<p>But that is not an issue for MOST students! That’s all I’m saying. The top, most popular majors in the US are offered at virtually every 4 year school in the nation: Business, psychology, biology, English, political science & economics.</p>
<p>Fit isn’t irrelevant, but I do think it can be fetishized. Most schools, even selective 4-year colleges, are mainstream enough that most students could be happy there. A really straight-laced conservative type might find Oberlin or Wesleyan tough to take, and I wouldn’t suggest that a far left feminist head to Washington & Lee. But barring these extremes, there is enough diversity on most college campuses that a reasonably open-minded student should be able to find his or her “people.” </p>
<p>There are plenty of good, non-frivolous, fit based reasons to take a school off your list. Sometimes, however, it seems to me that parents are too willing to spend lots and lots of money satisfying the caprices of teenagers. I can’t tell you the number of people I know who have eschewed my home state’s perfectly respectable flagship state university for schools that are marginally if at all “better,” by most objective measures, because of factors like size (legitimate, but not to the tune of 20K a year), campus aesthetics (ditto), and “not wanting to feel like I’m still in high school” (immature and ill-informed). And given that these students go in with a predisposition against the school, campus visits often turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. </p>
<p>The families in the cases I am thinking of can technically afford the extra $, but it isn’t a negligible amount for them.</p>
<p>All other things being reasonably equal - cost and quality, above all - by all means follow your bliss. But I don’t think it would hurt to tone down the rhetoric about needing to find the perfect fit.</p>
<p>My daughter’s projected major is only offered at 6 universities in the country (at least that was the case at the time we were deciding). Even so, knowing that many students change their major at least once during college, we made sure that there were plenty of other good programs at her school in case she did have a change of heart midway through.</p>
<p>I think we could have found many schools which would have been a good “fit”, vs. a one and only philosophy. But at some point, you have to choose. Most kids do just fine, but of course, occasionally it turns out to be a very poor choice indeed. Fortunately, many in this situation are able to identify a better choice and go on to find both personal and academic satisfaction.</p>
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<p>Yes, I agree. There was a thread a while back written by a parent whose child was refusing to apply to schools in their price range. The mother just seemed resigned to let her do so even though the likely outcome was going to be that the kid would not be able to go to college period, vs. insisting that the child also apply to some financial safeties while also exploring options for financial aid/scholarships at the desired schools.</p>
<p>Fit is valid. A student’s attitudes about what type of college and program they seek reasonably should evolve over time. That is why parents should try to take their child to a large school, a small school, an urban school and a small town school, a public school and a private school early in the process (of course some of those categories will naturally overlap). That will help to narrow down the type of college for applications. A student should also apply to a sufficient range of schools so that they still have alternatives if their intended major, financial resources or desired setting would change.</p>
<p>Of course, selectivity and finances also apply to narrowing down which schools receive applications, including likelihood of merit and need aid. However, within the same net price range, most students living near major metro areas will still have a choice of large vs. small, and urban vs. small town.</p>
<p>I don’t get the premise of this really. </p>
<p>Fit is the most appropriate word for what a student should be looking for in a college. </p>
<p>Its the school where one be properly challenged, potentially excel and thrive socially while maturing into adulthood and getting prepared for a career.</p>
<p>I’ve seen awful situations time and again as a result of an improper fit. I see kids rigid in the mindset of one particular school or path even though everyone can see the pending debacle. I’ve seen kids want something so badly then crushed when they don’t get it even though they were never likely to get it. I see kids think they’re talented only to truly find out how not talented they are in the midst of heavy competition.</p>
<p>I know kids who went to division III schools so they could “play” football and a few that went to division I that never played, got hurt in practice, lost their scholarships and then hated the school.</p>
