<p>Maybe you didn't get into your dream college the first time around and want another shot at it. Or, maybe you DID get into your dream college but ended up hating it! </p>
<p>Is there anything you would do differently to avoid ending up at a school that's not right for you? I'm helping my daughter research colleges, and I think it's very hard to find a good fit, to figure out what a college is really like before enrolling. You've been through it. Any tips? How do you find the right one?</p>
<p>if there's hardly a good fit, why transfer? why are you searching for her? shouldn't she do this if she is unhappy?
sorry for sounding so negative</p>
<p>Does she like big or small colleges? What kind of major does she plan on taking? Does she like the East or West Coast, or Middle America? Does she want to be far/close from home? What about the weather? How much is she expecting to spend? </p>
<p>Get these answers from her, and I'm sure some of us can give you some references.</p>
<p>"if there's hardly a good fit, why transfer? why are you searching for her? shouldn't she do this if she is unhappy?
sorry for sounding so negative"</p>
<p>macnyc is just being a good, helpful parent. I think that's nice. :)</p>
<p>Start very general and narrow your search. Would your daughter enjoy a suburban, urban, and/or rural campus? How about weather? What is her major? What can you afford? Does she like small, personal schools with closer interaction with faculty or larger campuses where she can take advantage of the many opportunities before her? Is a name brand (ivy leagues, for example) a must? Have any hobbies? Want to try out any hobbies? A big partier?</p>
<p>You get the basic idea.</p>
<p>Macnyc--my D was a transfer, so I think I get what you're looking for here. She transfered because she didn't really understand what she wanted out of a college, and because she ignored red flags that she shouldn't have. </p>
<p>The not understanding part was that because she went to a non-competitive hs, even though she was one of the top students, she thought she'd be out of place in a competitive college--she thought it was snobby to want to be around other high level students. What she got was a pretty good school honors program, where she was the only one speaking up in class, and partying on the weekends was the goal for most students. Which goes to point number two-- the school had a party school rep. On visits, they constantly emphasized how they were getting the drinking under control--big, big red flags!!!! An additional point is that she tended to be very activisty-left, but didn't think she needed a whole school full of people like her. What she got was vast amounts of apathy, and really no sense of belonging at all. </p>
<p>When she transfered, she found a school which was much more academically oriented, much less focusing on drinking (not that it wasn't there, and not that she didn't at all), and more in tune with her socially and politically.</p>
<p>So, to sum it up--your D needs to really be honest with herself with what she would like a school to be like, and needs to read the schools carefully to get past the PR.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you for all the replies so far. I'm afraid I didn't make myself clear, although Garland figured out what I was trying to ask! (And Garland, our daughters sound very similar!)</p>
<p>My daughter is not a transfer student. She will be going to college for the first time. I thought that students who found themselves in schools they didn't like would be in a good position to share what had gone wrong the first time around.</p>
<p>For instance, did you spend an overnight at the college before you decided? Did that help?</p>