Too many students approach the college fair as their first brush with the college search experience. Though this is an understandable approach, it tends to be unproductive. The college fair environment can overwhelm you with options. The unprepared student can’t help but feel like a deer in the headlights, not knowing which way to turn. If you use the college fair as your very first step in your college search, you might fall prey to the tactic of running from booth to booth grabbing whatever materials are offered. Later on, you might read these materials, or you might not. In either case, you haven’t made the most of your time. To get the most out of your college fair, you should do a fair amount of homework before you attend.

Plan Your Attack: Know that the college fair will feel overwhelming, and plan accordingly. Find out in advance which schools will be in attendance — your guidance counselor probably has a list. From this list, decide which colleges you are interested in visiting. If you have not yet made a list of schools to apply to, there is no better time than the present. If the list of colleges in attendance is overwhelming, make an appointment with your guidance counselor for her to help you figure out which schools might be the best for you. Talk to your parents and friends as well.

Develop a List of Questions: You’ve narrowed yourself down from every school that’s attending to just the schools you’re interested in. Pat yourself on the back and get ready to work. Now that you know which booths you’ll be dropping by, it’s time for some hardcore research. Don’t make the common mistake of swooping down on the booth of the college of your choice, picking up its materials, and leaving the building. You don’t need a college fair for that! If you do that, you will read the materials from the schools you’re interested in and find that there are questions you’d like answered before you rank the schools in terms of preference. By looking into the schools before you get to the fair, you will be able to get your questions answered and come away with an even better idea of which schools are best for you.

Make a Name for Yourself with College Reps: The opportunity for face-time with college reps might be the most important reason to do your homework before attending the college fair. You will most likely be speaking with someone who works in the admissions office. Now is the time to shine and set yourself apart from the pack by demonstrating you’re serious about their school and your education. Introduce yourself, shake hands, get the representative’s business card, and if you’re really in love with the school, send a thank-you note afterward so that he or she will remember you fondly when it’s time to review your admissions package.

Elizabeth Saas
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/get-the-most-out-of-your-college-fair-87816.html

Accredited online degrees are similar to traditional university degrees in many ways: both come from accredited universities, hire certified, knowledgeable professors, offer many different degrees and assist students with financial aid. However, online schools, distance learning and online education are also very different from the traditional collegiate way of learning.

With online degree programs, you:

With an online education, you create your own classroom. You aren’t buckled down to having to attend class at a specific time for a specific number of days per week. You don’t have to worry about taking sick days and missing out on lectures, assignments or quizzes. Sometimes, when scheduling classes at traditional brick and mortar colleges, students run into major scheduling conflicts, and are unable to take one or two classes because it doesn’t fit their schedule. This can make the students’ graduation dates further and further away, and they end up going longer than they expected, thus spending money on another semester of tuition. Online schools offer courses online where you work at your own speed on your own time, with no scheduling conflicts, so you graduate when you expected.

Although online schools offer flexible scheduling, many of the degree programs are very rigorous. Because you work on your own time, you never have an instructor nagging you to complete your work. You need to be very disciplined and organized, and you have to work hard, as well. However, taking this responsibility adds more credentials you can put on your resume. You had to work hard, be organized and be disciplined while in pursuit of your online degree, and those qualities roll over to any career choice. Employers will appreciate that you are a disciplined, responsible worker and had to work independently, as employers are turning to independent work without much supervision.

Enrolling in an online school allows you to work with many different forms of technology. Of course, you do most of your work on a computer. You also use different programs on that computer that you might have to use in your career. Taking an online course gives you hands-on experience with those programs.

When you enroll in an online degree program, much of the curriculum focus is on your major. There is no need for general education classes that you will not use in your line of work. If you want to earn your accounting degree, you will learn about the steps to calculate accrued interest for a loan or mortgage, because that is what you will be doing as an accountant.

Online degree programs are not for everyone; they are for the self starter that likes to take their own initiative to succeed. There are definite benefits to pursuing your degree online, but you do have to be disciplined and organized. However, with some hard work, you can earn your college degree and provide yourself with more career opportunities.

M.J. Joseph
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/online-degree-programs-vs-brick-and-mortar-colleges-105954.html