Outside of academics, what factors to look for in terms of fit

[Anonymous]

Looking for advice from families who have older kids in college…

My DS has his list narrowed down to a few very similar schools. With academics and cost being very comparable, I’m curious about some of the smaller day-to-day things that enhanced your kid’s college experience…also looking for negatives that they may not have considered when making their decision. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Things that swayed my kids one way or another...

Variety of housing options
Quality and variety of the food
Extracurricular activities -- could they continue specific ECs, how competitive is it to join clubs
Rec centers - does it have good equipment, how crowded is it (can you actually get in to use it when you want to)
Extended visits where they could meet with several students and get a sense of the "vibe"
Surrounding area - does it have places they want to go, how hard is it to get around
Academically - how many required general ed classes are there, how flexible is the curriculum, what kind of supporting research centers or other facilities do they have to support experiential learning.

[Anonymous]

Read (or reread) the entries in the Fiske Guide or Princeton Review. Subtle differences may start to appear once you're focused on a few schools.

Check out Niche and Unigo. Watch videos on youtube made by students at the colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice from families who have older kids in college…

My DS has his list narrowed down to a few very similar schools. With academics and cost being very comparable, I’m curious about some of the smaller day-to-day things that enhanced your kid’s college experience…also looking for negatives that they may not have considered when making their decision. Thanks!

Maybe it's just our family...but academics is pretty low on the list in terms of picking school A vs. B (or C, D, E, etc.) and fit. Understanding you maybe have a master list of 30+ schools that are similar in academic profile so it was important for that much larger list...at that point, academics is off the table, and now it's do I want urban vs. rural, do I want large, medium or small school, do I want school with warm weather, or don't care, do I want a school with a big greek system or not, etc.

Having one now at college and hearing some of the foibles, will also probably pay closer attention to the quality and choice of the dining hall food, the quality of all the dorm options, ease of getting the classes you want vs. having to settle for something that satisfies a requirement, etc. for kid #2.

[Anonymous]

random things that unfortunately make or break: the weather and or the tour guide and or the people you wakled by on the day of the campus visit

[Anonymous]

My kids are both in college--- they cared about things like

weather
school spirit/enthusiasm for school
sports (or one of them cared about that) to watch
near enough to a city to not feel isolated
ability to bring a car to campus
distance from home
housing options
class size/ability to get classes
study abroad options

[Anonymous]

I went to college in D.C.

However, crime in D.C. is increasing exponentially, and it does not show any sign of changing in the near future.

All the D.C. universities are unfortunately off our list for that reason.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to college in D.C.

However, crime in D.C. is increasing exponentially, and it does not show any sign of changing in the near future.

All the D.C. universities are unfortunately off our list for that reason.

Per capita, DC is not even top 20: https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america

[Anonymous]

My oldest wanted a school where Greek life or sports didn’t rule socialization, in or near a city and airport, in a pro choice state.

[Anonymous]

My DC wanted to make sure the college would have a large group of people with similar interests, so he looked for signs of that in clubs, elective course offerings, particular sections available in the library, related stores nearby for hobbyists in the area.

[Anonymous]

My current senior is very interested in "fit." Some things that rose to the top of her list:

-- Class size
-- Availability of majors, and treatment of her prospective majors. Are you boxed in from the very beginning, can you come in undecided, can you switch later without losing too much time?
-- Friendliness of the student body. This has been extremely important to her
-- Distance from home
-- Balance of students. She goes to a diverse high school, and some schools have seemed a little too white. Some schools are way heavier on girls than boys. You can find these stats online, but sometimes, the real picture on campus is a little different.
-- Access to professors, internships, etc.
-- Fun clubs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to college in D.C.

However, crime in D.C. is increasing exponentially, and it does not show any sign of changing in the near future.

All the D.C. universities are unfortunately off our list for that reason.

Yeah, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, and Tenleytown are downright terrifying these days.

[Anonymous]

I would also add "how easy is it to get there"? Is it a nonstop flight? Is it driveable?

These criteria came up for us during the initial Covid shutdowns. How quickly would the kid be able to get home? Denver is nonstop, but not all that driveable. We were willing to apply to schools in the Boulder/Denver area. Spokane, WA is not nonstop and even farther. So Gonzaga was eliminated.

[Anonymous]

Junior or Senior? I have suggestions if a Junior. A Senior w/acceptances, stay out of it as much as possible. It's the first big decision of their adult life - you want them to own it. They will work hard to prove it was the right one, and that's what you want above all else.