The college fair hosted by the College Counseling Office (CCO) returned for Gilman’s Upper School students on Tuesday, October 4. (It was last held in 2019.) Twenty-five colleges and universities were represented at the mini fair where Upper School students interacted with admissions officers, picked up some take-home reading material, and participated in a scavenger hunt, which helped them discover which institutions are public versus private, which have engineering programs, and which are located in major cities, among other features.

“We thought the fair went really well,” Director of College Counseling Sarah Ross said. “We had excellent student attendance and a wonderful representation from a broad range of schools, from large public research universities to small liberal art colleges, from as far as Florida and New Orleans, and upstate New York, and as close as Towson University.”

The students were encouraged to ask questions as they visited each table on topics such as what sets the school apart as well as its academic programs, students, faculty accessibility, and financial aid programs.

The College Counseling Office meets with freshmen and sophomores during a seminar to initiate the college discussion, but the formal process begins in the second semester of a student’s junior year when boys are assigned to a college counselor. In January, juniors and their parents are invited to the Junior College Night, which features a panel discussion with three deans from a range of colleges. The CCO hosts more than 100 college representatives who visit Gilman’s campus to meet with interested juniors and seniors in the fall.

Ross went on, “We hope the students who attended the fair will learn about schools that they never heard of before. We hope they will recognize the wide diversity of options available to them.”

Representatives from the following colleges and universities were in attendance:

• Salisbury University
• Frostburg State University
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach
• High Point University
• Washington College
• The University of Alabama
• Miami University, Oxford
• Binghamton University
• University of Rhode Island
• Drew University
• Mount St. Mary’s University
• Columbia College Chicago
• Tulane University of Louisiana
• Drexel University
• Seton Hall University
• University of Maine
• Marist College
• Ursinus College
• Towson University
• Trinity College
• Assumption University
• Hobart William Smith Colleges
• Tufts University
• York College of Pennsylvania
• University of Florida