The Los Angeles Times ran an article, where fashion columnist Adam Tschorn interviewed Neil Patrick Harris from “How I Met your Mother” who discussed how much he loves his Paul Smith and Dolce & Gabbana suits, because they fit and flatter his tall and narrow frame like no other. The article reminded me of the time when I purchased a suit the summer before my first year of college. Though it was one size above my true suit size, the store manager said that I would grow into it. After four years, and some occasional ribbing by former co-workers who made a habit of noting that my suit was too big each time I wore it to work, I never, “grew into my suit.”
At BetterGrads, we think the idea of a great fit extends beyond the fashion world. Around this time of year, when prospective students begin to receive their admission letters and weigh their various offers, the phrase “I’m looking for the college that’s the best fit for me” becomes ubiquitous.
At first glance, gauging how a particular college could be the “best fit” sounds nebulous. To the best of my knowledge, there is no magical number crunching formula where one can plug in a values for variables such as quality of social life, number of majors, professor-to-student ratio, etc, and yield a “best fit” rating. However, just as there are simple ways to determine that a suit does not fit one’s body (ex: if the shoulder pads extend beyond your shoulders, you’ve got a problem), there are similar ways to evaluate whether a college will be a great fit too.
Do your homework ahead of time
As a former roommate once told me, “When you know yourself, decision making becomes easy.” Without having to spend an exorbitant amount of money revisiting each school that sends you an acceptance letter, take the time to create a checklist filled with prequalification questions highlighting the necessary attributes required for a college to be considered a great fit. This exercise will provide you with the necessary framework to compare schools across the board. In my case, I knew that I was not ready to attend a college located 3,000 miles away from home. Additionally, the struggles I experienced in some of my larger Advanced Placement classes made me realize the value of the smaller learning environment from my days at a private Jewish day school.
Considering these factors, I decided to pass on the admission offers from two medium-sized schools on the east coast. Thus, putting in the time to generate these prequalification questions was an excellent exercise in helping me narrow down the list of schools that met my requirements and saved me unnecessary travel expenses.
Use your Eye-Q
Yesterday, a co-worker lent me his copy of Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich, an easy to read book filled with interviews from a range of folks sharing their thoughts on what really leads to success. In one section of the book, Author Richard St. John shares a quotation from Marilyn vos Savant , “‘To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.’”
So, when visiting schools on admitted students day, use your Eye-Q to help determine whether a particular school will be the “best fit.” For the introverted folks out there, an easy way to learn about campus is to pick up a school newspaper. This one published document provides a snapshot of campus political views, past social events, and in some cases, current student gripes. For those who would describe themselves as extroverts (myself included), I found that talking to the students who were not tour guides or had any affiliation with the admissions department provided me with invaluable insight to hardball topics ranging from access to professors, diversity, strength of the career center, and overall satisfaction with school. Overnight visits are also useful.
