By following these tips, students can increase their chances of landing tickets to premier campus events.
But some schools require a student ID for each ticket, so the student tasked with getting tickets should gather friends' identification cards first, warns Wember, the Illinois State graduate.
5. Befriend student leaders: Having friends in high places—such as student government, programming boards, or clubs—can't hurt, says Marymount's Jahr. "A lot of times those students are the ones selling the tickets, so you already have a point person to buy them from," she says.
Knowing event organizers personally is also a good idea, adds Chris Pruijsen, an undergraduate at University of Oxford and former president of Oxford Entrepreneurs. "It helps you stand out of the crowd," he says.
[Find out whom to get to know at college.]
6. Make your own wait list: Students who don't secure seats should look for ticket holders who learn of conflicting commitments, advises Nadia Chaudhry, a recent graduate of Benedictine University, where she was president of the Muslim Student Association. "But don't be aggressive with people who don't want to give it up," she says.
Jahr, of Marymount, adds that students who need to be no-shows may return tickets to organizers. "[Ask] event planners and ticket sellers to keep an eye out for students who won't be able to go anymore, and to send them your way to resell the ticket," she says.
7. Don't assume you can cheat: Jahr discourages gaming the system by trying to purchase tickets before they're released, sneaking in, or complaining to planners after the event sells out. "Most times, groups are very strict about being fair, so [would-be cheaters] are just wasting their time," she says. "We will remember them, and we'll be less likely to call them if extra tickets pop up somewhere."
But that's not exactly what Clayton Rothschild has seen as a graduate student at Baylor, where he was an Alpha Tau Omega executive board member as an undergraduate. Recent graduates often E-mail the fraternity asking that students, who don't plan to attend campus football games, pick up tickets for them. The alumni flash their own "student" ID cards at the game.
"This trick works," Rothschild says, "because student IDs do not have any expiration listed on them."
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