Where the college fair is headed.

I spent the last week in New York at the NACAC national college fairs in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse.  New to these fairs was a system where students could create a profile online and then generate a custom barcode that could be scanned by a rep if they wanted more information from that particular college.  It’s great that NACAC has gotten on board with this kind of system because it generates an easy process (.csv file) for loading data (better than the traditional reply/information card, anyway).  More importantly, students are much more inclined to submit their information if it doesn’t require them to take on the tedious process of filling out one of our annoying info cards.  Within hours after each fair I had a .csv file with which I could do whatever I needed to do to follow up with these students.  Excellent.

Critics of a system like this would probably say that it makes it too easy for a student to request information.  I would disagree!  From my experience, students only offered their barcode scan sheet if they had a genuine interest in receiving information back from Hope.  They are smart enough to know that each scan from a college will amount to quite a bit of mail over the next 18 months!

So what does this whole thing mean for the future of the college fair?  On the outside it probably just seems like a small semantic change in the way students and colleges do the same ol’ kind of business.  The college fair isn’t going anywhere.  Why?  Because we’ve always done it, and personal contact is personal contact.  That won’t change any time soon.  But I would suggest that it affirms one thought that has remained with me for much of this past year’s recruitment cycle:

Students have specific expectations about the way they will gather information, interact with companies and businesses, and follow through with the process in general.  The big deal is that this process is evolving continually.

So what does that mean for all of us on the front lines, and those of us behind the scenes in college recruitment?

It means if you are not constantly in the game when it comes to professional development, you are going to quickly get behind the times.  I don’t know about you, but I want to remain as knowledgeable about my students and what they expect as is humanly possible.  Luckily, I’ve got a ton of help on that front:

• my Twitter network of .edu gurus
• Google Reader full of BlogHighEd goodness
• professional development events like MACAC and eduWeb

Not doing this stuff?  Now is the time!  The college fair says so.