<p>How do you define what is a best fit college for a student? I see this sentence and still unable to understand it compeletely. Help appreaciated.</p>
<p>My college selection was based on more on dollars and sents. I have done one undergrad overseas and a grad degree here. I joined the school where I got the best financial aid, as my parents did not have much money.</p>
<p>"Best fit" probably means different things to different people, depending on what factors are most important to them. My first son wanted to study aerospace engineering and Japanese, with opportunities for overseas study. He also wanted a college with strong academics, but a more relaxed atmosphere. He ended up at Stanford, which is definitely a "best fit" for him. It has a great engineering department, an overseas campus in Kyoto, where he spent an academic year, a strong Japanese program, and it is much more laid back than some other schools he considered. The atmosphere is also quite informal, which fits my son quite well.</p>
<p>My second son is entirely different. He will be studying music. However, he also wants a liberal arts education. He is less studious than his brother, so a "best fit" would probably be a smaller liberal arts college with a strong music school, and good, but not quite so demanding, academics. He is also more concerned about getting out with a low debt. (Musicians don't earn what engineers do!) Thus financial aid is very important to him.</p>
<p>I think "best fit" basically just means the school where a particular student will be happiest and get the kind of education he or she really wants.</p>
<p>Parentny:
For the vast majority of people attending college in the US, finances trumps "fit" every time. But some students, primarily those who have high grades/scores or great talent, and for those whose parents can afford to pay, can evaluate a college for its "fit".
If I remember correctly, your child is at a prestigious prep school? If so, his/her GCs will work with him at great length on fit. For many kids who aren't sure what they want to study in college, or think they want to do pre-professional studies, fit may be about the size of the institution or the location. For other students it might be about a particular program they are interested in, or a certain way of learning, or the school's strengths in math and science.</p>
<p>Examples - a child loves discussions and intellectual discourse, doesn't like lectures too much - they may want to look at LACs. Another student is reticent to speak, thinks most of the talk in discussion classes is BS and wants to just come to class, learn and go on - he may be interested in larger state schools or large private universities. Someone may find that Princeton, Caltech and MIT are the best choices for them because of certain interests in math, another might drop Princeton and add CHicago because of some aspect of physics (I'm guessing now).</p>
<p>We knew we would pay full freight, so we gave our daughter free rein on fit, with only these caveats - her safety schools had to be potential sources of merit money (since we would get no FA), and all match/reach schools had to have stellar academics, because she's an academic kid. My husband in particular wanted her to go to the "best" school she could get into, but we learned that there are many definitions of "best", and the dirty secret about HYPSM is that while they are amazing, they aren't necessarily best - there are probably 25 schools in the country that are overall as good. What they do have is lots of money (which they may or may not lavish on undergrads) and extremely high caliber students (the people your child will be competing with, as well as making friends with and possibly marrying). </p>
<p>She learned that she wanted to be taught by profs, in smaller classes as much as possible, she wanted to study abroad, but had misgivings about being gone as long as a semester because she is hoping to do pre-med, and had trouble understanding how that would work out when you missed a whole semester. She wanted to live in another part of the country, far from home. After visiting New York and Chicago, though, she felt that moving far away and moving to a big city was a little too much change. She wanted a "classic", New England college atmosphere - the way they show it in the movies, I think. She wanted a residential campus, with as national a student body as possible. No Greeks. All these things are about fit.
She began by wanting Yale - she'd heard of it and the residential colleges are quite attractive. After she stayed there about 3 weeks, she realized the campus was more spread out and urban than she wanted, and that much of her first 2 years would be very large lecture classes - amazing as it is , and as much as she liked the residential colleges, it just didn't fit with her other choices.
She's going to Dartmouth - still some compromises, twice the size of her next largest choice, and definitely has Greek life, but overal a "good fit".</p>
<p>What makes a college "fit?"</p>
<p>[ul]
[li]The school has the major(s)/program(s)/sport(s) the student wants.</p>[/li]
<p>.
[li]The school is affordable by the family. This can either be because the tuition is within reach OR financial aid and/or scholarships make it affordable.</p>[/li]
<p>.
[li]The school provides the "environment" the student/parents want. Environment here can include size, location, political leanings, greek scene, and so on.</p>[/li]
<p>.
[li]The student can be accepted at the school. The school's acceptance stats should not be too high (or too low) for the student. A student seems to be happiest (I think) when s/he's surrounded by others at the same intellectual level and s/he is.</p>[/li]
<p>.
