Shopping for colleges, shopping for students

Sophomore Rachelle Miller wanted to know about overseas study, sports and the arts as she browsed Thursday, the brochures piling up in her arms, at Juneau-Douglas High School's college fair.

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About 100 representatives of colleges, vocational schools, union apprentice programs and the military were there to meet students like Miller.

It's sometimes difficult for high school students to decide what to do after graduation, and it's hard for the college-bound to choose among several thousand schools. On their part, it's hard for colleges to stand out in the endless space of the Internet.

"It's nice to have someone there you can talk to and ask questions of," said JDHS sophomore Rachelle Albay, who has looked up colleges on the Internet as well.

Juniors and seniors were given class time to attend the fair. Students also could spend lunch or the early evening walking among the institutions' tables in the main gym. And the Early Scholars Program for Native students held a reception for the representatives.

The fair is run by National Honor Society students with help from Barb Conant of the JDHS Career Center.

A survey of about half the JDHS Class of 1993 found that 41 percent eventually received four-year degrees, and another 11 percent had a two-year degree.

Besides state and private universities from the Pacific Northwest, the fair attracted East Coast schools such as Smith, Brown, Colby, Hamilton and Villanova. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago was there, as were Stanford, George Washington, Reed, Rice and Baylor.

"College fairs are a great opportunity to come face to face with people," said Bethany Bierman, assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Students asked about academic programs or a certain sport or extracurricular activity, she said. Bierman could highlight her school's advantages, such as studying theater in Minneapolis, which is known for its theater companies.

"There are certain aspects of what they're looking for that they may not be able to find here (in Alaska)," Bierman said.

For friends Albay, Miller and Andrea Doerflinger, it was important to get out of Alaska.

"I think it would be good to get experience other than where you grew up," said Doerflinger. "Also, we've been cooped up here too long."

"Also, better weather," said Albay, referring, presumably, to just about anywhere else.

But Shontay Delalue King wasn't worried. The admissions director at the University of Alaska Southeast said JDHS students sometimes ask her why they should stay here.

"And that's easy," she said. "Because of our affordability. They don't think of the big picture of the overall four years. We always do a comparison of finances."

For the footloose, King also promotes the opportunity to spend a year as an exchange student at another college.

Colleges are looking for students from Alaska. Colleges want a diverse student body, partly for what it adds to the classroom in differing perspectives, and partly to be eligible for certain grants and to score well in rankings of institutions, said William C. McMurray Jr., director of western regional admission at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.

"It's not at all likely that Wheaton would attract students from Alaska if we didn't have a presence here," McMurray said.

There are computer programs that match students' interests with schools.

"But that's just a starting point," McMurray said. "It's hard to get the essence of a campus culture without actually talking with someone who lives there or who at least is familiar with it on a day-to-day basis."

Students also walked away with a soberer sense of what it takes to get into college, or pay for it, or hold a job.

Math and science are important in preparing for the trades, Jonathan Smith, business manager for the Carpenter Union Local 2247, told students.

He also made sure to tell students the starting pay for apprentice carpenters - $17.45 an hour - and the benefits.

Paying for college "determines how hard you're going to work in high school," Doerflinger said. "If some place wants (good) high school grades, that's an incentive."