College Fair 2010

It's 12:30 and as you are running out of your car to class you are stopped by the mass of students swarmed around the tables in the quad. Not very ordinary for a Tuesday at Santa Monica College, however yesterday was the semi-annual college fair thus the crowd made plenty of sense.

According to the SMC College Fair site, over 100 schools were scheduled to attend the fair to speak with students about requirements necessary to transfer and what in particular makes their school appealing.

The fair started at 10:30 A.M. with few students present in the area. Schools were spread out through the walkway, allowing for more foot traffic than the previous semester's location in the cafeteria.

"It's more spaced out and there is more of a variety," said Chelsea Wright, 18.

The majority of students crowded around the UC's, CSU's and USC; in particular, UCLA drew the largest amount of students.

The interest in transferring from SMC to UCLA is noted to Mark Covin, a student Recruitment Coordinator for UCLA, who said, "Students from other schools feel SMC students automatically transfer to UCLA because of the great transfer rates."

Covin added that, while there is a high transfer rate, students need more than the Santa Monica name to be granted acceptance.

As the fair progressed, the number of students in attendance rose.

"I want to succeed and go on to complete a higher education, this is just the first stop," said Wright.