The Career Development Center will host 144 graduate schools in the Events Center for the Graduate School Fair this Tuesday.

From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., students with a BU ID will have the opportunity to speak with admissions representatives from an array of graduate programs ranging from medical schools to teaching programs.

‘A big reason to attend the fair is networking with graduate school representatives,’ said Brandy Smith, coordinator of both the Graduate School Fair and Law Day for the Career Development Center. ‘There are instances when a grad school representative will convince a committee that they should interview with a student because of the conversation they had at the Graduate School Fair.’

The Graduate School Fair, unlike the Job and Internship Fair, has no dress code, but Smith said that students should still try to make a good impression.

‘You don’t need your r√É©sum√É©, cover letter or personal statement, this is just an information gathering session,’ Smith said.

Smith does recommend that students go to the CDC’s website to see what schools will be in attendance and prepare questions accordingly.

Chad Austein, the assistant director of admissions for the School of Continuing Education at Columbia University, which will be represented at the graduate school fair, echoed Smith’s advice.

‘When I go to a graduate admissions fair, I am expecting to meet with prospective students and educate them,’ Austein said. ‘A lot of students do their research before the fair and come with set questions. It’s always nice to meet those students with a clear focus.’

Austein recommends students bring printed address labels since a lot of schools will have information cards you can hand in to receive application instructions from the school.

In addition to the School of Continuing Education, representatives from four other schools within Columbia will be at the fair.

In order to set up the fair, the CDC sends out invitations to thousands of schools who have either attended the fairs in the past, seemed interested in attending or have a lot of student applicants, Smith said. The graduate schools all have different ways of deciding whether they will attend a fair.

‘Some base it on applications, and we have a strong academic student population,’ Smith said. ‘We are a good school to recruit at for graduate programs.’

Austein said that the School of Continuing Education at Columbia University attends schools where they have had interest in the prospect as well as applicant level.

‘We are looking to schools with a certain caliber of students and Binghamton University produces that caliber,’ he said.

A list of the graduate programs attending the fair can be found on the ‘Programs & Events’ link at cdc.binghamton.edu.