For Colleges: Connect with YES
Each year, YES Prep students apply to colleges and universities across the United States. The YES Prep Class of 2022 submitted over 14,500 college applications to over 450 different colleges and universities.
YES Prep's mission is to empower all Houston students to succeed in college and to pursue lives of opportunity. We recognize that students attending universities that Match their credentials and are the right Fit are essential to us fulfilling our mission and promise to our students.
To promote students building well-Matched college lists and allow students and families to ensure a college is the right Fit for them, YES Prep sponsors opportunities for our students to engage with college and university admission officers directly:
YES Prep College Fair
The YES Prep College Fair will be Monday, October 3, 202
Each year YES Prep ensures that 100% of Juniors and Seniors from all 16 of our Houston area high schools attend the YES Prep Annual College Fair. We do this by offering our college fair during the school day and providing transportation for our students to attend. Because we provide transportation, you can expect more than 3,500 students to attend the College Fair.
We are excited to announce that we will host our Annual College Fair again in person for the first time since 2019.
We invite colleges and universities to attend our fair again this year:
YES Prep Annual College Fair
Monday, October 3, 2022
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Our Fair is part of TACRAO's College Fair Schedule, as part of Houston Week 1 (October 3 - 7, 2022). You can register for our fair and other Houston Fairs on TACRAO's registration portal:
TACRAO runs the registration portal linked above. On this portal, you can also register to attend other TACRAO College Fairs during Houston Week 1 & 2 and throughout the fall semester.
YES Prep has a schedule of other College Fairs being offered as part of TACRAO Houston Week 1 & 2 available as you are making you are planning your recruitment schedule in Houston. You can access the document here. While you are also in Houston, consider visiting a YES Prep Campus.
Registration Information
Our fair is listed as two fairs on the TACRAO Registration Portal as a morning and afternoon session. Please register for both as you will be connecting with different students throughout the day. If you want more information about our format you can review that information in our FAQs.
YES Prep will send a supplementary survey in September to confirm attendee information, dietary restrictions, and other information.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What makes YES Prep's College Fair special?
- What is the format of the College Fair? Why is it 6 hours long?
- Who Attends the College Fair?
What makes YES Prep's College Fair special?
YES Prep's College Fair allows the 3,500+ members of the YES Prep Junior and Senior Class for our 16 Houston Area High Schools to have the opportunity to engage with a variety of colleges.
The College Fair is held during the school day, allowing 100% of our Junior and Senior Class to participate in the program. YES Prep transport 100% of students on buses to attend removing barrier to access.
Before coming to the fair, in students Junior and Senior Seminar courses, they are given the list of colleges, and determine which colleges they may be interested in learning more about as they develop and refine their college list.
Our college counselors also meet with Seniors for individual advising before the college fair in September. This allows them to work out with their counselors their plan for who they may want to interact with at the college fair.
What is the format of the College Fair? Why is it 6 hours long?
The fair will have four shifts between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM.
During each shift, you will have the opportunity to interact with students from 4 of our high schools. That is why we offer the fair over 6 hours in the morning and afternoon.
It is essential to attend for the entire day to connect with students from all 16 area schools. Because we know our fair is longer than other schools, we provide lunch to all colleges in attendance and breaks between shifts to ensure you have a great experience.
Who Attends the College Fair?
You can expect over 3,500 students to attend the YES Prep College Fair, averaging 900 students per shift.
These students include Juniors and Seniors from our 14 fully grown out schools and sophomores from our two newest campuses, YES Prep Northline and YES Prep Northwest. Allowing sophomores to attend this year is one way we are promoting the development of their Schools' college-going culture. We hope interacting with colleges as sophomores will help shape their college aspirations.
Also in attendance will be YES Prep Teachers and College Counselors. This allows our staff to learn about your colleges, and learn ways they can support our students as they apply to your school.
Visit a YES Prep High School (In-Person or Online)
YES Prep Public Schools will be offering colleges the opportunity to schedule High School visits both in person and online this school year.
College interactions are at the center of how YES Prep promotes a college going culture. Last year, over 2,600 of our Juniors and Seniors participated in our College Visits and other interaction programs, generating over 44,000 contact cards.
Over the past two years, YES Prep has reimagined High School visits making connecting with YES Prep Students easier by ensuring you can easily book high school visits with all YES Prep Secondary Schools through a single one-stop shop.
Through Visit YES Prep, College Admissions Officers can schedule times to visit a YES Prep Secondary School. Each YES Prep High School has its own availability based on its campus bell schedule.
Our Schools are in the process of publishing their availability for Fall 2022, and all campuses will begin hosting colleges on September 6, 2022, after Labor Day.
To schedule a visit with any of our 16 Houston Area Secondary Schools, go to:
YES Prep College Visit Series - Books Page
On Bookings, Select: "Visit YES Prep _______" to see the availability of visits for that campus for the coming weeks. Most schools have already posted their availability, with our final campuses posting their availability in the next week.
You will receive a calendar invite by using Bookings and automatically book an appointment on one of our College Counselor's Outlook Calendars. The Counselors will be your host for your visit to our high schools. In the Bookings Portal, you can additionally instantly compare availability at all YES Prep Schools in a single portal.
