How real is fit on the part of the colleges?

College Search & Selection
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These months, I take a vicarious pleasure in reading the college search and selection threads, a lot of which appear to go something like this: I got into huge public flagship, medium sized private RU and tiny rural LAC, please help me choose!

And a lot of the answers go: these schools are so different/in such varied locations/at the opposite ends of the political spectrums and attract such different students, how come you do not have a preference?

The one common thread on the part of the colleges seems to that they admit students with roughly similar academic profiles.

I understand that this is the main criterion for the large publics, but if fit is so important on the part of the smaller privates (both RUs and LACs), why would such vastly different institutions consider the same student a fit? Are these outlier threads and the vast majority of students only get admitted to very similar schools?

Or do the colleges really primarily admit by academic band and institutional desirability bucket and the leave the fit part to the students?

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Good points.

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The schools admit students who they feel will add to their communities. They assume that the students can assess for themselves whether this is the place for them.

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The short, simple answer would be: yes, most of them leave the fit part to the students. However, it may depend on how selective the college is, on what criteria it chooses to apply, and on how we (or they) define “fit”.

Some super selective colleges, like Caltech, seem to focus heavily on academic ability and “stats”. Others, like the Ivies, seem to focus on extracurricular considerations (including “hooks”) as well as stats; however, these considerations don’t seem to be tied, necessarily, to specific features of the school’s environment. Still other selective colleges, like UChicago maybe, do seem to make an effort (for example, through supplemental essay questions) to attract students who “fit” the school’s institutional mission and character (even if not every admitted student winds up being a good mutual fit).

For the vast majority of other colleges, “fit” plays little if any role in how they select most (if not all) students. They aren’t selective enough, or don’t have the resources to consider all applications that carefully, or they simply don’t care. In general, it seems to me, the more selective a college is, the smaller it is, and the more distinctive its program, the more it is likely to emphasize “fit”. Colorado College, for example, is a rather small and selective school with an unusual one-course-at-a-time “Block Plan”; it does seem to emphasize “fit” in admissions. I would imagine tiny Deep Springs College, with its unusual work-study program centered around ranch living, cares a lot about “fit”. The service academies presumably do, too. But your average state flagship probably does not. Even many selective LACs don’t necessarily consider “fit”, per se, if by that we mean how well the student is suited to some special characteristics of the school program/environment. They may be more like the Ivies, that is, interested in how an applicant might contribute to the college (any college) environment. Although, in some cases, “class crafting” considerations come into play. So the scales might be tipped if they happen to want a good soccer goalie, oboe player, or something like that.

That’s how I see it, anyway. I don’t think too many colleges publish very clear guidelines for how they approach this issue.

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I see this as both but more on the student. For my kids, my son wanted large big ten atmosphere and my daughter wanted very small Lac. Don’t think the other way around would of worked well for either one of them.

The schools want kids that will excell in their schools system/philosophy.

I think it’s more fit and “feel” for the students. It’s hard to explain but once you find it then it makes sense. Some schools just “feel” right compared to others.

We first found this phenomenon out when looking for high schools. In our area it’s a test in, selective enrollment. Once you know your score you start to go to open houses the high schools have. Again some just felt better then others.

For us the same it was looking at colleges.

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@Knowsstuff “I think it’s more fit and “feel” for the students. It’s hard to explain but once you find it then it makes sense. Some schools just “feel” right compared to others.”

Is shopping, you like a house more the other, or a car or clothes, is the same, your feel better with some product, not always you like the most expensive, is how you feel it or fit to you.

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@“International Dad”. Cost has nothing to do with it. First you have to narrow down your college list to one’s that meet your students needs. One of those needs is affordability. If we truly can’t afford it, it comes off the list. Also rank means nothing. If you go to your number 1 school but the number 35 schools has everything you need and feels /fit better, then you have your answer. Where will your child be happy to go to for 4 years of learning? Parents and students including myself get too impressed with schools rank. Rank means nothing if your child doesn’t like to study there. Certain schools that people on CC love we found bland and sterile. Once the stars align, your child will know it. Understand you might not love the school but your child might. We took notes and talked about each school when in the car leaving. Trust me, at some point, you will forget which school said what.

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@Knowsstuff
I probably did not express well, I mean I agree with you, although in the selection of the ideal college for me, I have to take into account factors such as cost or quality of the curriculum, the most important is how I feel living in that place four years, and it will influence your whole life, there you can surely find friends for your whole life, partners, bosses, future employees, etc.

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I don’t know. I have a kid that applied to colleges sized 1200 to 40,000+. He was applying to auditioned and non-auditioned music programs with the ability to dual degree so I think that requires some flexible thinking. Not to mention his list was targeted toward those schools that may provide merit for a high stat kid. Anywhere with auditions is pretty competitive. I don’t think he auditioned anywhere that had a higher than 30% acceptance rate for music. He originally envisioned himself in an LAC setting but through the process will likely end up at a big 10 school of music which turned out to be the most welcoming and best fit. Not to mention he got an unexpectedly generous financial package from them.

Sometimes thoughts on school size or location evolve during the process. Sometimes finances or a unique experience during a visit can make a school stand out. I do think larger schools can potentially be a fit for almost anyone. I think fit is more important if you’re choosing a smaller school. My kid is still a little tentative about the larger school but think will find his people through the school of music and living his freshman year probably in a learning community.

I do think schools looking at students holistically consider them a fit for their environment and institutional needs. If a kid applied, I assume they think the student is at least interested in attending. But I think there are plenty of good reasons why a student might apply to a range of schools that may appear polar opposites. Waxing poetic over fit isn’t something most of the world gets to spend a ton of time and energy on.

