Helping High School Music Students
Use College Fairs Effectively

By Barbra Weidlein, sponsored by MajoringInMusic.com

This year, fall recruitment season for colleges, universities, and conservatories throughout the United States will start off with college fairs held virtually. While face-to-face meetings with admission reps are ideal as students start their college exploration, this new way to connect is likely to become the way of the future.

 

As a music educator, you can encourage your high school students to attend one or more of these fairs to help them figure out their next steps around applying to college—especially if music is their passion. They can visit any of the fairs or all of them—it’s up to them. And of course, they’re all free.

 

Who Benefits?

Those students who are certain they want to major, minor, or double major in music will find the performing arts fairs offered by the Music Admissions Roundtable to be especially valuable. They’ll meet with music school admissions officers from schools all over the United States who are ready to answer their questions and help them learn more about their schools.

Students who aren’t convinced that music is what they want to pursue in college will also benefit by attending at least one college fair. They will gain clarity about whether music is the right major to pursue. They’ll also learn more about the steps they’ll need to take in order to be accepted.

College fairs are most useful for juniors and seniors. But first-year students and sophomores can benefit too. They’ll be better prepared for narrowing down their choices once they’re ready to apply for college.

 

How to Help Your Students with Virtual College Fairs

The downside of college fairs is that they can inundate students with an overabundance of information, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, confused, and more anxious than ever.

 

How can you help your students without it adding another demand to your already-overflowing to-do list?

This article, “How to Make Virtual College Fairs Work for You,” was created specifically to help students get the most out of attending virtual college fairs. By sharing the link with students, you’ll provide them with what they need to prepare to attend any of the fairs offered this fall—and beyond. Several interesting topics may also emerge for classroom discussion. Dates and links to upcoming fairs are included at the end of the article.

“Thank you to MajoringInMusic.com! This resource and consulting system has brought so much ease to a stressful and uncertain college application process. I was able to work through each step of auditions, essays, and decision-making smoothly!”—High School Senior, Rhode Island

 

About the author:

Barbra Weidlein is co-founder and director of MajoringInMusic.com. Created in 2011, the website provides free accessibility to high quality, objective information for all students interested in pursuing any area of music. It offers everything her son, now a professional musician and producer, would have benefited from when he was still in high school and thinking about majoring in music. Barbra has worked in educational publishing for most of her career in addition to working as a college counselor and consultant, educational writer, and adult education instructor. Her background includes BA and MS degrees in psychology and human development, support for high school music programs, and many years of piano study and women’s choral singing.

Follow MajoringInMusic.com on Facebook, Twitter @MajoringInMusic, and Instagram @MajoringInMusic.

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September 22, 2020. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)