If more people viewed the safety/likely list in this fashion (primary/ONLY options), perhaps more time and effort would be spent crafting it!
"How do you define best fit college? I am still confused as I can only think generous need based or merit based aid Plus admission. Maybe if a kid wants to go to particular school that does not have strong departments but then kids change all the time. Mine got chaned from a math/scince person to a humanities person.
"
For both of my kids, since finances were a concern, “best fit” meant a college that our family felt we could afford in terms of immediate out of pocket expenses and loans. This could have been colleges that were affordable due to being public institutions, which in our state are affordable to us. This also could have been colleges that were affordable because of merit aid or financial aid.
Therest of “best fit” for both kids was based on their individual personalities and preferences. Older S wanted a college that was in a big city in a cold climate and that had professional and college sports teams of the sports that he loved. In the fall, he was planning on majoring in political science, so wanted a strong poli sci dept. He also had an interest in film, so wanted some options there. He said he didn’t like to relate to teachers or professors, so wanted large classes where he could be anonymous. (Warning: If your kid says something like this, that’s a big sign that s/he is not ready for college! Fine to want to go to a large college. Not good to want to go to a large college to avoid connecting with profs!).
S ended up applying to places like Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and ended up at Minnesota, where he was very happy, but flunked out.
Younger S is very different from his brother, so his best fits are different. He says that he would prefer to go to a college outside of our hometown, and preferably out of state so that he would get to adapt to a new area. He seems to want a broad liberal arts curriculum, but doesn’t want to be tied rigidly into a core. He wants a location that’s big enough to have cultural activities off campus, but it doesn’t need to be a huge city. He wants a campus in which the students are active in community service and also enjoy doing things like discussing philosophy with each other in the dorms. He does not want to go to a school in which campus varsity sports are a big part of what the campus prides itself on, and he doesn’t want to go to a school that’s heavy on drinking/frats. He would prefer a college that is larger than 1,200, but smaller than the gigantic universities. He wants small classes, close relationships with profs, and courses that are interesting, but not so challenging that he has to devote most of his time to studying.
Good fits for him probably are second tier liberal arts colleges or small universities in or near mid sized or large cities.
Northstarmom, we purposely didn’t create a list of rigid reaches, safeties, and matches. Instead the list is an attempt to find schools that are a good fit in terms of his requirements as well as theirs. So the safety/match schools tend to run together. I think all the schools on the list are a good match, with the reaches having slightly higher GPAs and lower admit rates, but everything else being the same.
My older S’s safety was actually his second choice, and was the place where he very happy chose to go after they gave him lots of merit $ and his first choice college gave nothing.
I agree that fit trumps reach, match, etc. Many students don’t need reach schools because there are match and safeties that meet their needs. Some don’t even need reach or match schools for the same reason. I would not be surprised if my younger son ends up applying only to and going to a college that would fit the “safety” criterion.
You are missing my point – you are assuming that the “match” schools are more desireable to the student than the safeties. That is simply NOT true for a student who develops a list focused on fit or desired qualities of the college other than ranking or prestige. The safeties are needed whether the student likes them all that much or not, simply because you need a guarantee.
My son wanted a LAC and applied to Macalester - a match- the same year he applied to Pitzer & Lewis & Clark, as well as UC Santa Cruz - safeties for him. He NEVER would have gone to Macalester over those other colleges. The only reason he applied to Macalester was their aggressive recruiting, coupled with the fact that he could not think of a good reason not to apply – and they led him to believe they would offer good financial aid, which he thought could be used as leverage in negotiating financial aid with other schools. But other than that he expressed no interest whatsoever in the school, and I doubt you could have dragged the kid kicking & screaming to Minnesota when it came down to it. So what was the point in having that “match” on his list?
Or think in terms of your own daughter, aiming for musical theater programs. It doesn’t matter how hard or how easy it it is to get into the school – the only factor for her was the quality of the program. Most were very hard to get into. It would make sense for her to have had a “safety” so that she didn’t end up with no where to go (although, as a very young high school grad, a gap year would also have been an excellent option for her) – but it would not have made sense to try to find more “match” schools. She had a dream, and if her dream meant applying to programs that were extremely difficult to get into – so be it. The “match” schools that might have looked good to a gc weren’t part of her dreams.
I think that students should develop a college list based on their criteria of what they want in a school: large vs. small / urban vs. suburban vs. rural / strength of various programs and departments, etc. Once that is developed, if there isn’t a safety on the list, then safeties need to be added just as the backup plan. For the rest - it would be nice if some or all turned out to be matches, but if none of the “match” level colleges are attractive to the student, I don’t quite see the point of pushing them, especially if the kid likes the safety better.
Andi,
Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your son’s story. I’m thrilled the gap year worked so well for him. My D took a gap year when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor her sr. yr. We home school so my treatment and care derailed all of our good plans for the completion of her education. In the end, it turned out to be blessing in so many ways. She was forced to become more independent in her work habits,which should really pay off in her college studies. Colleges were very impressed by her maturity and unselfishness in wanting to stay out a year to help with my situation. She’s a year more mature than most in her freshman class. She wasn’t struggling with senioritis while conducting her college search. Most of her public school friends were pulling their hair out at having so much coming at them at once. I wish the U.S. were more accepting of gap years. It can give students some real life altering experiences or like your son, some real life opportunities that can help them be more determined in their college studies. A college classmate of mine who is in admissions at a large university told me that taking a year off between h.s. and college throws up red flags for her–is the student emotionally unstable? what happened in h.s. that necessitates a yr. off to recuperate? I think a great many students could benefit from a breather after h.s. Lots of scholarship money and financial aid is invested in students who are fairly directionless.
