A new school year has begun for Stephen F. Austin High School students. Seniors have begun finishing up college applications, and juniors have begun working towards theirs. During this pivotal time, colleges need to get their name out across the United States to bring in applications. The Solution: college representatives at high schools. Colleges nationwide have begun sending delegates to Austin High throughout the week to recruit new students to apply. Through this process, colleges can gain a more diverse student body that’s not just from the state, build a relationship with the school and their counselors along with the student body, and allow needed guidance to future college students over the complicated world of applying.

While college representatives are expensive for colleges, they are incredibly important. Sending letters in the mail to possible students, or emailing them is effective, but face-to-face discussion and question answering is the most successful solution. College visits allow students to talk to representatives and possibly current or past students about what a school offers. These discussions may include facts about campus and applying to a school, minimum academic requirements, financial aid, tuition fees, and what campus life is like. The larger the student body of a high school, the greater the likelihood of college visits. Students can receive a deeper understanding of a school through this process, removing the need for numerous and expensive college visits. Direct insight into the admission process boosts the likelihood of a student’s success in getting. Moreover, these interactions often show a student’s interest in the school and representatives may be the first to see their applications. It is vital for students who sign up to hear about a college to attend. Not only is it courteous, but it can also hurt a student’s application process if they skip out.

Austin High School has already featured several prominent school representatives, like the University of Boston and the University of Colorado Boulder. Students have been able to receive the necessary information about programs they are interested in or cultures they wish to be a part of. Seby Menard, a Junior at Austin High School stated, “I went to [California Polytechnic State University]… “Cal Poly seemed pretty cool and it has a lot of majors I want to major in. They don’t offer dual majors which…made me not want to go there but they had a lot of different stuff that they took into consideration when accepting so I thought that was cool.” Through this college research process, Seby was able to pin down what he liked and didn’t like about a school without having to physically attend. Seby also stated that the college representative was incredibly friendly, allowing students to feel calmer about the process and engage more easily with the representative. Learning about the school through a first-hand source gave him the necessary insight into what the school was like, how they accepted students, and a greater knowledge of the majors and programs offered there.

Visiting colleges and universities coming to Austin High vary in many ways. Some are private, some public, some expensive, some far away. However, they all hope to help Austin High through their application and incite greater applications from our school. Attending multiple college visits for various schools of interest doesn’t just provide a glimpse into different cultures and parts of our country, but also shows the various applications required at different colleges. Beginning as early as Junior year, Austin High students should begin attending college visits in Mrs. Cleaver’s room to learn about the next four years of their lives.