B O S T O N L A T I N . O R G BLS College Fair Night

Wednesday October 22, 2003 5:30-7:30

Masha and I filled the last two spots for the volunteer ushering jobs, much to the dismay of those Juniors and Seniors behind us who let out a long, forlorn groan, "awww." No one, evidently, wanted to turn down an opportunity to hound colleges and subtly, whisper our first and last names to the 150 admission officers in attendance.

For the newly minted Sophomores and Juniors, the annual Boston Latin College Fair was a bustling bazaar of institutions of higher learning giving out their prospects and best-wishes to future graduates of Latin, along with tote-along bags full of pamphlets, cd-roms, and other memorabilia. Representatives of the universities and colleges were directed around the first floor or down to the dining hall, where the crowds were gathering in numbers. Squeezing through parents, alumni, friends, family, and friends--the narrow hallways were host to schools such as Columbia University, George Washington, Haverford, Middlebury, NYU, Penn State, Salem College, Stanford University, Suffolk University, Tufts, UPENN, Notre Dame, and Wellesley College--those, being some of the more popular hangouts. Perhaps the lesser known colleges that BLS was honored to have, provided the most insightful one-on-one informational sessions between student and admissions officer. At the Boston College table, for example, a piece of advice for admissions, was showing "your true passion" through the arts, sports, and extracurricular activities.

There was some disappointment for Latin scholars with Boston University and Yale missing; nonetheless, the sheer number of colleges was "incredible," as one representative mentioned while looking around the school. "I've been here many times before," remarked Umass Dartmouth; "This is a very remarkable school," added another. Around quarter after six, the majority of us were here to sell t-shirts, scrounge for bags labeled "M.I.T." and to browse around with our friends, to learn about the possibilities still left intact by our mistrust of no-brand colleges. Reminded well by Dr. Neary's "it's not where you go, but what you make of the college," I filled out and took information from a variety of colleges in Boston, New Orleans, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York, and even California.

Many members of the Boston Latin staff were present with Ms. Kelley, Ms. Cousens, guidance counselors--and even Mr. Montague walking outside in the cold waiting to greet incoming university transits. The student turnout was fantastic--I saw almost the entire senior class there, along with new faces that reminded me of my first junior college fair. Thanks to everyone who made this event possible, Ms. Sylvester for letting us camp at the college research center till six, and the college representatives for taking their time to fly down to our little school.

-Article by James X. Zhang (Class I) www.bostonlatin.org