<h1>1TexasMom, wouldn't it depend what is done with the gap year? I just met a family whose children all take them. They are European. They do something worthwhile like Andison did. If a student is self motivated and willing to use the time wisely, it's worth it. If it's used to not be in school, it's not. I'd be more concerned mine would get used to not being in school and like it too much.</h1>
“A college classmate of mine who is in admissions at a large university told me that taking a year off between h.s. and college throws up red flags for her–is the student emotionally unstable? what happened in h.s. that necessitates a yr. off to recuperate?”
Many colleges encourage gap years with their acceptence letters. My father (a foreign service officer) had always regretted that he’d never been really fluent in a language and sent all his kids off to France for a year before we attended college. It was one of the best decisions he ever made for me. Not that I went kicking or screaming or anything! Taking a gap year with the acceptences
already in hand is really the best of both worlds.
“As to the question of which of the two scenarios is safer”
Andi, I’ll go along with your reasoning, but I’m happy to have a kid whose GPA and SAT scores, make such worrying mostly theoretical. 
I, too, would really question whether this point of view is very common in college admissions. Several here on cc know the story of my step grandson. He took a “gap year” after high school quite simply because he fell through the cracks and was misguided. He did nothing during that year that many would consider “valuable” or enriching. In fact, he was a clerk in a grocery store. However, that year opened his eyes wide.
He applied to two universities (tier 2 and tier 3) and was accepted to both. He never felt he had to explain away that gap year and it was never questioned. In fact, many people have told me that colleges find gap year students to be among their most successful.
Working a job – any legitimate job, even one as a grocery store clerk – will impress colleges because by holding a job, a student demonstrates maturity, a work ethic and a sense of responsibility. Colleges also know that students who work naturally acquire a lot of knowledge about themselves and about the world in general.
I have not seen any evidence that colleges look down on students who take gap years. Indeed, Harvard is a college that suggests that invites all of the students whom it admits to take a gap year. Why? Harvard has found that students who do this are more focused and mature in college than are students who don’t take a gap year.
As I see it, the only “danger” in a gap year is that a student will get distracted and decide not to bother with college. I would say that’s a sign that college wasn’t for that individual to begin with.
Also, it is difficult to get back into the study mode after a break. Despite that, I would bet that a gap year would add incredible maturity and self-confidence to a student - exactly what schools are looking for.
And that is exactly what we worried about with DH’s grandson. Although he spent the year working as a grocery clerk, he had originally been promised a high-paying construction job by a relative. Believe me, H worried A LOT that his grandson’s head would be turned by a steady paycheck, no need to study (academe had never been his strongest - although also never his weakest - suit).
In fact, the gap year had the opposite effect. In touch with his college bound friends, he saw the life they were living at nearby state U; he compared it with the life he was living as a grocery clerk. He also saw what the future looked like to his college friends and what it looked like for him. The danger we worried about never materialized. Quite the opposite. When H sat down with him to talk about his future and to offer our support financially and in navigating college admissions, he jumped at the chance.
Good friend of my son, spent two years out of high school working in the local video store. He visited his high school teachers and borrowed textbooks in chemistry, biology to revise his knowledge and shore up his not spectacular transcript. His tuition to his private high school had been paid by friends of the family. His mom had lost everything during political turmoil back home. He visited my son at Christmas and I chatted with the most friendly, courteous boy, probably my favorite of that class. He left several weeks later to begin his studies at a university in Eastern Europe. He used his time off wisely, thought things through, made plans. He hopes someday to be a doctor.
I’ve known several kids who applied to college just because that was what all their friends were doing, and then they dropped out or failed out after freshman year. The gap year can help a kid organize his priorities so it’s less likely for the parent to waste $45,000.
In Andison’s case, this obviously was not a danger given how focused he was, but that’s not the case for all gap year kids.
Also Andison’s son didn’t originally opt to do a GAP year out of choice. His goal to attend college never wavered. He had to do a GAP year and for him, it all was beneficial and turned out fine.
I think also the reasons behind a GAP year have something to do with going to college the year after. If a GAP year is about uncertainty and needing an extra year, that is different than someone with a concrete plan to have X experience before going on to college and planning on going to college or in some cases, even taking a deferment.
I have to tell you that if I had know Up with People was still around, I would have encouraged my musical performing daughter to look into a year of that. Sadly, I didn’t realize they were still in existance until it was too late. It would have been a great opportunity for a kid like her who plays three instruments AND sings and dances.
"Also, it is difficult to get back into the study mode after a break. "
This may depend greatly on the person. When I went to grad school after 3 years in the workforce, I was delighted to get back into the study mode. I was in a graduate program in a field that I loved, and studying felt like playing to me.
When I taught college, I had some adult students who went to college after working for up to 10 or more years. They tended to love their courses and to be far more appreciative of the college experience than were most students who went directly from high school to college. The latter were more likely to regard profs as adversaries. The students who had been in the work world were more likely to realize that profs were their allies.
I should clarify: I got my advanced degree fairly recently. While I enjoyed (read: LOVED) being a student again, it took some mental adjustments to get back into that kind of thinking.
I was one of SOTAs (students over the traditional age) too, doing my Masters after 7.5 years after my Bachelors and then another 3.5 years gap after that for Ph.D. While it was not by design (if it was then it was not within my control), the gap years did do me good as I found that I could relate better to the lecture contents, which more than made up for the drop in memory performance, was more focused, and read a lot more of the technical literature. I’ve always wondered what I would have been capable of if I had studied at that rate during the days of my first degree fresh out of high school then.
Anyway gaps years were already common then between the pursuits of undergraduate and graduate degrees while to this day that between HS and undergrad degrees is still a rarity.