Not all colleges are right for you, and no college is right for everyone. How do you choose where to apply to and where to not?
With each college application costing about $80, the costs can pile up very, very quickly, so you want to be sure to spend your money wisely. Not to mention that the college you pick is, ideally, going to be where you spend the next four years of your life—so you want to be sure that every college on your list is somewhere you'd be happy going to.
College Fit
So what does it mean when someone says a college is or isn't a "fit" for you?
To be clear, fit does not mean going to a school just because it's well-known or because it's highly ranked. By extension, college research is not simply opening up the US News "Top National Universities" page and going from there.
If a college is a fit for you, that means it has the programs, organizations, community, and campus environment that will support your needs, passion, growth, and personality as an individual.
Fit depends on the person you are, your aspirations, and your preferences. A college that is a fit for you may not be a fit for someone else, even if they're very similar to you, or even if they're a friend/family member.
Factors To Consider
Read over the following statements. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?
Location
1. I want to attend a school that is within driving distance of my home.
2. I want to attend a school on the same side of the country as where I am.
3. I want to attend a school in a big city (Atlanta, Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, etc.)
4. I want to attend a school where I can live on campus.
Social Life
5. I want to attend a school with an active Greek life (fraternities, sororities).
6. I want to attend a school where sports are a significant aspect of campus life.
7. I want to attend a school with a large student body where I can meet new people every day.
8. I want to attend a school that is single-sex.
Academics
9. I want to attend a school where the majority of classes are small in size.
10. I want to attend a school where I only take classes that are related to my major.
11. I want to attend a school with strong pre-professional programs like engineering, business, or health professions.
12. I want to attend a school with a strong graduate program in my major.
13. I want to attend a school with a lot of course flexibility, because I am undecided in my major.
14. I want to attend a school with a core curriculum.
15. I want to attend a school where the focus is on undergraduate students.
Extracurriculars
16. I want to attend a school with a large emphasis on clubs and extracurriculars.
17. I want to attend a school with a variety of cultural and religious centers on campus.
18. I want to attend a school with a politically active student body.
If you would like to spend more time developing what to prioritize as you research colleges what types of colleges would be a fit for you, then feel free to use this worksheet.
Remember, everyone around you is prioritizing different things! No one can tell if a college is right for you except for you.
College Research
To find credible and detailed information on colleges you're considering, there are certain holy texts of college research.
This book easily has the most information on the greatest number of schools in the country. It highlights basic information about the school, including pros and cons of attending. Important sections include:
* The Abstract: succinct descriptions of a school’s most notable qualities
* Most Popular Majors: shows what most students study/the school's strongest areas
* Acceptance Rate and Standardized Test Range: helps you determine your likelihood of admissibility to the school (reach, challenge, or likely)
* Undergraduate/Graduate Enrollment: helps you think about size and the type of community at each school
* Overlap Lists: helps you to identify other schools that are similar to the one you are researching
* Full Description: provides info on special academic programs, location, and the campus environment
You can of course buy a hard copy of this book, but I do have access to a PDF file of the 2020 edition. If you're interested, please contact me!
This book has detailed descriptions of prestigious and selective colleges you may not know about. It doesn't cover as many institutions as The Fiske Guide, but it offers a more nuanced view of the colleges it does have. Pay special attention to:
* What the College Stands For: very helpful in writing application supplements
* Curriculum, Academic Life, etc: highlights special academic programs
* The Ideal Student: helps you think about fit
* Student Perspectives: gives you insight about the campus community
I also have access to a PDF of this text. As before, please contact me if you are interested.
There are also a number of online resources you can use.
* College Scorecard: This is a government database of almost all US colleges. Pay attention to details such as graduation rate, early career salary, socio-economic diversity, and racial/ethnic diversity.
* Big Future: This CollegeBoard website can help you filter colleges by criteria like majors, size, location, diversity, etc. It's a nice way to find colleges to further research.
* CollegeConfidential, Niche, Reddit, Unigo: Use these sites with caution, and only after doing objective research with the other listed resources. It's great to get a student perspective, and often you can find very honest assessments of the schools here, but keep in mind that students can be misinformed. Reviews are hard to interpret; students only tend to review things they feel really positively about or really negatively about.
* College Websites: Even though college websites are, at the end of the day, marketing tools, you can learn a lot from them that you can’t learn anywhere else. They are all set up differently, but pay special attention to:
1) About us, Our story, etc. (A great way to learn about the history of the school and what they are most proud of)
2) Admissions Requirements and Deadlines
3) Lists and descriptions of Majors, Minors, and Concentrations
4) Virtual Tours
5) Links to the College Newspaper (This is the best place to find out what is happening on campus)
6) Student Life (If there are particular resources you want your college to have, the Student or Campus Life section of the website will list them)
7) Financial Aid policies (If the college has a full need or no loan policy, the financial aid website will tell you; additionally, it will usually tell you how the school applies outside scholarships)
Developing Your List
Ideally, your list will be balanced between reach schools, challenge schools, and likely schools. (A 3:3:1 ratio, respectively, is what we're shooting for.) A good rule of thumb for determining whether a school is a reach, challenge, or likely for you is by going off of acceptance rates: reaches generally have <25% acceptance rates, challenges 25-50%, and likelies >50%.
However, a challenge for one person can be a reach for another, and vice versa. How well do you measure up in a school's pool?
* Strong transcript grades 9-12 and/or upward trend of grades (As, 90s+) in both core and non-core classes
* Rigorous course-load
* Interested in business or engineering? You've taken advanced math and science classes
* Test scores within or above the median range of scores for students at the school
* Taking or already taken required courses
In my opinion, the best and most organized way to keep track of your college list is through a spreadsheet. Here is the one that I personally use.
Fly-In Programs
Fly-ins (also called Fly-Outs, Diversity Programs, etc.) are a great way to be able to visit a college, which a lot of students can't afford, and you get to do more than just a standard visit and tour. Most fly-ins, if not all of them, let you stay at least overnight and have you participate in classes, stay with students, eat at the dining hall, etc; you truly get to feel out the college for yourself, and in many cases, you won't have to pay a single cent.
Unfortunately, many of the deadlines for fly-ins have passed, but there are a few who still have registrations open.
Scholarships
We'll go more in-depth regarding outside scholarships another date, but because some of these have pretty early deadlines, you might want to get started on applications before then. This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but it's an excellent starting point for vetted and legitimate scholarships.
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