Should I go to the same graduate school fair I went to three years ago?

[Nico Corr]

I have been planning on going to grad school since my second year of college. I went to the APSIA graduate school fair during the fall semester of my 3rd year to get an idea what programs offered degrees in International Relations and Security Studies. I took some brochures, talked to some of the representatives and continued my research.

I intended to apply to grad schools in the fall of 2016, but because of work and family commitments, I could not dedicate the time needed to fill out applications and take the GRE. I done a couple online webinars, but that's about it. Fast forward two years later, and I am gearing up to finally apply for grad schools. I have taken the GRE once, and plan on taking it a second time before admissions deadlines to get better quant scores. I found out the same grad school fair is taking place in a month. Even though I have most of the information I need to apply, should I go back to the grad school fair to get face time with representatives and get any new information?

[Concordia]

At what cost (time/$$)?

[Nico Corr]

1 hour ago, Concordia said:

At what cost (time/$$)?

It's free. I just need to make sign up, and show up.

[hopeful88]

Yes, go. Sounds like you have nothing to lose. I don't think it makes a huge difference, but it can be helpful to meet admissions staff members who attend the fairs. Pick out your top programs, and make a point to talk with someone at each of those booths. Why not? Show them that you are interested in and knowledgeable about the programs you intend to apply to. 

[ExponentialDecay]

I don't find career fairs and suchlike to be particularly useful myself. If you know more or less the schools you want to apply to, another option is to sign up for some online webinars. They're pretty thorough, you can ask questions via webex, and you don't have to go anywhere.

[Concordia]

Low-ish return, zero cost (not counting the time and opportunities lost).  You could almost toss a coin.

[TakeruK]

I'd agree with @Concordia

I think if you are asking this as "I want to go, but I don't know if it makes sense to do so", then sure, you should go because there is little cost to you other than time. But if you are thinking "Do I have to go to this, or doom myself?" then don't go, since I don't think there is that much to gain either.

You have been to this fair before so you know how it works the best. All of the grad school fairs I've been to for my field** have been very generic except for one. They are great for meeting current students and learning about what it's like to be a student there, or good for talking to professors to clarify department policies etc. However, they are mostly people that are not going to be the ones making or even influencing the admission decisions, and a lot of this information you could get on your own. Also, you get like a few minutes to talk to each person since there is a ton of other people, not like you can really make major decisions based on that. The one exception was a grad school fair hosted as part of an undergraduate research conference for my field in Canada. At that fair, often profs specifically looking for students will be there and/or there will be special material prepared for conference attendees listing which profs are looking for students to do which research projects. Still, I would not advise anyone to pay money to attend the conference just for the grad school fair---in almost every case, it's a matter of "go if you're already there anyways".

**I went to a couple of non-field specific grad school fairs because my MSc school was hosting them and it was a big waste of time since every program is different.

[green_dots21]

Go for the application fee waiver because many programs offer them to people attending any information session and/or speaking to one of their representatives.