• Type of learning environment;
• Level of rigor;
• Majors offered;
• Structure of curriculum

Academic College Fit: Learning Environment

Some students are excellent independent learners and need little guidance from their instructors. They can take ideas gleaned from a lecture, and use those to fan the flames of their own intellectual curiosity. Students don’t need much hand holding in developing ideas into term papers or independent projects. They are not afraid to approach their peers or their professors with questions or further exploration of course material.

They have a good sense of what is important in a subject. They can marshal their own resources to ensure their own academic success. These students will likely be successful in any academic environment, even large universities with enormous lecture classes. These students are active in their own learning, so the mode of instruction is less important. The passive presentations of lectures and readings may be enough to activate the innate learning impulses of this sort of student.

Other students enjoy learning most when instructors are able to bring the material alive and help them tie abstractions to the practicalities of everyday life. These students may not yet have developed their own internal academic compass. They may not be as confident with their basic academic skills. Or they may simply enjoy the higher level of interaction that occurs in smaller classes that require a high degree of participation by both teacher and student.

Match the college learning environment with how best you learn

Thus it is critical to match a student’s learning habits and preferences with the sort of learning environments that exist at different colleges and universities. This is more difficult to extract from students in a short discussion. Most students have never really considered why they prefer one teacher to another, or why they are more successful in one class than in another. Most people never give much conscious thought to their own learning.

Some will thrill to the art of a well-crafted lecture by a distinguished professor and be able to convert that thrill into independent learning. Others, however, simply cannot develop a personal relationship with the material without a personal relationship with the human beings in the classroom. In order to make a recommendation about the appropriate learning environment then, it’s important to discuss with high school students why some classes are more successful and to uncover the reasons why others are less so.

Academic College Fit: Level of Rigor

High schools tend to offer various levels of a course (college prep, honors, AP) to provide various levels of academic challenge to different sorts of students. Some prefer to take courses that challenge them intellectually at the top of their game. Others prefer to coast a bit more. Some seek a cohort of students who are as academically driven (or not) as they are, while others prefer to hang with students who are smarter. Still, others prefer to be a big fish in a smaller pond and standout in a less challenging environment.

When you and your family visit colleges, try to get the general academic vibe on campus and rank your schools on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being over-the-top academic. Which schools appealed to you most? Hop on Tik Tok, Instagram and other online resources to confirm or reject your campus visit.

Academic College Fit: Program Offerings and Majors

It’s pretty obvious that finding the right major is important. But it’s important to go beyond the student’s first answer, no matter how confident they appear about their top choice of major. The fact is that the vast majority of students change their major at least once in college and many change two or three times. So as we help our students look for the programs that they want most we also try to be on the lookout for other programs that may interest them.

For example, a high school junior may tell us confidently that they want to be an architect. But they may also enjoy foreign language and literature. Thus it would not be enough to simply list the schools of architecture. We need to consider which schools also would make it possible to continue that interest in a second language.

A student may or may not change majors; but college is also a time in which students are introduced to academic disciplines they have never had any contact with in high school (aeronautics, psychology, philosophy, linguistics) that may end up becoming a passion. So while we start with programs and majors a student identifies as first choice, we also try to tease out what other academic interests the student has. These alternative interests may become a well-spring of electives, a potential minor, or an about-face major alternative down the academic road.

Academic College Fit: Curricular and Program Structure

Some students simply don’t like to be told what to study, while others feel more comfortable making choices within a more structured, controlled environment. Some have a very good sense of what they want to learn and why. Others are still exploring and are happy to have at least a bit of guidance to help them make sense of the smorgasbord that is a collegiate course catalog. Fortunately, there is a college to match this preference.

At one extreme are the colleges that make very few demands and impose few—if any—curricular requirements. The curriculum may be completely individualized and tailored to each student’s interests and passions. At the other extreme are the colleges that allow for virtually no choice in what courses students take. And then there is a broad spectrum of colleges and universities that fall somewhere in the middle of this continuum.

Here again, curriculum structure can be difficult to discuss with high school students for whom their entire academic experience has been laid out to them. Electives have been few and far between, especially compared with the options available in college. In order to make a recommendation, then, one has to measure a student’s academic maturity and ability to make good, future-oriented decisions.