<p>The better one knows himself, the better the odds of finding the right fit. It takes honesty to do that. And parents should help their kids go through that process without trying to dictate it except where finances are concerned.</p>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Why would someone argue against fit.</p>
<p>Hindsight is always 20-20. If the student did well and fulfilled his/her expectations it was a good fit. Otherwise it wasn’t. Then again some people will manage to fit anywhere and some people will manage to fit nowhere and everybody else is in between.</p>
<p>I kind of see OP’s point. I believe the most important objective of going to college is getting the best education possible. All of our kids went to secondary schools of our choosing - where ever we happened to live. We didn’t consider “fit” when we considered where we wanted to live, most of the time it is where we could get a job. We have the luxury of considering “fit” when it comes to colleges because we have so many of them. If my kid had the stats to get into a top 20 schools, she could decide if she wants it to be large/small, urban/rural, LAC/university, Greek or no Greek…But trust me, if she were to get into a top 20 or top 50, she would be going to a top 20, fit or no fit.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree that getting the best education possible is laudible, but I still think there are schools with cultures that just don’t match a student’s comfort zone. When I listed my son’s original interests looking at colleges Washington and Lee seemed like a good fit academically, but he would have been miserable in a small town where 80% of the guys are in fraternities. He’s at a college near a big city which is about 15% Greek. That said, there are things about his college he doesn’t love and there are probably other colleges out there that he’d like better in those particular areas. He’s pretty much of a bloom where you are planted (but do a fair amount of grumbling anyway) type of guy. </p>
<p>My older son was Mr. Focussed I know exactly what I want to study - so choosing colleges for him was relatively easy.</p>
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<p>Business is the exception here. It is not offered at many liberal arts colleges.</p>
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<p>Just wanted to highlight this because it is very true. Some of the posts on CC concerning fit make me roll my eyes, even cringe. Some of the criteria mentioned in those posts are from the ones who apparently think they can manage to fit almost nowhere.</p>
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<p>At the same time listing 7 or 8 criteria in every post on an online message board or in conversation is quite clumsy. Fit in most cases is just shorthand for those criteria that have been mentioned here. Yet some do use it for some eye-rolling criteria and those are the posts that tend to stick out in my mind and damage the meaning of fit for me.</p>
<p>I think we can lose the notion of “fit” at the same time we discard the notion of “criteria.”</p>
<p>Colleges, like all other communities and institutions, have collective personalities that are hard to reduce to objective criteria. Many schools that might appear perfect on paper just don’t appeal in lived experience. It is indeed a fortunate student who can afford to consider fit as the primary selection criterion for a school, but that doesn’t make “fit” an invalid consideration. It is more difficult to be successful anywhere if you are unhappy and don’t feel a part of the community you have chosen.</p>
<p>We keep getting mail from Hampden-Sydney, including a recent letter that said they’d waive the application fee. THe mail usually includes an invitation to a “game” or a “tailgate” and the offer of a free baseball cap if he shows up. My kid plays the violin for six hours a day. Has never been to a football game. LIkes to tease his dad by asking how the Yankees are doing when he sees his dad watching football and so forth . . . I think we can all safely agree that H/S would not be a good fit. FIt is definitely useful in narrowing down what you DON"T want, in my book . . .</p>
<p>No counter from the OP. Was this a move to have us examine this? The best fit provides the atmosphere to obtain the best education. Not the perfect fit- that doesn’t exist. There can be many similar fit colleges. It doesn’t matter if a place the academically best school if the student is so miserable s/he can’t focus on studying and therefore won’t learn as much as s/he would elsewhere. And, the Ivy (sports league) colleges are not always the best academically- especially in some majors to focus on the misguided OP’s moniker.</p>
<p>One post made a comment about ignoring fir when living where the job was. However, the job was chosen based on the fit of many nonjob factors, including the city or region chosen to job search in.</p>
<p>It is best for students to consider more than just academics in the college search. Finances, geography and many other criteria play a role. The student after all is living those four years, not just attending classes and studying.</p>
