I always see people saying that you should apply to schools based on fit, but how do I really know where I fit?
I don’t seem to favor any particular size of school. I don’t seem to favor rural, suburban, or urban areas. I don’t seem to favor schools that are known for one thing (MIT) or schools with broad areas of study. Although I’m politically moderate, I don’t mind liberal or conservative environments. I don’t prefer any specific racial majority. I don’t prefer any specific region of the U.S.
In short, I seem to like most schools that I research, so I’m having trouble determining which ones I really “fit” into… Perhaps I would actually be fine at colleges that are very different from each other? Idk…
Have you done any college visits? Do you know what you might want to study or have an idea of a major? My advice would be to first determine if your family will qualify for financial aid or not (use the Net Price Calculators on the individual college sites or go to https://fafsa.ed.gov/) You should begin your search with this information because you don’t want to be considering schools that may not be a financial possibility. I would then suggest visiting some local schools or those not far and start to get a sense of what you may like. My D thought she might like small schools, but after visiting some, knew she wanted a larger campus with more going on. Once you have an idea of what you need from a school in terms of cost, size, and fields of study, you can start to narrow down the list. College Board offers a great search tool to put in various characteristics:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
Start to formulate a list of schools you wish to visit. After each visit, make a list of the pros and cons, things you liked and didn’t like.
You may find that you end up with an eclectic mix, that’s okay. If you visit several and start to formulate an idea of what you want, you should end up with 2 - 4 top choices.
Best of luck!
You are in fact very lucky! You will be a “grow where you are planted” type of person. Are you trying to save money? Look at colleges where your stats are high (do this anyway for the best chances of getting in), and merit aid is awarded. If you know what you want to study, look at colleges that have good reputations for your interests. If you don’t know what you want to study, look at colleges more focussed on Liberal Arts, which will have a broad range of offerings.
I suggest this: apply to a couple of in-state colleges. Apply to a couple of larger privates, like Boston University. Apply to a couple of small LACs. I think you are male, and men have great success getting into LACs because they tend to attract more women. Of course there are many factors such as test scores and grades to consider. Ideally, you should apply to colleges where your stats are in the 75th percentile to have a better chance of getting in. And here is something to consider: do you want to be in large lecture-hall classes? Or would you prefer smaller classes with lots of interaction between profs and students? If it’s the latter, go for the small colleges. Hardly any small colleges will have huge lecture classes. And the small LACs will,often have only about 2000 students. If it were me, my two main factors would be student pop, and class size. Think about what is important to you. Lots of school spirit and football games? Bigger college. Board game night? Maybe smaller college. Good luck!
@NJFabFour I’ve only visited UT Austin since I’m a Texas resident. I’ll for sure visit some more instate schools, but I unfortunately can’t afford to visit out of state. Hopefully more visits allow me to see what type of schools I might prefer! And thanks for the heads up about the net price calculators! They’re a pain to fill out, but I guess they’re necessary. Thanks for the info!!
@Lindagaf Yup, I’m a guy, and I absolutely wouldn’t mind applying to a school with more women if you know what I mean 
On a more serious note, what concerns me about LACs is that most don’t offer Aerospace Engineering. However, I’m currently trying to decide between majoring in physics/astrophysics or Aero, so if I with the physics route, LACs definitely wouldn’t be bad. I do like elements of both large and small schools (one on one interaction with professors and lots of school spirit and football games), so I guess it will take more research to really narrow down where I’ll apply. Thank you for all the in depth advice!!!
Are you a likely auto admit at UT Austin?
I think if you visit more types of schools, the idea of fit will become clearer.