Over the years, as more students are looking to apply abroad, the dream of being able to attend high ranked colleges like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford has become a major part of young student’s lives in India. It is understandable that a student, exposed to popular media, dreams of sitting in dark red bricked walls of Harvard or studying in gothic halls of Cambridge. The yearn to find the best college to attend can also be understood by the fact that for many students, this is one of the first biggest decisions of their lives. There is, admittedly, some admirable quality in this ambition and I would be the first to acknowledge the powerful ambition that such students embody whenever they begin their application journey. Simultaneously, part of our culture’s way to quantify student’s success includes the kind of college a high school student can gain admission to. Often, the higher the rank of a college, the more “successful” a student is.
Any student, applying to study abroad, however, knows that this ambition coupled with societal pressure for success is a recipe for stress, and ultimately disappointment. The factors that once compelled them to apply abroad, often become too simplistic at the face of many significant factors that their dreams have to stand a test to. Want to study Computer Sciences at University of Washington? Are you ready to be accepted into the college, but have to still go through rigorous classes, and apply to the most selective major, having a very low chance of being actually admitted to the major? Do you want to study at Boston University? Are you ready to traverse the streets of Boston to get to your classes within only fifteen minutes? I have worked with many students, who, I knew would have regretted attending the college they and their families imagined was the perfect place for them to be. This notion of the “best college” is often informed through countless ranking sites, advertisements, and prestige that help make a college seem like the perfect place to be.
It has, therefore, been the hardest part of my job to remind students that most rankings, and advertisements are often designed to mislead the students. A college being good in its academics can mean many different things. It can mean that the college has a strong faculty, but can also hide from you the fact that those faculties rarely teach undergraduate students. This still allows some generosity towards the process of college ranking. If we look at the scandal Columbia University was involved in just recently, a more dark side of the ranking system can reveal itself. Columbia University’s rank was recently brought down from #2 to #18 after one of their math professors questioned the validity of the statistics used for its ranking (
). Ideally, here, the notion of applying to a college just because it is ranked high and not because it is a good fit for you should be questioned. Is there such a thing as “the best college?” I think not. Such a line of thinking naturally opens up the potential to think about a college as a good fit college.
What is a good fit college? As the name suggests, a good fit college is one that takes into account not only the quality of the institution itself, but also factors in whether the place will be a natural fit for you. I know many students I have worked with, who attest to the fact that, relying on oneself in making the choice of what college to go to, was the best decision they could have made. The process of selecting a college begins with the initiation of a major transition in one’s life. The stakes are naturally high, and being able to find ways to improve the chances of a student's success later on is critical to the process. Shifting away from an objective gaze to one that allows you to test for yourself whether the colleges you will soon apply to will be a good fit for you or not. Naturally, while the pressure to get into ‘best colleges' tends to vanish upon adopting this line of thinking, questions like ‘How does one find a place that will provide them with growth, a sense of belonging, and good academics?’ persists. While it does not take all the stress away to say that finding “good fits” is also a difficult task, I can offer students assurance that with a good amount of organised research is far more systematic that shooting the shots in the dark, when applying to top ranked colleges.
Research is a fun, sometimes daunting, but clearly an important part of the process. Learning how to personalise a list of preferences while doing college research is another. Bit by bit, the process of gathering a small list of colleges that one should apply to really is the most crucial aspect of a student's pre-college journey. This is, in-fact, one of the first things I do with the students I work with. To them, I break it down like this: In order to start finding good fit colleges, understanding oneself, what do you like, what do you not like? And understanding your strengths and weaknesses can begin to create parameters to narrow down from a large pool of colleges the colleges you would like to apply to.
This process can involve looking at many factors such as, what kind of college life do you really want? Big colleges in a small town, or a college integrated into a bustling metropolis. Is there a type of college you would really not like to attend? What about sports? Does your college offer you the opportunity to play your favourite sport badminton competitively? What kinds of competitions do they attend? How strong is the team? Would you be open to a college that does not have a strong badminton team? The main purpose of this exercise is not to limit oneself to different criterions that will factor into your decision making, but rather to find non-negotiable criteria that will help make the list shorter; and yes, going to a prestigious college is not a non-negotiable criteria. One can choose to keep strong academics or research funding as part of your non-negotiables for sure. Factors such as location, sports, diversity, number of international students, student’s clubs and sports are worth thinking about. What sort of college you would like to go to, can very easily and systematically be determined through narrowing down your preferences in the factors mentioned above. Are you more inclined towards academics? Would you like your education to be intellectually challenging? Or are you business minded, and would like peers to network with and fathom entrepreneurial projects? Think not just of your likes and dislikes but also realistically what you good and bad at and what sort of education will matter to you more,
Finding the colleges is the next major step. Once one has a sense of their preferences here are four things you can do: Talk to a professional counsellor at your school or outside; find credible, unbiased websites to research colleges on, and understand their ranking systems; practice poaching the college website; and talking to current students and alumni on Linkedin, or by contact them through college admissions office. It is generally a good practice to question the search from time to time as well, asking yourself whether what you are reading is advertisement or genuine information. Having friends, counselors, and parents to assist is always a plus. Also note that “good fit”college search is inherently relative, and it is part of best practice to create your own rankings that suit your preferences and abilities. Depending on your test scores, school grades, and college’s acceptance rates, your college list can be further arranged into: dream colleges, reach colleges, and safety colleges. Always keep in mind that, if you are seeking financial assistance from the college that you know whether that college gives financial aid to international students. Similarly, what are other tangible requirements of the college that you are capable of fulfilling? Having such rigour is a great way to assure yourself of success, as applications to colleges abroad are often stress-full as is.
Does this all mean that one should not consider Harvard or other “top ranked colleges” when applying to colleges abroad? The answer to that is simple, applying to college as a process isn’t just about specific colleges. It has to take into account how a college fits into your goals, aspirations, capacity, and wants. Applying to Harvard is certainly ambitious, but not discouraged. Being realistic, however, sets one for more success and considerable low stress further down the line.
Arjun Seth, Founder of Edbrand and CollegeFair.Live - A leading one-on-one college admissions mentoring company based in India. He can be contacted by email at
