I think FIT is very important if you are talking about a school having the majors that a student wants, or is affordable, etc.
However, I think that “fit” when used to describe how happy someone thinks they will be at a school after spending just one day is a bit crazy. Things that affect your happiness in a major way at a school, are: professor/student interaction, roommate compatibility, course availability, difficulty of the grading curves, research/internship opportunities, types of clubs, and many others. Very few kids are talking about these factors when they say a school will (or won’t) be a good “fit”. I know my kid didn’t.
I think of “fit” more from the parental perspective, using some of the same items you describe. If I go visit a school and get a completely different feel for it than my kid does, we need to talk.
Seems like what you are really questioning is the over-reliance on a sometimes superficial impression gained from a visit. Visits certainly should not be the first method of evaluating colleges; parents and students need to do their homework first to determine how good the fit factors that can be read on the web are, and what questions they need to ask at each school on a visit, if they even need to visit to determine the fit.
I don’t think it’s a bunch of baloney. My daughter had to choose between several schools that were all about equal as far as professor/student interaction, course availability, difficulty of the grading curves, research/internship opportunities, types of clubs, etc. But the atmospheres at those schools were all quite different. The culture at the school she ultimately chose was definitely the best “fit” for her personality, and I’m certain that has contributed to how well she’s thrived there. She didn’t make that determination after a one-day visit; she made it after a lot of research and talking to many students and alumni. I’m sure she could’ve been happy at any of those schools, but all else being equal, why not pick the one where you think you’ll be happiest?
I’m not sure where people got the idea that a good fit can’t also be economical. It’s not as if “fit” is somehow a frivolous extravagance that costs extra or that kids will necessarily find a more expensive school to be a better fit. You could line up 10 schools of a similar type and price point and most people would be able to flat out eliminate a few, put a few in a favorite tier and find a few that they were indifferent about.
I also don’t think most kids view fit as being rainbows and unicorns all the time. Of course like anything YMMV but a general feeling of contentment and wellbeing with a place and a group of people helps a person to successfully weather the natural ups and downs and challenges that come in both academics and personal relationships.
Both my kids paid lots of attention to common curriculum requirements, clubs, general student vibe and leanings, overall friendliness of a place and just how at home they felt. They sat in on classes, met with professors and lunched with students. They had areas of the country that they were interested in and areas that they refused to consider (they also had areas where their mom made them apply). Bad roommates and bad curves happen everywhere but if a student feels grounded in their situation they will cope better with those challenges as they come.
There are enough colleges and universities in this country that finding a few that meet financial limitations, academic interests and feel right should be possible.
I can agree that some of that. I’ve heard kids compare schools that were virtually indistinguishable as one being a fit and the other being the worst place on the planet. Usually the fit is further from home or in a cooler city. I do think people get hung up on really minor differences and give them too much weight in the “fit” category.
I also know there are kids who have had enough good and bad schooling experiences to fully understand what it is they need.
I’m struggling with this issue as my D makes her final choice among six LACs. My wife and most of my relatives speak in almost mystical terms about “fit,” as if it’s a force, like love, that must be obeyed. I might tend to be more data-driven here, but hey, I’m not the one going!
After last weekend’s trip to the PNW, I watched my daughter’s reaction to two similar colleges. At one, she was beaming with joy, and at the other, she was sad and uncomfortable. I saw it too: one famous was active and alive, while the other was silent, with solitary students who looked isolated. How much of that was due to timing? Her favorite campus had a sunny day, on a weekend, with dozens of fresh-faced future frosh around her, while the other was a cloudy Monday. The first was an admitted students’ event, with catered meals and speakers, while the other visit was on a class day.
So it wasn’t a good science experiment, but it got a definite result, which was the goal. Not to find the best school, but to find the one she feels best about. That emotional bond with her new home should give her a boost, because we tend to find what we expect to find. So the “fit” experiment may have been valuable, even if invalid.
This is a great point. Think of all the “Should I Transfer?” threads we see. A lot of them are kids who feel unhappy at a school that was not their first choice, but where they felt pressured to attend for one reason or another. They went in expecting to be unhappy, and so unhappy they are. Obviously it’s not always financially possible to attend your first choice, but what @LHSdad said is so true: we do tend to find what we expect to find.
