College Week Live - Virtual College Fair

This Tuesday and Wednesday prospective college students and their parents would do well to find some time to check out CollegeWeekLive’s (CWL) second ever two-day virtual college fair. More than 200 colleges have signed on to help connect prospective students to higher education in a live, interactive environment.

The free, innovative, virtual fair will offer a wealth of live streaming video keynote presentations from college admission experts. Among the topics to be addressed will be financial aid, standardized tests (SAT, ACT), college admissions trends, and scholarship options. Registered users will have access to real-time, interactive Q&A sessions with admissions officials and current college students.

The fair will also offer a Virtual Exhibit Hall and College Booths for more than 100 colleges. Touring the conference area virtually on their computers, students will be able to click on a booth for immediate access to electronic brochures, videos, webinars, and podcasts. Once again, at each virtual booth, prospective students will be able to instant message and/or video chat in real-time with admissions counselors and students.

Several Informative Keynotes to Be Offered
Registered users will also have access to a number of live keynote addresses from admission experts that will be broadcast over the web from 4 studios across the United States. Among the confirmed speakers are Howard and Matthew Greene, of Howard Greene Associates, admission consultants; Marty O’Connell, Executive Director, Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL); Ira Wolf, President of PowerPrep and Author of “How To Prepare for the New SAT;” Dr. Katherine Cohen, CEO, Founder, and Admissions Counselor, IvyWise and Applywise; Ronald Johnson, Director of Financial Aid, UCLA; Peter van Buskirk, Author of “Winning the College Admission Game; Strategies for Students and Parents;” Karan Goel, CEO and Co-Founder of PrepMe; and Jaye J. Fenderson, Author, Seventeen’s Guide To Getting Into College.

One of the more interesting presentations will be delivered by Mike Marriner, the founder of Road Trip Nation. Marriner’s story is a very interesting one and contradicts the oft view that one must give up his or her passion and individuality in the quest for a career. Marriner and two buddies traveled the roadways and interviewed people who defined their own paths in life. Marriner interviewed the likes of the founders of Starbucks and of Barnes and Noble, the CEO of National Geographic Ventures, the scientist who decoded the human genome, the CEO of Dell Computers, as well as individual truck drivers, filmmakers, social activists, and self-employed lobstermen.

Ongoing Agenda Development
The current AGENDA is posted but it will be updated continuously right up until the fair begins. The site notes that all speaker times are subject to change so interested students should monitor the agenda throughout.

Students may register at any time and the site offers links for interested Sponsors, Parents and Counselors. CollegeWeekLive takes place from 12:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST on March 25th and 26th.

Once registered, users may participate in a number of scholarship competitions including a Video Essay Contest. CollegeWeekLive is looking for creative videos about the college search process and will award the creator of the video receiving the most page views a $2,500 college scholarship.

This free, innovative approach to the college admission/selection process represents a cost effective method for students to learn about key aspects of college as well as gain information from a wealth of schools. The virtual fair should prove to be very informative to any student interested in higher education.

Most importantly, this wealth of information will be available to students from the comforts of their own homes.