<p>The concept of fit is the best thing that has happened in the crazy process of finding a college. ALL students consider the fit- even if it is a matter of only including schools practical from a financial standpoint or of only considering schools with a certain academic reputation.</p>
<p>There are many schools that might “fit” a particular student, and many that would not. So, it is a fallacy that there is only one school out there that will “fit” you. But, because there are many schools that that have a culture or style that is far from optimum for a particular kid, it would be foolish to ignore the variable of “fit.”</p>
<p>I didn’t know what a good ‘fit’ was until after my son was enrolled at his UG. There was a week of temp housing until one chose/was chosen to be in a House. One lived in the House all 4 years, unless they asked for an exception. Majors weren’t chosen until 3rd year, after Core was completed. Even then, son was able to shift majors. Lots of entertainment was provided thru the House, e.g. parties and weekend barbecues. Having a 5 day meal plan let the kids go into town to eat at a wide range of restaurants. Merit awards were offered to 3rd and 4th year students. Internship and on-campus research jobs were plentiful.</p>
<p>I think son would have found a ‘fit’ at other colleges also, and he agrees.</p>
<p>From what I have observed, most kids who transfer (and it’s a relatively large number of kids who don’t graduate from where they start, even if an each college it’s only a small percentage) end up transferring due to fit.</p>
<p>So it can’t be that trivial a concept. </p>
<p>Kids drop out (and may end up going back years later) due to finances or health reasons. But the kids I know who have transferred (i.e. sat down very deliberately during their experience at college A to fill out the forms to attend college B) have done so because they have underestimated the importance of fit (or didn’t have enough information to make a good decision.) There are “suitcase schools” which clear out on weekends because a high percentage of kids come from the surrounding area- and these schools don’t have the vibrant weekend life a kid coming from 3,000 miles away is expecting. There are schools with a high percentage of part time students, and no, the 30 year old woman in your Russian Lit class does not want to go out for coffee with you after class- she’s got two kids to put to bed and has to get ready for her own job in the morning. There are schools with a geeky/math/science culture, even if they have departments and majors in other things, and there are schools where the social life revolves around basketball and football and attending games.</p>
<p>This is fit.</p>
<p>Studies show almost 70% of students stay at their original school; of that 32% who transfer, half transfer to a community college, suggesting either academic or financial difficulties, rather than “fit.” </p>
<p>[A</a> Third of Students Transfer Before Graduating - Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“A Third of Students Transfer Before Graduating”>A Third of Students Transfer Before Graduating)</p>
<p>“Fit”, I’m still struggling. My D wanted only one school since she was eight years old; the Exotic Animal Training and Management program at Moorpark College in California. In the end she had to get a BS from UCF in Florida before she could get in - and ever since she has been in it is clear that program was the perfect fit for her. My S wanted theatre, stage theatre, he ended up in NYU Abu Dhabi as a theatre major. Could have been a disaster, but it has been incredible - he has toured the world and studied many different kinds of theatre, perhaps not along the same lines as a conventional theatre program, but wide ranging and amazing all the same.</p>
<p>I don’t think “fit” is a fallacy so much as it is often overrated here on CC. There is no question that some schools are going to “fit” a given student better than than some others do. Different students want/need different things out of their college experience, and different schools provide different options when it comes to academics, size, focus, atmosphere, and climate. Given that variability on both sides of the equation, it would be foolish to think of fit as a fallacy.</p>
<p>But where I think fit is overrated is when the notion arises of best fit or nothing - that only one school or one narrow type of school can be a good fit for a given student - and that the student and parent must search high and low until Cinderella and her slipper find each other and everyone lives happily ever after.</p>
<p>My thinking is that except for a few rare cases of the truly fragile student, one bordering on being a “special needs” case, that most students can fit pretty well at a lot of rather different schools. The vast majority of kids at this stage in their lives are young, resilient, and flexible. And unless the school is very small, you can likely find a population of “your people.” just about anywhere.</p>
<p>So do some schools fit a given student better than others? Yes, of course they do. But can that same student still thrive and be happy and successful at a fairly wide variety of schools? Yes again.</p>