Lasting the entirety of the week of October 31, PHS’ second annual Instant Decision Day College Fair aimed to lower the barriers associated with the process of applying to college. This event was open for all current seniors to participate in; students were able to sign up for fifteen-minute time slots between nine a.m. and one p.m. each day. By the end of the week, close to eighty appointments had been made, with some students receiving non-binding acceptances from as many as seven colleges.

An Instant Decision Day College Fair was held last year as well, but at a much smaller scale. With just four participating schools, the organizers hoped to gauge how the event would be received by students. Following its success, the event expanded into a full-fledged fair this year with more than twenty schools, including many in-state colleges, one out-of-state college, and two HBCUs.

“We were lucky that we had so many colleges willing to participate,” said Nipurna Shah, a College and Career counselor at PHS who helped organize the event. “I think it was a win-win on both ends. It was a win for us and our students, but it was also a win for some colleges that might not ordinarily have come to Princeton to recruit in the past.”

In preparation for their appointments, students were required to submit an application through the Common Application to the colleges in question at least five days prior to their meeting. Transcripts and recommendation letters were also required, meaning that in some scenarios, students would have to coordinate with their teachers in order to make sure that those were ready. The prior submission of their documents would make sure that the student’s application could be reviewed by a representative of the college before the fair.

During the meeting itself, the representative of the college would have a conversation with the student about their goals and their plans for the future. Then, the representatives would notify the student on the spot whether or not they were admitted into the college.

“I think it was an overwhelming success,” said Shah. “I don't have the exact number of acceptances yet, but a very large number of our students were accepted.”

The organizers of the fair tried their best to make the event an inclusive, positive environment for all students. The event was located upstairs in the new wing, which the organizers filled with college-themed decorations and banners. Their efforts allowed the fair to be an impactful experience for many students.

“It's been awesome. You know, the students come and they're very grateful, and it takes a whole village to help them get here and apply, but they also have to put themselves out there. When they get accepted, we cheer and we take photos. I think it's been life-changing.” said Martha Blandford, a Career and College counseling intern at PHS and an organizer of the event.

Sofia Sotomayor ’23, one of the attendees of the Instant Decision Day college fair, has had no regrets about going. She heard about the event from one of her teachers and signed up alongside a couple of her friends. While she doesn’t plan on stopping her college search here, she is glad to have been able to get a couple applications out of the way early.

“I signed up for two schools, Drew and Rider University, I got into both, which is really nice. And so you know, coming from that, I really liked it, because it gave me the opportunity to not only know the decision, but also to have the time to think if I actually wanted to go to these colleges,” Sotomayor said.

Putting on an event like this was no easy task, requiring coordination from a large number of people including students, teachers, administrators, cafeteria staff, and many more. In the end, however, the success of this year’s fair has ensured that plans for next year are already in the works.

“We're really excited. We're planning on full-fledged doing this again next year,” said Blanford. “We obviously learned a few things, just in terms of logistics, and I have a better plan even for next year. But we are absolutely intending on doing this again.”