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To tell you the truth, I don’t really understand the concept of “fit” very well. In my varied college experiences, the factor that most influenced my life was probably my group of friends. Since that human element changes from year to year on any campus, and can’t really be determined in advance, I don’t know how one really goes about pegging that social aspect of “fit” in advance. I understand that academic “fit” is important, but again, how does a high school junior of senior even know for sure about their major, much less what particular school of thought within that major will most appeal to them in college? Does “fit” really just boil down to the set up of the curriculum (quarters vs semesters, open vs. closed, etc) and the dorm situation? I’m not really sure. I would love to hear people explain this concept better.

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Thank you everyone for weighing in! I do not feel much closer to grasping how the colleges apply the concept in admissions, but that is probably quite telling in itself.

So is it true that, beyond determining whether the level of academic preparation and the degree of involvement in extracurricular activities is within the desired range, and the institutional requirements of the right balance of full payers, low income, first gen, racial and geographical balance are covered, colleges rely much more on self selection rather than trying to determine a candidates values, character, enjoyment of frats or arts or nature or city life from a students application?

I suppose it ties in with the secrecy in admissions thread a bit: if you want to create a balanced class that works and energises and makes students grow, you have to have some variety, you can’t admit all students with similar personalities, values and sources of enjoyment. So they create these buckets, and really you have to determine whether you fit into a specific bucket, but with a lot of those, you will never know how big the bucket is and how manny have applied who, in theory, fit the bucket…

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@Tigerle, they want to make a class that meets their institutional needs as best they could. Basically, that means making them look good (and not making them look bad) within financial restraints. PM if you want more thoughts or have more questions.

Fit is really more for students to decide.

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Colleges with different institutional needs will often focus on different parts of a kid’s application. A large public university will look mostly at the stats and course list, while a LAC will focus a lot more on the ECs. A student with an academic profile that fits a large public university will often also have an EC profile which is attractive to some LACs. These are not mutually exclusive. The same way in which a kid will find parts of each college which they like, a college will look at the parts of a kid’s application which they find important, and make their decisions based on that.

Also, students will tailor the essays and certain parts of their application based on the college to which they are applying. My kid’s essay for UIUC and UMN were not the one she used on her LAC application. In many ways, the large public research university, the smaller private research university, and the liberal arts college are not really looking at the same kid, or at least, they are looking at very different aspects of the kid.

Of course, the kid may be mistaken, but then again, so can the college. Admissions people are not omniscient. They only know of a student what the student wants to share. If what the kid shares looks good, they’ll accept the kid, without checking any more deeply whether the kid is TRULY a “fit”.

Admissions people in a wide array of colleges may look at a kid with top grades, an impressive list of awards, and a well crafted essay, and say “we want that kid”, without looking too deeply into whether the kid fits into the college, personality wise. It is the same way many kids and parents will apply to, and automatically accept an offer from, a high prestige school, based on prestige alone, even if it’s not really the best fit for the kid.

So kids often apply and are accepted into many types of colleges because they can fit into many types of colleges, and colleges often accept kids who would also fit in many other types of college. This, I think, is what is usually happening. Sometimes, though, kids will be “blinded” to issues of fit by the prestige of a college, and sometimes admissions people will be blinded to issues of fit because of an applicants impressive array of awards, or their fame. However, even in those cases, kids are generally resilient enough and adaptive enough, that they will mange to do well anywhere they end up, and colleges will often put some effort into helping students find their place in the college…

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@Tigerle It seems to me that fit is important in the Admissions for some but not all colleges, and typically for the most selective colleges. Not just RUs and LACs. It’s why they want to see demonstrated interest in the college by seeing that you have visited or attended local admissions events, and the reason why they have specific “Why Michigan” (elite public flagship) and “Why Tulane” (medium size highly selective private) essays where they want to know that the applicant has carefully thought about and articulated how that university is a good fit.

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For your average moderately selective large public university, “fit” from the school’s point of view probably means something like:

A. Students with the best chance of graduating, since they are in the selectivity range where high school academic stat differences correlate to significant differences in graduation rate.

B. Distribution of students in each major does not exceed the capacity of the major.

For a medium to small super selective private university with a huge endowment, the above are not really considerations:

A. With essentially all admitted students coming in with top-end high school academic stats, few students will be academically unable to graduate.

B. The university can afford to maintain reserve capacity in all majors to reduce the effect of capacity limitations (though some small LACs are having issues with the rapid rise in popularity of computer science).

So such a medium to small super selective private university with a huge endowment has the luxury of defining “fit” from its point of view in other ways that it values. And that may be reflected in what it values in admissions (whether publicly stated or not).

However, both types of schools may include in their definitions of “fit” the distribution of financial aid need among the students, relative to the school’s capability to provide financial aid (to attract students and/or prevent them from dropping out due to running out of money). This does not necessarily mean need-awareness when reading individual applications, since the schools can adjust how they consider correlates to financial aid need in admissions.

In neither case does “fit” from the school’s point of view necessarily match what applicants see as “fit” from their point of view.

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Call me a cynic, but I think true fit often comes down to who can pay full tuition.

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@trixy34, at some schools, that very well could be.

Even better: Who can donate 7/8/9 figures.

$300000 is pocket change compared to $30000000.

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Finding right fit is an easier option for students who have free full rides to every college thanks to aid or wealth. For others, they have pick from colleges wherever they get enough merit to make it affordable. Williams or Yale aren’t going to enroll you without money just because they accepted you fit perfectly in there. It doesn’t matter how amazing you are, without wealth or ability to get tons of aid, you aren’t welcomed.