While it’s completely fine not to declare a major until the end of the sophomore year, students still need to put a plan in place to ensure they can graduate on time. Students with less self-discipline may be better off in a more structured program or one that at least has a very strong and personalized system of academic advising.

Evaluating Academic College Fit: Conclusion

Academic fit is the single most important factor in choosing a college, in our view. While the environment, availability of extracurricular opportunities, and social climate are all also very important you must remember that families are not choosing a country club or vacation resort. The primary purpose in college is to get an education—one that suits them best and allows them to achieve their own intellectual and professional goals.

How to Find A Great College Fit

There are many other aspects of finding a great college fit. Please check out our other posts on this topic:

Evaluating social engagement on campus

Evaluating campus social life

Finally, here’s a video on how the team at Great College Advice can help you find a great college fit.

GreatCollegeAdvice.com

Since 2007, the expert team of college admissions consultants at Great College Advice has provided comprehensive guidance to thousands of students from across the United States and over 45 countries across the world. Great College Advice has offices in Colorado, New Jersey, Chicago, North Carolina and Massachusetts.  

In addition to our one-on-one counseling, Great College Advice extends its support through one of the most active and resource-rich Facebook Groups for college-bound students and their families: College Admissions Experts. With nearly 100,000 members—students, parents, and experienced counselors—this vibrant forum offers peer support and expert advice like no other. 

The post Find the Right Academic College Fit first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

The Colorado Free Application Days campaign is an initiative designed to inspire more Coloradans to continue their education. From Tuesday, Oct. 7 through Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, all 32 public colleges and universities in Colorado and several private institutions will waive their application fees, making it free for anyone to submit an application. By waiving application fees—a common barrier to higher education—Colorado Free Application Days aims to improve access to further education and training, which is becoming increasingly critical in the state’s rapidly changing economy.

For more information, visit the following Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) for more details, including the list of participating colleges and universities, here and here.

In 2024, there were over 65,000 applications received during the Colorado Free Application Days including almost 12,000 at CU-Boulder and over 4,300 at the University of Denver.

The CDHE also provides a lot of educational materials on its My Colorado Journey site. It includes resources for high school course selection, career exploration, college research , financial aid, and test preparation.

Best of luck to your student as they begin their senior year of high school and please reach out to the team at Great College Advice if we can help with their Colorado (and beyond) applications!

The post Colorado Free Application Days October 7 – 9th first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

TRANSCRIPT:

So I’m here on the campus of my alma mater, Dartmouth College. I’m here for a reunion and it’s been a fun, nostalgia-filled weekend, and I always enjoy coming up here. And one of the things I like to do when I come here, too, is to connect with some of the students that I’ve counseled in the past.

This morning I had coffee with, she’s a freshman and she’s a tour guide here on campus. And we got to talking about being a tour guide and how all that works, and we were also talking about the fraternity system, so I was asking her, “So what is the admissions saying to students when they’re coming on campus and want to know about the fraternity system and how many students are really a part of it?” And the party line statistic is 50%. Now, that’s accurate, but a little misleading, perhaps. Because that makes it seems like the statistic is much lower than the number, which is 68% of eligible students are in the Greek system. So 2/3 of students.

Greek System

The reason there’s a difference between these two statistics is because freshmen are not allowed to be in the Greek system. You rush in your second or sophomore year. So it’s true that if you take the entire student body, you have only 50% of students that are in the system. But then when sophomore year happens, 2/3 of your cohort is going to be rushing for the Greek system.

So it’s one of those things where it’s like where are they bending the truth? Are they bending the truth? No, they’re not, they’re stating a fact, but they’re also giving you a statistic that is perhaps going to make Dartmouth a little bit more palatable to you if you’re thinking the fraternity system may be not what you want, or if you’re worried about it, they want to make it seem less of a force in the social life on campus. It’s a force, there’s no getting around it that the Greek system is a very strong aspect of social life on campus.

