How do we define fit at O’s List? Fit is about happiness, wellness, enthusiasm and graduating with a sense of zest and looking forward to the next phase in life and career in addition to academics, athletics and extra curricular activities. Wow! How does anyone encapsulate all this while deciding on colleges for application?
College is 4 years and perhaps more in a student’s life. That is a long time to spend most of the time feeling miserable, or that you don’t belong. You have to feel a sense of social, emotional , mental and physical wellness for most of the time. You have to feel happy and enthusiastic for most of the time.
So how do you figure out the fit? Especially when you are trying to figure out fit in relation to your reach/target/safety colleges. In the absence of a crystal ball, the best that you can do to figure out your fit while you are in high school is to work with your personality, your interests and step out of that zone a bit to see what are the other choices in colleges before getting down to making a list for application.
However, an important thing to remember is that your fit and interests may change through the years in college. You will discover new things, new facets to your personality and interests which will guide you in the next phase of your life as you look for internships, careers, graduate school etc. While you are in high school, here are the 6 most important things to think about while figuring out the fit:
- Size of College
- Location of College
- Major
- Geography
- Life beyond academics
- Cost of Attendance
While all of them are important to varying degrees, this is how we would categorize them:
- Financial Fit: Cost of Attendance and Geography
- Personality Fit: Size of College
- Interest Fit: Major
- Other: Location of College and Life beyond Academics
Some students give equal weight to all the above fits, whereas for others, one or more fits may be of more importance than the others. It is really your choice, but it helps to break it down and think about what is important to you, rather than thinking of fit in an all encompassing global way.
Read our next post on how to think about these factors as you identify your college fit.