[li]It just feels right. Something happens when a potential student visits. Rightly or not, the student somehow knows that they might be happy at this place.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]</p>
<p>A best fit is one where the student is comfortable but still challenged. For my husband and I, we're hoping that when the kids graduate, they find a job (quickly) in their field that they enjoy. Basically, they're happy there and they are finding out new things about themselves and what's going to keep them satisifed as an adult. If you have a student that just loves a big social life, they're not going to be happy at a very technical school. If you have a very academic student, they will not be content at a big party school. </p>
<p>I think there are four things to begin a college search for the best fit college - academics (major; specific and broad enough), financial, feel (party, preppy, academically intense) and location. It's an individual student and their family's determination about the priority of those items.</p>
<p>Occasionally (not on this thread) someone will deny the concept of "fit" altogether, as if it were a fantasy, and a kid could "fit" anywhere. For some kids, that may true - any one of a dozen or more schools would be fine. But when I look at my kids, I think "fit" is the single most important of the criteria for selecting a school. There is a HUGE difference between many schools, even those ranked closely together. One may be far more jock, Greek, techie, artsy, etc. Some schools are cutthroat competitive, some are more collaborative (and all alongthe spectrum in between, just as with politics). While all schools have kids of different stripes, it's very clear to me that the person who wants to go to Brigham Young is different from the one who wants to go Wesleyan, or the kid who wants a huge, gigantic football powerhouse school is different from the one that wants a New England LAC.</p>
<p>One of my relatives wanted a NE varsity sailing team - and it HAD to be ocean sailing, not lake....with GREAT academics...so OK, Brown, Bowdoin, Conn Coll , should all be fine, right? But she hated New London; had good friends at Brown and stayed overnight etc., but she didn't like it, and a friend of hers had transferred out after a year to Bowdoin...went to Bowdoin, and found that of her list of ten things she wanted in a college, it met all of them. She has been extremely happy there and never regretted her choice (she turned down Dartmouth, btw).</p>
<p>I think certain kids know *exactly * what they want. Others may be happy with just half of their criteria being met.</p>
<p>One caveat: by "fit" I certainly don't mean "full of kids exactly like you." That's not fit, it's conformity. As kathiep said, "challenge" matters, and not just for academics, but for stretching oneself beyond what one has always experienced.</p>
<p>Whatever the case, digmedia's list is great. Fortunately for us, cost is not a problem, and I really feel for kids who have monetary constraints. Yet even there, money should not be the first consideration. Among affordable schools, there are still schools with radically different cultures.</p>
<p>Anyway who denies that "fit" is real should interview kids who are sublimely happy at their schools, like my kids and my relatives, and those who are either so wretched that they want to transfer, or so half-hearted that all they can muster is an, "It's ok, I guess."</p>
<p>For my son fit was "not in Texas, not touching Texas" :)</p>
<p>Cangel: Yes son is attending an elite prep school. </p>
<p>What will be a good fit school for a kid who has shown very deep interest in politics, foreign policy and economics? Currently he is very involved in school newspaper through his opinions in political columns, school radio show, student government and choir along with some interest in science and math. </p>
<p>He is in top 10% in school, as school does not rank, and with a toughest curriculum. His boards are going to be top level. Using Test prep guides, his current SAT II is 800 math IIC, 800 Chemistry. This was done in the first try out without any outside help and studying Barrons. PSAt is 231 and 8th grade SAt 1490. Financial aid will play a major factor in selecting school. He is attending the current school on almost full financial aid.</p>
<p>U Chicago comes immediately to mind--supposed to be tops in econ, has fine science and math as well, and besides need-based aid, gives out some substantial merit aid, as well.</p>
<p>He is not white. But he may be a BWRK (I love the new term I learn here) Kid too.</p>
<p>Agree with UofC. Politics and economics will be easy because most top schools will have strong programs in those 2 areas. He should visit schools of various sizes (1 small LAC (Amherst), 1 large uni(Michigan/Cornell), 1 mid-sized school(Harvard/Duke). The examples I'm giving are some of the most highly selective in their groups, but I'm using very obvious examples. These visits should also cover urban, suburban and rural, according to what he thinks his interests are.
He should be looking for specific programs, and thinking deeply about his interests and goals as he is going through the rest of junior year and this summer. Maybe he wants a school with journalism as a major, or maybe he would feel more comfortable at a smaller school with a more liberal arts focus where the number of students competing for a spot on the paper is limited, and he could get a writing job right away (Swarthmore comes to mind). Maybe he is more interested in the math side of economics and MIT would be a good fit. Maybe international relations/business is his interest, and Tufts or Huntsman program or Georgetown SFS would be better.</p>
<p>He will be a much happier student if he figures out the profile he wants, then finds schools at all selectivities that fit his profile. He will learn soon enough that there will be trade-offs in order to get those various selectivities, but the better he knows HIS goals, the easier it will be for him to make good decisions. If financial aid is a big concern, then it is even more important for him to make good informed decisions, because he may have to give up the most prestigious, selective school he can get admission into, in order to get good merit money. That's where YOUR homework comes in - you have to find out if your family is in need-based aid territory or merit based aid.</p>
<p>How do you find out that we qualify for a need based fin aid? Are there someway to calculate it?</p>
<p>can someone clue me in on BWRK? Haven't heard that one yet. Thanks.</p>
<p>"Bright, well-rounded kid," but to many adcoms - "boring, well-rounded kid."</p>
<p>As opposed to someone with an "edge," a hook.</p>
<p>parentNY:</p>
<p>Check out College Confidential's EFC Calculator:</p>
<p>Sometimes we click right into the forum pages without seeing what else CC has to offer, but they do have some valuable articles, tools, and services that are worth looking into. And don't forget that those services help keep this forum free.</p>
<p>-digi</p>