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[quote=Anonymous]I think both my kids found their fit at very different colleges.

#1 we started with the regular recommendation of touring a range of big/small, urban/rural type schools (all in VA). DS came out of that 100% wanting a big rah-rah sports school in a college town. Liked both VT and JMU but the program for his desired major was much better at VT. Got into VT and been happy there.

For #2, she'd tagged along on those early tours, visited DS at VT, attended a short summer program at a LAC. From that exposure was really clear that she wanted a small school and liked rural/small town locations. Through the course of touring a bunch of rural LACs (and some strongly rejected drive-bys of more suburban/urban locations) she developed a pretty precise list of preferences -- needed enough of a town walkable to campus, wanted a symphony + pep band to continue music (but not a marching band), special resources for environmental science programs, no or light Greek life, a "reasonable" drive from home. Applied to a variety of schools, came down to two that were pretty close on the list of wants. 2nd visits to both gave her a very clear sense that the "vibe" was right at one and not right at the other. She's a sophomore and happy with her choice.

Rankings and "what others think of it" generally didn't come into the consideration set. I did provide the initial pool of schools for them to look at a screened first for a high retention rate and graduation rate which meant they were not looking at places way down in the rankings.

For the small LAC, the reputation within DD's specific field did matter and we talked with a couple people in the field who were familiar with it and spoke well of it. I don't really care what my neighbors think.

Despite being at "good fit" colleges, both found the freshman year adjustment difficult and didn't really find their footing and their people until late in freshman year, early sophomore. Still, throughout the adjustment they were still confident that they were at the right place. It's not going to feel perfect right off the bat for most kids. DD especially struggled first year but hit the ground running this year and we're barely hearing from her because she's found her people, is getting the academic support she needed (ADHD and resisted support in 1st year), and enjoys her classes. [/quote]

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