Basically, when you get to the college fair you have two options:

1. Wait in long lines at every booth to fill out the same personal information on cards over and over and over again, wasting time and preventing you from chatting with more colleges
2. Fill out your information-- like your interests, special accomplishments, and extra-curriculars-- one time by pre-registering, then skip the lines and the writers cramp by letting college reps scan the barcode you print at home.

While both options technically work, we certainly know which one we’d pick.

Your barcode from gotocollegefairs.com will work at any automated fair. Anywhere you see reps with handheld scanners, you’ll be able to easily provide them with your information.

Got a barcode by pre-registering somewhere else? No worries! It’ll still work, and your information will be captured the same way. No need to pre-register again here.

When you pre-register the information you provide gets encrypted in our system, and a barcode is generated. Reps can then scan that code at any automated fair, and that information gets zapped over to them in a secure electronic format so they can follow up with you after.

This system keeps your information secure; only people you allow to scan your code can peep your profile. You’re in complete control of your personal data.

Totes. Not only does your encrypted information only get shared with the colleges you choose, gotocollegefairs.com is FERPA compliant. We don’t sell, lease, or rent out your information-- ever. Keeping weight-loss pill advertisements out of your email inbox is our top priority.

If you lose your barcode you can always get a new one by using the “reprint” button at the top of the student registration page. All you need to do is enter the phone number you registered with.

If you forget to bring your barcode to the actual fair and can’t find a printer, you’ll be stuck in the whole long lines, carpal tunnel scenario again: make sure to hold it close!

Go for it! After your initial pre-registration you’ll get an email that contains a username and password. You can log in with that information to update your profile anytime.

Bringing a wing(wo)man to make sure you can hit every table you’re interested in is always a good plan. We suggest printing your barcode out twice, so you guys can divide and conquer all you want.

Another tip, set up an email account specifically for the college admissions process. You will be getting a lot of correspondence from these folks. You want to make sure to handle emails quickly and not miss anything. On the other hand, because you will get a lot of admissions office emails, you might want to keep them untangled from your everyday inbox.

You may want to bring your barcode anyway. Sometimes individual colleges will bring their own scanner, even if it’s not an “officially” automated fair. You can usually still save some time by keeping your code on you.

Go for it. We’ll ask you which fairs you’re planning to attend during your pre-registration process, but your options are actually limitless. The barcode that’s generated from registering one time will work at any automated college fair on your horizon.

Yep. Click add a fair/update account/reprint barcode on the homepage to access this option.