UCAS Higher Education Fair

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DD's school is running an (optional) trip to a UCAS Higher Education Fair.
DD doesn't want to go for a number of reasons.

Has anyone/their DC been to one and is it something you'd recommend doing? Wondering if I should be encouraging her more or she's unlikely to gain more from going than she'll get from going to individual university open days (which she's already booked on to).

Sounds like she's already proactive in her research if she's booked herself onto open days.

IMO, she'll get far more out of these than the UCAS fair which my DS was just an excuse to get a day out of school and "bag some swag".

According to him, all the popular universities had long queues at their stands and if/when you did get to talk to someone, they inevitably referred you to their website.

I went with dc1 last year. It was worth it as I didn't know about booking open days etc. I won't bother with dc2 next year.

If your dc has looked into open days already it probably isn't necessary to go but it might be a good day out 😀

I have a Y12 booked onto one of the UCAS fairs. Even if your DC already has been undertaking research and/or has clear ideas, I do think fairs can be helpful. Y12 is the time to gather from the widest possible info pool.

These events give out lots of hard copy info that can be browsed, at leisure, in an open minded way and are an effective way to get a bit of a feel about unis/routes that don't justify significant time individually devoted to them.

All of this is good 'insurance' against possible changes of heart, changes in academic trajectory, realisation that preferred uni offers might be difficult to secure. It is about being open to a wider pool of alternatives.

Finally, I think it is good for DC to get experience of attending large fairs and making the most of those (planning time, plucking up courage to talk to stall holders, getting info and not just freebies!).

I'm going with DD, it's local to us so easy enough. We already have a few open days booked but I figure going might open DD to other options as well.

we went to the one in Bham last year - it was useless. Lots of unis not there I really wouldn't bother much better to research online and book onto open days.

Our school takes all y12 to our local one. My DDs went a few years ago and took the opportunity to bag the swag. They played some sort of unofficial scavenger hunt to see who could get the most random or outrageous stuff. There is a nice pair of sunglasses in the DD's car which came from the 2018 event. Anyway, if your DD doesn't fancy the morning or whatever off, fair enough. Mine found that the people manning the stands didn't have any specific information and as someone else has said, referred them to the websites.

TLDR: if your DC fancies a day out and some free tote bags, pens, lanyards, sunglasses or a frisbee, do it.

I think what @PerpetualOptimist about talking to people manning stalls at these thing as a useful thing to get used to is a really good point. There are so many of these things coming up for them - open days, fresher fairs, conferences ....

I was so pleased my daughter actually spoke to some unis that I didn't mind the 6 tote bags she came back with. Bishop grossetest had the best incidentally