If you are thinking about embarking on an adventure that will play a vital role in your future you should be thinking about attending college.

Next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 18 and 19, more than a thousand students and parents are expected to flock to the Fairmont Hamilton Princess to attend a College Fair.

There will be representatives from educational facilities from England, Canada and the United States.

This event, involving parents, students and college representatives, mutually benefits the pursuit of higher education. If the college fair was not held in Bermuda, parents would face the costly undertaking of visiting schools overseas or not being certain of their choice because they were unable to travel and ask questions directly.

Many students start dreaming about college way before they finish grade school while late bloomers might start thinking about college when they face their last years in high school.

Attending college is beneficial to anyone focused on higher education. The rewards of obtaining a sound education are life long and enriching.

A college education is very important and yields knowledge and confidence to not only make your way into the world but to be successful and meet goals through out life. Before the fair, you might answer the following questions to help you determine what kind of school would best suit you:

Do you want to attend a two or four year institution? Co-ed or single sex? What size school do you want to attend?

What programmes of study are you considering?

How far from home do you want to go?

Do you wish to participate in any specific extra-curricular activities or athletics? Do you want to attend a school in an urban, suburban or rural environment?

Do you require any special services such as tutoring, note taking, reading or interpreters?

One of the most important factors is the cost. How much will it be and what are the scholarships offered?

When you go to the fair pick up a collection package and a fair directory. You may then visit with colleges and universities, which you may feel meet your criteria. College fairs provide the exciting chance to talk to people in the know. Gathered before you will be admission representatives from a variety of colleges.

It is important to know what you want to find out at the fair. It will be helpful for you to write up a short list of questions to ask admission representatives. To compare several schools, plan on asking the same questions at each table.

This college fair could give you the information you need to discuss your college plans with your guidance counsellor, family, teachers and friends.

Attending a college fair offers you time to talk person-to-person with the representative of a specific school. You might establish a link that will benefit your future. Generally by the time the fair is over students will have gathered lots of information. When you go home don?t just pile the data up someplace in your bedroom and forget it for weeks.

While it is fresh in your mind, get out the brochures and group them for review. Hopefully students will make notes and this will be a good time to pair the notes with the college information obtained.

You will be more interested in some than others, which is only natural. For those colleges that interest you the most, follow up by filling out the information cards in the brochures or by starting to schedule college visits. The internet is a very helpful tool and on our college listing the email addresses are included.