Annual College Fair Tour Converging on Georgia

The Annual PROBE College Fair Tour is converging on Georgia and will be at Marietta High School Monday, September 8th from 6-8pm. The event is a yearly tradition bringing more than 300 institutions from across the country.

Held at multiple locations in Georgia, high school students will have the opportunity to learn about colleges and universities
in the state, the southeast region, and throughout the country. The fair is a key way to connect with prospective students.For many of the colleges, this will be the only time they visit these areas this school year.

“The purpose of PROBE is to help connect Georgia high school students with colleges and universities across the state
and country,” says Bill Smith, PROBE Executive Director. “Our goal is to provide students access to as many colleges and
universities as we can for each community in Georgia. Students and parents will have the opportunity to meet the college
representatives and get their questions answered about each campus, admissions policies, scholarships, and financial aid.”
Students are Encouraged to Prepare for the Fair

For the second year, students have the opportunity to register in advance for the college fair. Doing so will give each
student a unique bar code. Students can register at www.gaprobe.org/students. College representatives will have
scanners at their tables during the fair where students may simply have their bar code scanned to request more information
about each school.

“The bar codes and scanners are ideal because they free students and college representatives up to have more productive
conversations,” says Smith. “Instead of spending their time hand- writing on hundreds of interest cards, students can take a
few seconds to be scanned by a college and then use the rest of their time talking to the representative about that school.
Additionally, this is how college admissions offices prefer to capture student information.”

Tips for Students Before Attending the College Fair
College fairs are fantastic opportunities for students to see many different schools at one time. However, because there are
many schools and a lot of other students in the same place, they can also be a little overwhelming. Here are a few tips for
students to prepare in advance for making the most of the fair:

• Do your homework – and in this case, we don’t mean English papers. Students should find out in advance who is
attending the college fair and decide which schools on that list they are most interested in learning about. Then,
students should spend some time online on each school’s website, especially the admissions or future student
page(s). Here students can find facts about the school, learn about the campus, and look up admission and/or
scholarship application deadlines.

• Make a list of questions to ask each school – Once you narrow down which schools you want to talk with at the
fair, students should write down 3-4 questions they want to ask each school. It is a good idea to stay away from simple questions like “How many students are on campus?” Questions like this can be answered quickly with a little
online research. Students should try to ask questions about the culture of the campus, individual academic or
extracurricular programs, or other questions specific to housing or student activities.

• Pre-register – For the second year, PROBE is offering students the chance to pre-register to receive a bar code that
can be easily scanned by colleges they visit with at the fair. This will allow schools to easily capture information and it
saves students from having to handwrite information cards. Take a few moments to sign up at
www.gaprobe.org/students.

• Have a back-up plan – What happens if the student gets sick on the day of the fair or has practice or a meeting
during an evening fair? It is a good idea to have a back-up plan to send parents in the student’s place. At the end of
the day, parents will play a major role in the decision making process and it is good to get them involved in the initial
research process.

Colleges in Attendance
The PROBE Fair brings institutions from around the state and country to the different communities in Georgia. A complete
list of colleges and universities attending the various fairs can be found on the PROBE Facebook page
www.facebook.com/georgiaprobe - under the Events tab.

Follow the Fair
Students and parents have several options for learning more about the fair tour this fall:
Web: www.gaprobe.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgiaprobe
Twitter: @probe_fair
Mobile text updates and reminders: Text “CollegeTour” to #33233