Getting Ready for College

Laura Nicolescu, Co-Editor-In-Chief

The second college fair of the 2016-17 school year was held at Reedy High School Thursday, featuring dozens of colleges and universities admissions representatives from across the country meeting high school students and parents to help prepare for college.

Local universities such as the University of North Texas and Texas A&M attended along with Ivy League schools such as Stanford and Princeton, hoping to recruit as many students as possible and teach them about available majors, programs of study, the application process, financial aid and more.

Brandon Mills, Dallas Regional Admissions Representative of the University of Missouri (Mizzou), says he greatly enjoys coming out to college fairs and helping students out with their college choice.

Laura Nicolescu
An alternative to college is joining the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines, all of which made an appearance at the college fair.

Other than being a Mizzou alum, I would do this job whether they paid me or not,” Mills said. “I think of myself more as a matchmaker than a recruiter because there are some programs we’re not well known for but there are some that we really are.”

He says Mizzou, a school well known for journalism, is one of the best schools for aspiring journalists due to its rich history.

“Mizzou is actually the oldest school of journalism in the world,” Mills said. “99% of our journalism students are getting jobs after they graduate, and the reason for this is because we get the students out in the field. We are the only university that owns and operates a network-affiliate station, NBC, so when our students graduate they can say they’ve worked for NBC because everything done there on the camera, writing, reporting, behind the scenes and online is done by students. It’s a very hands on program that really prepares our students for success.”

Mills believes college fairs are one of the best ways to recruit students and get them interested in colleges they might’ve not previously considered.

“Just today I talked with more than a dozen students that have been interested in journalism and didn’t know anything about our program,” Mills said. “If I hadn’t come and made those points those students wouldn’t have met me and the other representatives and we wouldn’t have gotten that information out.”

The next college fair is set for next school year, where this year’s juniors will be able to make sure they submit their applications for the right colleges.

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