Dance sophomores Alexa Olivier and Alyssa Foglia share their opinions and thoughts on some of the colleges represented at the fair. Along with competition, stress among students at Dreyfoos has increased. A survey conducted by The Muse in 2016 found that half of all Dreyfoos students felt extremely stressed as a result of the environment at school. This, coupled with the burden of applying to and getting into college, can threaten students’ performance in class and potentially in college.

Representatives from each university speak with students about all that their respective schools have to offer. Admission to college is becoming increasingly competitive. As previously reported in The Muse, the number of students applying for both early decision and early action has doubled in recent years, as universities place more emphasis on early decision applicants. “Half of our spots go to early decision students, and half of our spots go to regular decision [applicants],” Director of Admissions for Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music Thomas Crespo said.

(L-R) Band juniors Aidan Dixon and John Madey and dance junior Julia Albert study flyers from different universities, learning more about campus life, educational programs, and financial aid. According to the College Board, undergraduate students were granted on average $14,460 in financial aid to help fund their school expenses. The rising costs of university education have posed some problems for students. “Scholarships are very important so we can […] at least have some of it paid so we can actually go to the college,” digital media freshman Zwain Heinonen said.

Communications senior Christiana Boehme learns about one of the nearly 30 universities displaying their information to prospective applicants in the gymnasium. The college fair offered students a chance to discover new schools. School counselor Laura Tomasello said that the fair increased students’ awareness about “colleges that you may not have heard anything about” allowed students to “get additional information that could influence [their] decisions.”