges that are known to offer quality programs in that major. You may choose only one of the three colleges from within the state of Washington. Briefly describe what impressed you about each of these colleges. Then finally, describe how your overall educational experience might differ if you were to choose one college over the others. In making your comparisons, be sure to consider some the issues raised in the “suggested questions” above. (You probably should do some research on this before attending the Fair)

University of Washington- The fact that they offered multiple internships and are a more research focused school can be a good thing if I worked on multiple projects or researches. I would probably stay in Washington if I went to UW, while if I went to Oregon, Cardiff, or Arizona, I would probably travel quite a bit more.

Arizona State University- I was very impressed by the fact that students were boarding with other people of the same major, or a more traditional system. I also have knowledge that ASU has one of the best architecture colleges in the country, along with UW and Virginia Tech. If I went to ASU, I would see my grandparents and family a lot more than I do now, while I would be farther from my immediate family. I would also receive a better education here.

Virginia Tech- At Virginia Tech, architecture is their most competitive major. Here I would be far from my family, but would be able to make new friends and expand my circle of friends.

3) Attend at least one of the workshops during your time at the Fair. Briefly describe the content of the workshop and evaluate the information received.

The content of the workshop was how to write an effective admissions application and essay. Basically, the speaker said that you must keep it short, only tow or three pages, with as much information as you can tell them that they can’t find by looking you up in a database or a file Tell them about yourself, your home struggles, how you overcame them an so-on and so-forth. Also, you should make sure that your recommendation letters say different things than the say you already wrote, so make sure the writers of those keep it to certain information you want them o tell the reader about.

4) Write a personal evaluation of your experience of attending the National College Fair. Share whatever thoughts you have, but be sure to include a discussion of the following:

I believe that I derived a lot from the college fair. All of my questions were answered and now I will move on to the SATs and impressing the schools I want to attend. I must also now try and focus on grades and life experience and just have fun with it. I just need to have fun in life and know what I want to do and I will get there. I also found the body movement and the dismissiveness of the presenter very helpful on how the college may act towards me as a student.