Why do I bring this up? Not so much to criticize my alma mater, I love the place, but it does have some warts and one of them, one could say, maybe, is the fraternity system. But I think what I want to point out most for anyone who is thinking about going to college is remind yourself that the admissions office is the sales and marketing division of the college. And so when you’re walking around the campus, what you hear from the tour guides and what you hear in those information sessions is going to be the rosy picture.

Do Your Own Research

It’s going to be the positive spin on anything that might be a little bit controversial or, “Let’s cover up those warts a little bit more.” And if you really want to know the facts you’ve got to do some research on your own. You’ve got to be looking at data on the government web sites or on CollegeData. If something’s important to you, you need to get kind of underneath whatever you’re being told by the admissions office. It’s not a fib, but it’s also not necessarily a full understanding of the truth. So colleges have stories to tell. And you want to listen to them, but then again you want to verify. As Ronald Reagan used to say, “Trust, but verify.”

The post Educational Consultant Warns of College Spin first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

TRANSCRIPT:

Lewis & Clark College is a liberal arts college. It is not only a liberal arts-focused university that really is an undergraduate school. It does have a law school and there is a graduate school. But the primary focus of this institution is on undergraduate education. When I’m talking to students and thinking about curriculum in general and how to decide what kind of institution you want to go to, I actually push students to think about the curriculum requirements.

Curriculum Requirements

Freshman Year

So here at Lewis & Clark for example, they do have a general education requirement. The first thing is during the freshman year. Students take two semesters of a sequence to help students adapt to a college environment, this kind of university education. So the first semester is a class that everyone takes and everyone reads more or less the same books; those books may change from year to year.

And that is really an introduction to the university academic requirements, helping student get their writing up to speed. And students, they have a professor, only 19 kids or fewer in each class. The professor can really see whether the student is ready for all of the demands of the higher level curriculum. If not, they can get them into a tutoring center. And help with their writing, or the teacher can spend more time with that student.

Second Semester

The second semester is more of a choice. Students can choose lots of different topics of seminars, whether it’s in the humanities, social sciences, the sciences, and this is another writing-intensive course where students are going to be reading a lot, but every student has to do a major research project, independent research project, for that semester. So you can see by the time students finish their freshman year, they’re ready not only to do high-level coursework, but they’re able to do independent research and writing just by the end of that first year.

International Curriculum

The other requirements here at Lewis & Clark are at least two semesters of an international kind of curriculum. 50% of students study abroad. There’s also a scientific and quantitative reasoning requirement, so students have to take three semesters of that; one has to be a lab. And arts, creative arts, are required, fantastic facilities for visual arts, for theater, for music. Foreign languages, you have to take at least three semesters of a foreign language. So again, foreign study abroad, that could help meet that requirement.

And then there’s a year-long physical education requirement. And really, this is a perfect place to do it here in the Pacific Northwest near Portland, it’s actually in Portland. But you have right behind the camera you’ve got Mt. Hood, you’ve got the ocean behind me, you’ve got all kinds of possibilities for recreation as well as the more standard physical education requirements.

So that’s what the requirements are here at Lewis & Clark. It’s important, as you’re looking at each school, these requirements, yeah, there are some similarities, but there are major differences and you see here at Lewis & Clark there’s a big focus on international, foreign language, that’s a little bit more what Lewis & Clark is all about. So make sure, when you’re thinking about college you’re going to apply to, think about that general education requirement. It helps to define what the college is all about.

The post College Expert on Lewis & Clark College: An International Liberal Arts Curriculum first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

TRANSCRIPT:

So I’m on the campus of Stetson University here in DeLand, Florida, central Florida. Not too far, about an hour or so, from Orlando. Took a tour today. It was interesting, I asked about fraternities and sororities. As we were going down Sorority Row and I was asking, “Well, how does it work here?” And it’s definitely something that you should think about. If you’re interested in Greek life or not, you should understand that extent, or the organization of the Greek life system at every college. So definitely ask those questions.

Questions about Greek Life

So what did I ask? First I asked, “So how many students, or what percentage or students, are involved in Greek life here?” And I got a couple of different answers. I think the official statistic is about 30%. But then I talked to the student guide and she said “Oh, no, that’s not true; it’s really more like 60%.”

