Reach, Range and Safety. High school seniors have undoubtedly heard that they need to choose colleges within these categories. There are other ‘descriptors’ as well: urban vs rural, large vs small, D-1 or D-3, religiously affiliated or not. Clearly, if engineering is the preferred major, then a small, rural, liberal arts school might not be such a good fit. While there are so many possible considerations, my personal opinion is that, within a wide range of colleges, there is more than one “perfect fit”. In fact, I’m no longer certain anyone should even focus on “perfection”. The word perfect sets unrealistic expectations. Did you know that even Harvard loses 3-4% of its freshman class annually (this is called the Retention Rate). We don’t know why Harvard loses those students: could it be the food, or dorms, or the Nor’easters, or the sheer expense ($84K annually not including a required $4K health insurance premium)? Withdrawals are not explained to those outside of the college’s internal (infernal?) enrollment-management circles.
Here are my, admittedly subjective, top ten factors to consider for any student’s college list:
Cost
Campus culture
Majors offered
Internships and job offerings (the primary reason to even consider “location” as a factor!)
Core curriculum requirements
TAs or Professors
Academic and learning support
Endowment stability or is bankruptcy imminent
Alumni network
