Study shows that being the right"fit" for college isn't what it is cracked up to be!

Parents Forum
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<p>Most people on CC assume or have flatly stated that all kids should try to find a college that is fit for them and colleges should look for those that have the right fit. However, a recent study by the college board,which was noted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, seems to show that high school kids are not great evaluators of what is the best school for them. In fact,those who enroll at colleges they had seen as good fits are no more likely to graduate than those who had thought they would be happier at different sorts of places.</p>

<p>Check out the following article from the Chronicle of Higher Education:</p>

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<p>The College Board...has recently begun sponsoring a new line of research examining the other ways in which college performance can be predicted and judged. The results... suggest that colleges may wish to rethink some of the ways in which they evaluate applicants and students.</p>

<p>One practice that came under rigorous scrutiny ... is colleges' consideration of how well a given applicant appears likely to "fit" at an institution....Institutions assume that students might run into academic trouble or drop out if they end up at the wrong college.</p>

<p>A paper presented here by Krista D. Mattern, a College Board researcher, concludes that "admissions committees should be wary of using such information in the admissions-decisions process." High-school students' judgments about what colleges are right for them do not seem to have much bearing on how they will perform where they end up. Those who enroll at colleges they had seen as good fits are no more likely to graduate than those who had thought they would be happier at different sorts of places....</p>

<p>The SAT questionnaire seeks to gauge whether students want to attend a college that is rural or urban, single-sex or coed, two-year or four-year, public or private, and, if private, religious or nonreligious. It also asks students how large a college they wish to attend and how far from home they wish to travel.</p>

<p>While most students did end up at institutions matching their preferences for either single-sex or coed institutions, they were much less likely to see their hopes pan out in other areas. For example, about 85 percent of the students attending a two-year college had indicated a strong preference for a four-year institution.</p>

<p>The paper says the comparable graduation rates of students at "good fit" or "bad fit" colleges should not be interpreted as meaning fit does not matter. Rather, it suggests that students who are still in high school are not in a position to know the right institutions for them. It noted that students' responses to the SAT college-preference questions were for the most part similar, suggesting that they were not selecting the characteristics of colleges that were right for them so much as the characteristics of an ideal or stereotypical college. ...</p>

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<p>can you post a link to the article? I'd like to read it.</p>

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<p>Maybe because the premise is so skewed. Good fit is not just about the kid's hedonism, so to speak, but about finances, distance, maybe even religious preferrence or lack thereof. And there can be more than one good fit.</p>

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<p>I think it would be extremely difficult to do a study on this. There are so many factors for which one would need to control.</p>

<p>It seems likely that high school students would be able to assess certain types of fit, ie, prefer big 10 school with a football team or need to attend an intellectual hothouse.</p>

<p>Frankly, the colleges themselves don't do much to differentiate themselves. They all emphasize the same qualities in their marketing (internships, high performing students, community service, study abroad, yada yada).</p>

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<p>Id agree that students still in high school need guidance from those with a broader perspective on how to select a college.</p>

<p>For instance my older daughter, had an instate public college as her first choice for years. Looking at anything else was perfunctory. However, after I encouraged her to take a year off after high school, and reassess what she wanted in a school, she changed her first choice to an out of state private college that while it had some similarities, was very different.</p>

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<p>
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For example, about 85 percent of the students attending a two-year college had indicated a strong preference for a four-year institution.

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<p>I think the above shows their inability to judge their academic ability rather than fit. It is the job of the admissions comity to find and admit only those who can handle the given school academically (and most of the top schools are doing a very good job at that). I think the fit has less to do with ability to graduate, and more with having an overall good experience. </p>

<p>Not all students are self-aware and insightful enough, or well enough advised and informed to always pick the right fit. And for some fit matters more than for others. But I think spending 4 years in a college that is a good fit makes for a much happier experience.</p>

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<p>First of all, what I most often see advocated here is more of a compromise between "Find a good fit" and "Bloom where you're planted"...don't ignore your own preferences, but don't think that you can't be happy or successful in a variety of places. </p>

<p>It's important to note that many kids (particularly 10 years ago) take the SAT while there's still plenty of time for preferences to change. I think that I indicated a preference for a Literature major and sent test scores to Barnard, NYU, and Boston U. I never took a single literature class, I applied mainly to good-sized co-ed California universities, and I wound up at a suburban single-sex LAC. I based my choice largely on "fit", but certainly not on any premeditated idea of it! This study would very correctly have identified me as a high schooler who wasn't sure about what she wanted, but it also would've tagged me as a student at a "bad fit" college, or who thought she'd be happier elsewhere, neither of which was true. </p>

<p>I also don't really like the claim that "admissions committees should be wary of using such information in the admissions-decisions process." I understand the sentiment, but it's not as if kids are applying to rural LAC's with essays that focus on their desires to attend urban universities, and are then being rejected based on that discrepancy. Maybe this idea is more fleshed-out elsewhere...I don't think I totally disagree with it, I just don't think it's very well presented. Makes it sound like they're advocating a total numbers game.</p>