This year YES Prep is excited to continue to offer two types of High School Visits
- Visit YES Prep
- YES Prep Online College Visit Nights
Visit YES Prep
Through Visit YES Prep, College Admissions Counselors are able to schedule times to visit a YES Prep high school. Each YES Prep High School has its own availability based on their campus bell schedule.
All visits will begin after Labor Day.
When visiting a YES Prep campus, campuses may allow you to visit in person or virtually.
At our campuses, you are able to interact with students from that one campus and will be hosted by a College Counselor during your visit. Additionally, if you provide permission we can record any presentation you give, and that presentation will be posted to a video catalog on Microsoft Stream where students from other campuses can learn about your college.
YES Prep Online College Visit Nights
YES Prep's Online College Visit Nights was established in the pandemic, and allows you to speak with juniors and seniors from all 16 YES Prep Campuses through centralized, online visits.
We will be hosting a limited number of these throughout the semester to help support colleges that want to connect with students but have barriers to traveling or visiting several YES Prep Campuses in Houston. These virtual visit nights are also available in Bookings. If you don't see a virtual visit that matches your availability, reach out to William Keaton to discuss scheduling at william.keaton@yesprep.org.
The content and format of your presentation is up to your college. If you want to host a general admission session, an alumni panel, or a presentation about a specific college/academic program, we are excited for students to engage with you.
To register for a College Visit, click the button below to register on Microsoft Bookings:
FAQs
- What is process to participate in a High School Visit with YES Prep
- How do I register for a high school visit?
- How can I share information with College Counselors, that I would normally share when visiting a high school?
- I am concerned about the technological barrier to students participating in virtual sessions. How will they participate?
- How will I interact with students on online visits
What is process to participate in a High School Visit with YES Prep
YES Prep has a four part process to schedule a high school visit with YES Prep.
First, colleges will be asked to scheduled their visit at least one week in advance. At the moment we are scheduling for visits between September 6th and December.
Second, students will RSVP for sessions by filling out a digital contact card that will be shared with the colleges.
Third, admission officers will receive their calendar invite from bookings. If the visit is virtual you will be set up with an invite via Microsoft Teams.
A YES Prep College Counselor will be present during your visit to moderate questions and answers, assist the representative with any technology issues, and capture notes to share with other College Counselors across the district.
Fourth, following the event you will get an attendance report with the contact cards, as well as a list of any unanswered questions, and the information of students who asked them, so you can continue connect with students.
How do I register for a high school visit?
Colleges can register for a high school visit using our Microsoft Bookings site. The same site will be used for both online visits and visiting a campus. Online visits will be clearly labeled, and on campus visits will be listed as "Visit YES Prep _______"
Colleges are asked to booked appointments in advance for adequate time to promote your visit to YES Prep students.
When scheduling, you will receive an initial confirmation from Outlook. You will also receive further communication form a member of our team.
We will not be utilizing RepVisits as we are using Bookings as a centralized Sign Up System.
How can I share information with College Counselors, that I would normally share when visiting a high school?
We know that High School visits are about connecting with both students and College Counselors, due to their influential role in the students' college application process. To ensure you have the opportunity to connect with our College Counseling Staff, one YES Prep College Counselor will be your host during this process. This counselor will be your point of contact. They would be able to answer any questions you have about YES Prep in advance of the session or help you if you have any technical issues.
During the session, they will help moderate conversations and student Q&A while also capturing information for their fellow counselors. Each College Counselor will complete a visit report. This report will include any updates you share that are significant. These reports will be available to other college counselors who cannot join the call so that they can use the information for their professional development.
Additionally, if you opt into having your visit recorded, the playlist will be shared within our counselor community. This way, counselors can also review this information to grow their college knowledge and share it with students and families who did not attend the session when discussing their college lists.
I am concerned about the technological barrier to students participating in virtual sessions. How will they participate?
YES Prep recognizes the technology barriers that can prevent access to educational programs, including campus visits. YES Prep has committed to a 1-to-1 laptop program for our students, so all YES Prep Students will have the equipment necessary to access the campus visits whether they are studying in-person at our schools or at home.
Additionally each campuses College Corner is equipped with headsets to be used by students for virtual college programs.
How will I interact with students on online visits
YES Prep Public Schools is using Microsoft Teams for College's High School Visits this fall. All YES Prep Students and families actively use Microsoft Teams. By hosting you on Teams, we are lowering barriers to participation for our students, whether students are learning on campus or at home.
You will have a YES Prep College Counselor with you on the call. They will assist you in moderating the discussion, asking questions to you from the Q&A, and helping you if you have any technical issues.
The visits will be formatted as Teams Calls. These calls can be interactive, where students can raise their hands, turn on their camera, and ask questions.
If you are interested in learning more about Microsoft Teams, you can find out more on Microsoft's Teams Resource Page.
If you have any additional questions about College Visits, please contact William Keaton, Manager of Special Project for College Initiatives at william.keaton@yesprep.org.
YES Prep Public Schools also have a college partnership program, the IMPACT Program. If you are interested in our partnership program, you can learn more here