No, I don’t think fit is a bunch of baloney. And I think social fit is much more important than many realize, especially until they get to a college. Thankfully, the admissions committee can often see fit and lack of fit much more clearly than the student can. In my profession I have encountered many situations where the committee noticed the positive fit before the student did.
“I think FIT is very important if you are talking about a school having the majors that a student wants, or is affordable, etc.
However, I think that “fit” when used to describe how happy someone thinks they will be at a school after spending just one day is a bit crazy”
-Actually, the first was irrelevent for my D. The first was actualy satisfied AFTER she made absolutely sure that she will in fact be happy there for the 4 most important years of her life. Not after “just one day”, nope, many visits, some overnights, my H. stayed overnight for special “dad” event, talking to current students, lots of close, hands on research. Even food service was considered, everything, all her non-academic interests, the current and potential ones, ALL her goals, not just academic.
Being happy worked perfectly. Misery will not produce results!! Perfect FIT resulted in D’s graduating as a top pre-med in her class with many various awards, Summa Cum Laude, PBK and acceptance to several Med. Schools, including top 20. And, yes, it just happen that this college also offerred her full tuition Merit. It all happen at in-state public. Looking back while graduating from Med. School in May, she still believes that it was the perfect FIT for HER and that was CRUCIAL in her success, not even close to “a bunch of baloney”
Our D really notices fit when visiting schools back to back that were supposed to be comps or at least in the same family on paper. In her case she saw them on the same day and it was pretty easy to tell which ones seemed like reasonable possibilities and which were just wrong. It was very much a Goldilocks and the Three Bears thing. And again, if you’ve already vetted for probably cost range and academic offerings why not go with the one that feels just right or at least not flat out wrong. However, it wasn’t just that she was charmed or over the moon about one place, sometimes a kid notices the wrong fits more and the right fits just feel comfortable.
I think a place that a kid can get into trouble is if they have an aspirational idea about it. A kid might want to be sunny California or buttoned up business or “Southern charm” - I’ve seen those threads. The fixation might just be surface deep, though, and there might be a lot that goes along that a kid looking for an image doesn’t expect or mesh with.
sure, a lot of what we talk about as FIT is a bunch of baloney. Our kids our going to change and what they think is a great FIT freshman year might not be so awesome by senior year. That small, cozy environment might seem as stifling as a small town to a 22 year old. And the big, exciting party atmosphere that an 18 year old wants to be a part of might become tedious.
There’s so much about schools that are really the same. Freshmen live in dorms, they have roommates, they eat in dining halls, they encounter weeder classes, they find their people (sometimes easily, sometimes not), they find people they want to avoid…
But, fit is real, in many of the areas you mentions. Financial fit is one of them. Program fit is another. And sometimes there are issues beyond the big ones. A kid may have health issues, for instance, that necessitate staying close to home. Another kid may need a school with a more intrusive disability program available (that he or she can voluntarily sign up for, of course).
I think fit can be exaggerated. Some of these parents (and students) who go on and on about fit didn’t do much to find “fit” for K-12 education…the kid just went to the assigned public. But, suddenly for college, their snowflake needs a particular atmosphere and culture and whatever.
And, it can be a bit funny when after the “fit” school is selected and the student enrolls and then a few months later the kid hates it and wants to leave.
But, don’t get me wrong, “fit” can be somewhat important. A kid who wants a quiet school should look at non-rah rah schools, and a kid who wants big sports to watch, shouldn’t look at tiny LACs.
I just don’t think all these kids are hothouse orchids that will only do well at ONE school.
I think fit is important at the negative end – it’s important to avoid a really bad fit which could be a big obstacle to doing well.
But chasing a illusory “perfect fit” is illusory and could lead to let down after classes start.
Fits well enough to lead to success is a reasonable goal.
I’m with you scholarme. I think kids should only apply to schools they’ve researched and have found acceptable in terms of price, academic offerings and whatever other special requirements they have for their college ( theater, a capella groups, ultimate frisbee, etc). There’s so much info on the college web sites and on this forum. But once those basic requirements are out of the way, searching for that perfect or best fit or thinking that only school X will do is just not realistic, IMO. Life doesn’t seem to work out that way and we want our kids to be resilient – adapt, improvise, overcome; make the best of things.
I had the worst visit ever to one college, and told my parents I would NEVER go there. But, for various reasons, ended up there. It was a perfect “fit”.
I do believe there is something to “fit”. I just don’t think you can always figure it out in advance.