For a trip into the future, Maria Tazza, the acting associate director of admissions and advisement at Mercer County Community Collge, has this piece of advice to college bound students: pack a bag. But it’s not a trunk full of clothes that Tazza suggests but rather a plastic sack full of brochures and catalogues gathered at the Mercer County Professional Counselors Association College Fair, to be held on Tuesday, May 4, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.,at Mercer County Community College.
Tazza, co-chair of the free event, says offers a prime opportunity to meet representatives from nearly 200 colleges. “Take all the information you can. You don’t know (about a college) until you take the information, make a contact with the person there. You never know. I’ve had students say to me, `I never thought I’d go there.’ But it was a fit,” she says.
Representatives from colleges near and far, small and large, come to the event, which has been held annually at the college for 20 years. Clemson University, SUNY at Albany, Temple University, University of Maine, Marquette University, Emerson College, Hood College, University of Pennsylvania, and Quinnipiac College are among the out of state schools expected. Last year even the exotic clime of the South Pacific was represented with Hawaii Pacific College.
Garden State institutions will also be out in force clustered together in the part of the gym called New Jersey Way. Rider University, the College of New Jersey, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Montclair State University, Brookdale Community College, and Burlington County College are coming.
With more colleges still signing on, Tazza, who has been a member of the Counselors Association for over twenty years and is on its executive board, advises students interested in particular schools to check in with guidance counselors at their high school who will have updated information as the list of participating colleges and universities grows.
In an age of virtual encounters, the fair presents an opportunity for at least brief face-to-face meetings with admissions and financial aid officers without having to mount a road trip. There is an advantage to making such contacts, Tazza says, and she emphasizes students should incorporate etiquette basics such as an introducing themselves with a handshake into their greetings.
This is also the ideal time to put forth burning inquiries. “The location of a school you can get from a book,” Tazza says. “ How many students go there? You can get that from a book. But when you want to ask a question like ‘How does the financial aid process look for the last three years of college?’ or ‘How many of the required courses for freshman are taught in a large lecture format and how accessible are those professors after class?’, for example, the fair is the place to do it.”
While she recommends that high school juniors and their parents attend the fair, she believes sophomores too can pick up some useful information just by looking around and listening in on the questions and conversations between older students and admissions reps. “I never think it’s too early,” she says.
For those in need of advice on which colleges offer special services for students with physical or learning disabilities, the event’s co-chair, Elizabeth O’Neil, will be there to discuss options.
“This is a great opportunity for high school students to get some information and start the process of choosing where to go to college.” The next step is to bring that bag home and start reading.
—Caroline Calogero
Mercer County Professional Counselors Association College Fair, Mercer County Community College, physical education building (fitness center), Tuesday, May 4, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Free. 609-586-4800, extension 3224 or visit www.mccc.edu. Van service available from all MCCC parking lots to the fair.
