I love the Asheville area. Definitely a great arts & music scene there.
Definitely. Asheville is a fun town. Elon and Burlington, not so much. Greensboro can be fun, though and, of course, Chapel Hill. I think that may be one reason Elon has a big Greek scene. There just ain’t that much else to do around Elon and Burlington.
I completely understand. There are some kids who are happy where they land. It doesn’t really matter too much where that is. One of the common attributes I notice in kids that I’ve known that are like that is that they are self motivated. That means academically and socially. I think that while it’s important to consider the things that we might deem important at a university it will be the student that determines how they feel about their environment and whether or not they are happy. A place, no matter how perfect, won’t do that.
To me fit comes down to a simply gut sense of how a college feels. For D1–we had 1 visit that lasted 30 minutes and she just knew it wasn’t the right place. In contrast, she fell in love with the school she attended on her visit.
For D2, it was a little more nuanced but on her last visit to the school she chose something clicked and it felt right to her.
I like the Environmental Fit piece a lot. D20 had no idea it would matter so much until we visited a couple of schools and she came to the quick conclusion that she needed a bustling city or town within walking distance in order to be happy. As for weather, she was open to trying different climates but for some kids, it’s a real deal-breaker.
For the other dimensions, I think you have to get the finances and academics right before you even apply to a school. If College X doesn’t have a good engineering program and that’s your passion, don’t waste your time applying to College X. That seems to be the easiest way to pare down a large list.
The place where I think students can stretch is with Social Fit. If a school is large enough, you can find your people and make it your own.
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College “fit” is where you are accepted, nothing else really matters.
Only because you shouldn’t apply to any college that isn’t a reasonable fit.
No doubt, but just because you think it’s a good fit doesn’t mean the college will think so.