So I know colleges are looking for fit when they are looking at the applicants.
I am wondering how I would be able to see if I am a good fit at this school, like for myself and my own personality.
I live in the West Coast and was thinking about possibly applying to some schools on the East Coast but I have no idea what the school is like.
Let’s say University X for example. I want to go there, but I also want to make sure it’s a good fit for me. They send me flyers and emails, I go to their website, but it’s a lot of vague information. I don’t know if the school is actually right for me. All the flyers say: “Great education! Lots of clubs and programs! Tons of opportunities!” ; they’re all the same.
Like is there any way to get “insider” information?
For example: I don’t think UCSB says this, but everyone who goes there says it’s a party school for the socially active. I would not know that unless an alumini told me or I actually attended that school. People at Berkeley say it’s extremely cutthroat, and I would not have known that before.
How would I know, just from looking at the website of a school, what the school is actually like. Is it a very socially active environment or laid-back or is it very academically competitive and stimulating or if people don’t really care etc.
I just want to get a good list of schools that are a good fit for me and have a learning environment that I would enjoy for the next four years, given that I am accepted.
Thanks!
–Understand your own personality/preferences.
–Go to the “University X” forum on this website and choose some threads that pertain to fit/culture.
–Go to the Advanced Forum Search at the top of this page and put “University X” under title or as a keyword.
–Start a thread and give us your academic profile, financial constraints, and preferences for location/culture/fit.
That’s about as “insider” as you’re going to get, short of hanging out on campus for a while and talking to students and observing the culture. Even formal campus tours are tooled around PR and making the sale. So get with the research. Dig up the dirt. Find the hidden gems.
The best way is to just visit the school while classes are in session. You can tell a lot just by being on the campus and talking to the people who go there.
If that’s not an option, you could look up the schools you’re interested in on Unigo or Niche. There you will find ratings in different categories, reviews and descriptions from people who go there, and other stuff like that.
For some reason the forum is editing out the word u n i g o, so here’s a link:
https://www.■■■■■■■■■/
Ugh, it’s editing out the link too. Oh well.
Check out Colleges.niche.com. My daughter liked this site with reviews and “best and worst” of each school. Nothing beats visiting a school, but this is a good start.
Insider’s guide to colleges, put out by Yale students, is based more on interviews with students than numbers and lists. While not perfect, it can give you a sense for campus, for instance, how big is Greek life, how preppie or crunchy etc. Removes some of the potential randomness of relying only on non-moderated student reviews on websites.
Uniggo and the Insider’s Guide to Colleges are both great resources, as well as college confidential forums. I’d take everything with a grain of salt though. For instance just because a certain school is known as a party school does not mean that someone that is not into parties would not fit in there.
Any large university will have a diverse student body, even if one group seems dominant. UCSB is known for having one of the “best-looking” student bodies, and attracting surfers, but it also houses the College For Creative Studies, which is as far from that stereotype as possible. Admission to most UCs is competitive, and so many strong students in CA apply to all of them. UCSB and UCSD have the surfer vibe, but they are both also very strong in sciences. You probably can’t visit all the colleges you want to apply to, but I recommend trying to meet with regional admissions reps whenever possible. They can often give you a sense of whether you would “fit” within an otherwise generic interview. I recommend including a broad selection of colleges, especially among your matches and safeties, and then seeing how it goes. Your list of options will have narrowed by April, and you can then pick one or two accepted students’ events to attend. Don’t just look at the immediate campus, but look at the surrounding community. Does it have affordable, attractive dining spots . . . live music . . . good transportation available . . . internships and part-time jobs . . .? Does the college have overseas study programs or exchange networks with other colleges? Finally, a website or discussion with admissions rep will give you some insight into what the college values (albeit not what a personal visit would). If they spend all their time boasting about their sparkling, state-of-the-art athletic facilities and computer center, but you are interested in arts and humanities, it might not be perfect for you. . . or it might: research the appropriate departments.
@woogzmama You said that a website or discussion with an admissions rep would be helpful. Are they the ones that go to the high school and talk about their university? Are they a reliable source of information for the college environment, what the college values etc?
Thanks everyone for the tips. I looked at the websites and they seem very helpful in narrowing down my list so far.
Try to find one (or all!) of these guides in your school or town library: Fiske Guide, Insider’s Guide to the colleges, Princeton Review’s best colleges.
Start reading and write down what you like in the discussion, what you dislike. You’ll get a clearer idea of what you want in a college. Then you can start a thread titled “Colleges like W, Z, T” 
and people here will have lots of suggestions!