<p>Assuming financial aid is not an issue, do you choose to send your child to the best school at which he/she was accepted, or the one that fits them best? We tend to favor the best school to which the child is admitted, but do allow for some wiggle room if the schools are close to toss-ups in our mind. For example, Penn vs. Dartmouth--if our child expressed a strong preference for a rural vs. urban setting we would be very flexible. If the schools were not toss-ups he/she would go to the better school regardless of setting, surrounding community, large or small size school, etc. The quality of the school would be the over riding factor.</p>
<p>The school that is the best fit is the best school FOR YOUR CHILD. There is no other definition of “best school” IMHO.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t any reasonable definition of “best school” for the particular student be the same as the “best fit” for the particular student? (“Fit” obviously has to include how well the academic offerings match up to what the student wants to study, as well as financial and non-academic factors.)</p>
<p>Why would you send your child to the best school over the best fit school? Bragging rights?</p>
<p>They spend 4 years of their lives in this school. Why don’t you allow THEM to choose where THEY go?</p>
<p>I agree with amtc. What if your child would do better at a small school setting, and the highest ranked option is a highly ranked state school with 40,000 students? Besides, who is making this “best” list? What are the rankings based on? A magazine/book trying to sell issues?</p>
<p>Far better for a child to attend the school he or she likes and thus stands a better chance to excel than a top school where the child is disinterested and does not put forth best efforts.</p>
<p>Although I am a student as opposed to a parent, the choice should be your child’s. Fit is very important, especially to a new student attending an entirely different environment–precisely at the time when he or she must mature into a young adult.</p>
<p>However, with all of this being taken into account, it is important to ensure your child will be getting a valuable (and worthwhile) education at that particular school. If this is the case, there is really no reason to deprive them of an experience they might prefer. Sometimes it’s interesting to me that the students or adults who themselves cannot understand the concept of “best fit” tend to ignore it for the most part. Do you not see it as a valid reason? If not, why not?</p>
<p>So what you’re really asking is “What’s more important, fit or prestige?” Perhaps prestige is one element of fit – highly ranked schools tend to have highly able student bodies, and peer learning is a significant piece of the college experience. </p>
<p>But to simply say best ranked automatically trumps best fit is, IMO, misguided.</p>
<p>If financial concerns were not part of it, I’d have the kid spend a night or two in the dorms and leave the decision up to him/her. A perceived “best fit” might change with that experience. If the disparity was significant, I’d also have some talks with my kid about future opportunities that MIGHT be lost in going to the significantly less well-regarded school.</p>
<p>Fit. What’s the point of a kid being miserable for four years at a prestigious school?</p>
<p>From HS on, the choice of schools has been our kids, as we believe it should be. We left the choice of Us up to the kids as well & they chose a U that met their needs well. Most kids are pretty good at making choices if they are given the option. We did let them know budgetary constraints but THEY were the decision-makers as we felt it was THEIR education. No regrets, here.</p>
<p>Presumably kids only apply to schools they wish to attend. Now sometimes parents might take that list of 5 o4 6 colleges and rank order them differently than the student and sometimes a parent might have to say “no” in the spring because the student applied with a wing and a prayer regarding financial aid, but ultimately kids aren’t applying to schools they shouldn’t/couldn’t attend so let the student “decide” from the acceptances which one.</p>
<p>So, how do y’all suggest that parents and students identify a good “fit,” whatever that is?</p>
<p>best overall fit of course. now “fit” can mean a combination of many things- the programs the student wants to take, the professors , the affordability of the college,[ especially if graduate school is a strong possibility] the type of kids, the distance to home, the climate, etc, etc
DS was accepted at many[ 12], more prestigious U’s and colleges [ 2 Ivys + 5 other top 20 U’s and colleges] than the one he chose to go to-USC. But his experience is a great example of choosing the college that was the best fit vrs most prestigious in many areas- it was affordable [free tuition scholarship], it had great honors programs where he met many equally smart, engaged students, he had immediate access to one of the most prominent profs in his field of interest[ who he did 2 years worth of research for and gave him great LOR’s for grads school] , he had the chance to take great music classes at the well respected college of music, despite not being a music major, and he was relatively close to home, in a warm climate, and not 10 hrs away by plane.</p>
<p>He has no regrets for his choice of UG college, he accomplished all he intended to accomplish there and ended up where he wanted to go for his PHD-which ironically is a very"prestigious" U .</p>
<p>remember it’s full pay. If we are investing $250K, we want a place at the table in the decision-making process. We won’t force him to go to a school that he has researched (campus day, sleeping bag overnite, meeting w/students and faculty and sitting in on a few classes) and decides he really dislikes. My brother-in-law doctor graduated from Cornell. He sent all four sons to Cornell. He said: “Hey, I’m spending a million dollars here”. I suppose there is a happy medium between letting the child choose and mandating where they go. That’s what we are looking for. The best school is indeed very subjective and not based only on rankings, but they serve as a rough guide or starting point. Researching and attending the school itself is critical and even more important. We saved a long time for his education, it’s a lot of money, we want to make sure it is both well-spent and gives him the best advantage in starting his adult life.</p>
<p>Fit depends on the kid.</p>
<p>For my oldest fit was best comp sci department. Everything else was irrelevant. That’s how he turned down Harvard in favor of Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>For youngest it was much more complicated. While his academic interest (International Relations) played an important role, he also cared about location (near, but not necessarily in a city), having a campus, and some sense that there would be a social fit. Hard to define as he had friends from every group in high school - academic nerds (both science and lit nerds), jocks, music geeks, and just about every racial and economic group as well.</p>
<p>Both kids wanted schools with a critical mass of smart students, but that was really not a worry at any of the school they applied to.</p>
<p>I would hate if I was accepted to Penn, Hopkins, and William and Mary, and told I HAD to go to Penn because it has a better name (although I might pick it on my own). If your child is looking at Penn and Dartmouth and other schools of that caliber, he will get a wonderful education (even at his safety schools). Let him decide where he’s happiest because he will ultimately be the one at that school.</p>
<p>My mother has been micromanaging the process and ultimately will try and persuade me to go to the school that will be the least expensive, but I will ultimately fight to go to the school that makes me the happiest. Since money is not an issue, let your kid make the final decision.</p>
<p>lexie, maybe your mom is micromanaging the process and will choose the least expensive school because she knows that your family can’t afford to pay full freight. Have y’all had the money talk? (not to hijack thread!)</p>
<p>As long as there is nothing too negative about the school they WANT to attend, then it should be the students decision, unless you can not afford the school, debt, etc.</p>
<p>That said, Penn vs Penn State… I still think it’s the student’s decision not the parents.</p>
<p>Implicit in your question is the idea the there is something unique at the “best school” that isn’t available at the “best fit”. Schools are happy to tout how many faculty a academic prize winners etc, but how many students actually get access to those professors? Do you feel that there’s a discernible difference in the intelligence of a student body with an average admitted SAT of 2100 vs 2000 vs 1900? Is your child pursuing a special academic track? Going to MIT for nuclear engineering is certainly more impressive and lucrative than an engineering degree from Kay Kaiser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge, but if his/her track is more generic I don’t see the distinction.</p>
<p>“Best School” implies that college makes the student; “best fit” implies that the student makes the best of the college.</p>
<p>The school that is the best fit is the best college.</p>