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"  Are you a senior in high school? Do you already know what college, program, or university you&amp;#039;ll be attending next year? Are you interested in meeting your future classmates, roommates, and friends? If you answered &amp;quot;yes&amp;quot; to these questions, I want to share with you a really great networking idea that I think any enthusiastic, proactive girl can organize in her own community. Earlier this month, a group of about thirty Barnard early decision admitees met over coffee and cookies (on campus!) to mingle, meet each other, and ask questions of current students and faculty members. Organized over Facebook through a group called &amp;quot;Barnard Class of 2013&amp;quot; (check to see if a similar group exists for YOUR school!), the girls began to introduce themselves, congratulate each other on their acceptance, and talk about everything from potential majors to favorite hobbies. What started out as an informal suggestion to schedule a meet-up quickly turned into an Admission&amp;#039;s Office sponsored coffee after just a few simple phone calls to the campus office of special events and a Facebook invitation to all girls in the surrounding area. I was lucky enough to attend the get-together and meet both the organizers and participants; all of the girls were friendly, excited to get to know their future classmates, bubbly, inquisitive, and all around happy to make their first day of orientation next year a little bit less anxiety-provoking, because they now had the comfort of a few familiar faces. While none of the attendees expressed an interest in looking for a roommate (they agree with my advice to random room), everyone agreed that gatherings like the coffee they planned are the perfect way to ask questions of veteran students, meet with admissions representatives, get to know their future campus, ask questions, share in the procrastination of senioritis, and meet, face-to-face, with the incoming freshman they&amp;#039;re already starting to get to know on Facebook. Impressed by the initiative and friendly, outgoing nature of the incoming Freshman here at Barnard, I encourage you all, wherever you live, to organize a local meet-up of seniors in YOUR area who will be joining you on the same campus next fall! If you have any questions about the event, the logistics, or are curious how you can best plan a similar event, don&amp;#039;t hesitate to ask! - Rachel "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a3970/rachel-great-new-idea/>