On Thursday, Feb. 9 and Friday, Feb. 10, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, located on Fort Duquesne Blvd., will be hosting its annual Pittsburgh National College Fair.

How many schools will be attending? What does this event have to offer for people looking towards their futures as college students? The answers to these questions, and some additional facts and information, as well, are provided below…

First of all, the College Fair, according to www.schoolguides.com, will be hosting “Representatives from more than 250 two-year and four-year colleges, nursing schools, business schools and trade schools…” This number is a rather impressive amount, and gives students of all interests the perfect opportunity to speak with real-life college attendees and staff members about their possible career choices, offered majors, admission requirements, life on and off campus, and generally about what each school has to offer. It’s a great opportunity to get out there, so to speak, and to learn a little bit about what higher-level education is truly all about.

But what about times and costs? You see, the College Fair is actually free to all who attend, and will be held at different times on both of its two open days. On Feb. 9th, it will be open from 9 a.m.- 12 noon and again from 6:30 p.m.- 9 p.m., and on Feb. 10th, it will be open solely from 9 a.m.- 12 noon.

Additionally, in terms of what this fair has to offer, there really are a broad range of helpful opportunities, and according to the aforementioned website: “A college fair is a good time to expand your knowledge about colleges and/or careers, in general. The representatives of the various institutions come from a variety of experiences and backgrounds, and they will be very pleased to answer any questions you have. You may even find that there will be other institutions at the program that may better serve your needs than the ones you were originally considering. Therefore, take advantage of the opportunity to investigate other institutions.” The website also mentions that the College Fair isn’t meant to be the final step in choosing a school. Instead, it is added that visiting the fair should probably be most student’s beginning to the process of searching for where to attend for higher education.

Now, last but not least, what are some of the schools that are attending the fair? Though the list is broad, here are just a few schools (in no particular order), both local and far, that will be represented there: 1. University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 2. Loyola University – New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 3. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 4. University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 5. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 6. University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 7. Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA 8. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 9. Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA 10. Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA 11. Clemson University, Clemson, SC 12. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 13. Penn State University, University Park, PA 14. American University, Washington, DC 15. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, and the list goes on (and on).

Feel free to visit this year’s Pittsburgh National College Fair, and, as mentioned previously, go to http://www.schoolguides.com/pittsburgh_national_college_fair.html for more.