Parents of college students…

[Anonymous]

I hear a lot of talk about the right college “fit” for a student and I wonder if your college search resulted in your child finding a good fit. What does it mean to you and, if you feel like your child fits at their college, do you think you used any strategies to help during your search?

[Anonymous]

Everyone has long told me that things happen for a reason and the right college finds you.

In my case, the two schools I was waitlisted from I really was not a good fit. Not my kind of people but I was obsessed with status. I begrudgingly went to my third choice and from Day 1 I felt like I was at home. I absolutely loved it. To this day (I'm in my 50s) I can tell when someone else attended my school. I was at a soccer college ID camp 6 states away and the one sane parent sat next to me and we were in tears and commenting on a lot of absurdity and delving into all kinds of fun topics and then finally after an hour we got on the 'well where did you go to school' thing and not only did she attend the SAME school. We graduated the same year.

My son is a Freshmen at a school that was an afterthought on his application list. He hadn't really researched it a ton. He hadn't visited it (well he did at age 7 and obvs. didn't remember). He had 2 really big first choice schools all through HS. On a whim he fired off an application to this school. I remember even when he was filling out the long application he mentioned how much easier it was to fill out. He liked the types of questions being asked, had fun with it, etc. It's been one week and he's met a gazillion friends, loves his classes, playing on two teams and just loving the environment.

Looking back, it seems like it was such an obvious fit. We just didn't see it at the time.

[Anonymous]

For my son who was a 4.1w, 1380 SAT sporty white kid from Fcps, it meant I knew he wanted a big school. He is good at math but not interested in languages or study abroad, so he mainly looked at big, D1 schools of 10k+ undergrads.

He ended up at one of those schools in an honors program and is settling in well so far.

He also got into a higher ranked school that was more like a SLAC, but would have been a spring admit. I think he would’ve found his way at either school, but I think he’s enjoying the first school a lot better.

I do feel like fit is different for every kid and don’t get too thrown off by that too much. You can weigh the fit of your relative acceptances later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear a lot of talk about the right college “fit” for a student and I wonder if your college search resulted in your child finding a good fit. What does it mean to you and, if you feel like your child fits at their college, do you think you used any strategies to help during your search?

We looked at a lot of schools- big, small, city, rural and suburban. It really helped get a sense of what DC wanted. Then we did admitted students days as their top choices and as pp said the school really chose them. They went in thinking school a would be the one and didn’t like it. Then went to school b and loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear a lot of talk about the right college “fit” for a student and I wonder if your college search resulted in your child finding a good fit. What does it mean to you and, if you feel like your child fits at their college, do you think you used any strategies to help during your search?

Kid 1:
Fit was the right curriculum that allowed intense stem but also allowed declaring major later, double major/minors easily allowed in non-stem, ability to continue their fine art on campus without having to do a major or a minor in that area, and perhaps the most important: peer fit. Target list included a lot of private elites and ivies and William and Mary as the backup. They are at an ivy that fits the bill and are flourishing.
Kid 2: wants big sports plus the highest level of academics possible. Applying this year. He has no interest in arts or interdisciplinary needs—has one favorite subject —but does not want a school where you apply to the major. The list includes Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA, UNC(he’s morehead-cain nominee), Duke, Uva as a backup(in state).

[Anonymous]

Predicting fit is a tricky business, the limited info a kid gets from a tour may help but they can’t really know until they jump into their own experience- roommate, classes, friends, ECs.

[Anonymous]

Too much about prestige at start, fit became apparent as application season was in swing. Geography was east coast, no city campus or super rural. In the end wanted a studious academic vibe, Goldilocks size, not heavy on Greek, partying, or pre-prof bro vibe that dominates, more open curriculum versus core classes preferred.

I think he could have been happy at several schools, but not all choose you back.

[Anonymous]

My oldest is at a midwest SLAC.
When you go to their website, everything on it connect to my DC. When you looked at the supplemental questions, it was easy for my DC to respond.
We visited other, higher ranked schools and for one left in the middle of the tour as we realized it was not what he thought.
For strategies to find "fit" -
Look at the courses offered. Even if they do not have a major ask what they might be interested in taking.
Watch unscripted videos and student panels.

[Anonymous]

The right fit for mine was similar to his HS in terms of amount of work and expectations. He went to a Catholic HS and is now at a Catholic university. He has made some friends, he enjoys going to the gym, he does well in his classes. It's a liberal arts school so there's no pressure to get right into a major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Predicting fit is a tricky business, the limited info a kid gets from a tour may help but they can’t really know until they jump into their own experience- roommate, classes, friends, ECs.

Agree. Sometimes you can’t really tell until you’re there. One of our kids found their fit immediately. Another kid realized what they thought was a good fit really wasn’t. They transferred after a semester and found their ultimate fit.

[Anonymous]

I will be honest here since it is anonymous. My 2 DCs and literally all of their friends just picked the highest ranked school they got into. One transferred after a year from a SLAC to a much bigger top 20 because they were miserable in at a small, rural school. The rest all love their colleges.

[Anonymous]

Our high stats kid was WL and then rejected at their "dream school," and WL at a top 20. Their target schools 2 out of 2 rejected, admitted at 2 safetys.

Choice of a target or a safety, chose the safety after visiting and is incredibly happy. Has made great friends, enjoys classes, and really likes the location of the school (far enough away but not too far, LOTS for students to do). It's a good fit for our kid, and they would be the first to tell you that

[Anonymous]

Maybe it would ruin the vibe of this post, but I would love it if folks would post the name of their perfect fit schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will be honest here since it is anonymous. My 2 DCs and literally all of their friends just picked the highest ranked school they got into. One transferred after a year from a SLAC to a much bigger top 20 because they were miserable in at a small, rural school. The rest all love their colleges.

My kid would have been at Hopkins if they did that and it would have been a horrible fit. Thankfully, has visited enough knew it and chose elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it would ruin the vibe of this post, but I would love it if folks would post the name of their perfect fit schools.

For my kid Virginia Tech. This is such a highly subjective and personal thing that I don’t think actual school names matter.