<p>The article says that "students' responses to the SAT college-preference questions were for the most part similar, suggesting that they were not selecting the characteristics of colleges that were right for them so much as the characteristics of an ideal or stereotypical college." So, bottom line, "fit" may not have been the object of analysis here after all. It doesn't sound like they were actually analyzing "fit" in the sense that we tend to use the term on these boards.</p>

<p>I can imagine some very interesting studies being done on this topic, but this doesn't really strike me as one of them (or maybe the article just doesn't give a great summary). I might be off-base in that assessment, but "16 year olds don't always know what they want" seems to fall under the category of "Well, duh." The follow-up to that, which is "...and they can be happy and successful even when they don't get what they think they want" is nice, and almost certainly true, but not necessarily shown with this research.</p>

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<p>I've always been leery of how much weight can be put in the "preferences" of a 17-year-old who's never lived away from home. College is all about exposure to new experiences in order to help clarify preferences.</p>

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<p>I can see this. I thought I would be happiest at a very small LAC, and now that I go to a humongous university the thought of the comparatively limited course selections at some of the other schools I considered makes me shudder. </p>

<p>I wanted a personal/customized aspect to my education. I thought a small college would provide that, but it turns out the best thing for me is being able to take almost any kind of class I want.</p>

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<p>That article looks pretty crappy to me. For example, their basis for saying that people's hopes "didn't pan out" was that most people at 2-year colleges wanted to be at 4-year colleges. Give me a break. Of course that's the case! In the same way that if you asked most people if they would like to attend a top school (HYPMS), they'd probably say yes, but that doesn't mean their fit at their current school is bad.</p>

<p>This study sounds more specious to me than the idea of fit is subjective - which is to say, a lot.</p>

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<p>I guess I don't get it. The fact that students at "non-fits" graduate in the same percentages as those at "fits" doesn't say anything about their relative experiences, be they academic, social, maturation, etc. What does this prove?</p>

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<p>I agree that "great fit" isn't the be all, end all.
After all, most students attend their neighborhood high schools, they don't do a nationwide search to find the best fit, yet most students in this country graduate from high school.
Most do bloom where they are planted -- in high school or college.</p>

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<p>Good point, dadtimesthree. I suppose retention/graduation rate is one measure of satisfaction, but it's certainly a limited one.</p>

<p>It would probably be impossible to develop, but a measure of "intellectual development" would really be what's needed. Before and after testing for a broad variety of measures: absolute knowledge in a multiple fields, critical thinking skills, maturity, and lots of other stuff that's hard to measure.</p>

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<p>As a student, I agree that many students aren't ready to make their own decisions, but there are also quite a few students who will make great decisions about their futures. I feel that I am ready to make my own decision about where I will go to college, and both of my parents are ready to support my decision. There will always be students who are too immature to make their own choices or who simply have no idea what they want, but smart, responsible, mature students can make decisions that will benefit them.</p>

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<p>"Most do bloom where they are planted -- in high school or college."</p>

<p>If most students bloom where they're planted, why are so many chasing after highly ranked schools? Is it just so that they can say, "I went to Harvard" in the hopes that others will think more highly of them than if they'd gone to a no name school?</p>

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<p>something that this article doesnt mention is fit between "peer" universities. and i feel fit has more to do with how happy the student is rather than their grades in most cases. for example, im sure i would have done just as well as im doing right now if i had gone to NYU. however, i wanted a campus and DI sports, making BC a better fit for me. i think this article doesnt give enough credit to 17/18 year olds to knowing their own likes and dislikes</p>

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<p>I agree with this article I turned down a top 20 public university to go to Tulane, which I thought was "the right fit" and left after a semester to attend a CCC.</p>

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<p>Graduation rate is not the only thing I'd be thinking about either--it might be an easy thing to measure, but I was more interested that my son feel socially comfortable as well as intellectually challenged. He was 18 and a half when he made his choice and I have a high level of confidence that he made a great choice for him. I would not feel differently if he didn't finish in 4 years or even if he transferred later. He's had a great first year. That's good enough for me!</p>

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<p>I think beanieboo makes an excelent distinction as the issue of fit is best applied to peer universities and non-academic questions such as size, geographic setting, social setting, etc. will drive fit. I often advocate for colleges with great combinations of academics. social life, and athletic life, but this would not automatically be the right fit for all students, just as a college like Reed would not be a good fit for all students.</p>

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<p>"If most students bloom where they're planted, why are so many chasing after highly ranked schools? Is it just so that they can say, "I went to Harvard" in the hopes that others will think more highly of them than if they'd gone to a no name school?"</p>

<p>Exactly that. The same would be true if everyone had the resources to attend a top prep school. </p>

<p>Sure, there are differences in educations that top prep and local high schools offer, but most people end up doing perfectly well in life even though they weren't able to attend a name brand high school.</p>