For Colleges: Connect with YES
Each year, YES Prep students apply to colleges and universities across the United States. The YES Prep Class of 2023 submitted over 17,500 college applications to over 450 different colleges and universities. Seniors enrolled at over 150 colleges this Fall!
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 on Thursday, October 12, 2023
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 invite colleges and universities to attend our fair again this year:
YES Prep Annual College Fair
Thursday, October 12, 2023
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Our Fair is part of TACRAO's College Fair Schedule, as part of Houston Week 2. You can register for our fair and other Houston Fairs through TACRAO including the Katy ISD College and Career Fair, Fort Bend IS District College Fair, and the Briarwood School College Fair!
You can register through TACRAO or directly with YES Prep through:
2022 College Fair Photos
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 Secondary School
YES Prep Public Schools will be offering colleges the opportunity to schedule Secondary visits in person this school year.
College interactions are at the center of how YES Prep promotes a college-ready 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 5, 2023, after Labor Day.
To schedule a visit with any of our 16 Houston Area Secondary Schools, go to:
YES Prep College Visit Series - BookIngs 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.
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?
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.
If you have any additional questions about College Visits, please contact William Keaton, Director of College Readiness 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