Okay, well, that’s a big difference because if you’ve got 60% of the students are that 40% is not. Then you’re going to have a different experience than if it’s the other way around. Because if you’re deciding you don’t want to be part of that system. You just have to know which side of the balance, does the tail wag the dog or not? So you have to understand that, and you have to get at the bottom of that statistical difference.

Recruitment System

The other thing that she mentioned was that here at Stetson, the rush system. They call it recruitment, they don’t call it rush anymore because that’s politically incorrect and sounds like hazing. But recruitment begins in the fall of the very first semester when you arrive. So as a freshman, you’re eligible to rush or be recruited, by a fraternity or sorority.

So most of the students, because they’re desperate to make friends, are going to jump right into that system. Versus a school, and we were just at Rollins a little while ago, rush or recruitment doesn’t happen until the second semester of the freshman year. Some colleges delay it even until the sophomore year, so you can’t even become a member until your second year. That makes a difference because it’s the pressure.

The social pressure that you may feel when you arrive on campus. To jump into the fraternity or sorority system without really knowing whether that’s something you really want to do. And the other thing is that on a small college campus like this, it’s interesting. There are some colleges that just don’t have any fraternities and sororities. But in a small college like this, like Stetson, it’s a relatively large percentage.

When the good thing about going to a small college is that it’s easier to meet people anyway, without having to divide up into these social groups.

Do You Want to be Part of it?

So as you’re thinking about which colleges to apply to, you need to think about Greek life, you need to think about what it means to you and are you sure you want to be a part of it? If you’re absolutely sure, great. Think about how it’s structured and when the recruitment process begins.

If you’re not interested in it at all, you do want to know how many students, and is it 30%, is it 60%, get to the bottom of that statistic before you sign up and pay your tuition. It’s an important aspect of any campus’s social life. Whether it exists or it doesn’t exist, know what you want and then ask the questions of the people that you meet on the campus.

The post College Admissions Expert at Stetson University: Is Greek Life for You? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

TRANSCRIPT:

So today I’m on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and took a great tour, got a sense of the campus. Kind of surprising actually, when I first drove in I was like, “Wait a minute, this doesn’t seem that cool.” But then, once you actually get inside the campus, it’s actually quite beautiful. And it is Florida, after all, so the weather’s pretty much great all year round, even when it’s cloudy.

Questions to Ask

So one of the things that I like to do when I’m on a tour is ask the tour guide, gently, what are their pet peeves? What are the things that they don’t like so much about their school? Especially if they’re a junior or a senior, they’ve had time to be on campus long enough to see the warts, and that’s how I actually talk about it. I don’t talk about it like complaints, but every place, once you get familiar with it, you see the things that are not so possum.

High Commuter Population

So he said really quickly, really easily, he said, “Well you know, one of the things about the University of Miami is that is has a relatively high commuter population, 20%.” I’d like to see that statistic, I’m going to have to look it up. But 20% of students are actually commuters, meaning that they are from the local community, probably living at home with their parents or with other family members, and commuting to and from the campus every day, not living on the campus. Or not living nearby with friends and roommates, that’s a different thing, that’s off-campus housing.

Anyway, commuters, they come, they have a commuter center here that’s apparently great at helping get kids involved. But he mentioned that on a campus of 10,000 people, if 20% are leaving for the weekend and not coming to campus on the weekend, “it’s much quieter than I would have anticipated when I first thought to come here.

How it Can Effect Campus Life

So one of the questions to think about with some campuses is the proportion of commuters who will come to that campus every day. And that does affect what the life is like on the weekend. It may not affect the academic life at all because you’re still going to have that connection in the classroom, but it may affect the kind of environment you have on the campus, on the weekends, and the kind of activities and other social events or other campus events that may or may not have that commuter population participating in those events.

So I thought that was interesting and certainly something that you should think about when you’re trying to decide which campus is right for you. What is this proportion of commuters? Maybe you are a commuter and that’s a good thing for you. Or maybe you’re not, and you’re not looking for a campus that has that high population. So think about that as you’re investigating colleges and finding the campus that works for you.

The post Commuting to Campus: Admissions Expert on the University of Miami first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

The topic of weather in the college search process came up during a very chilly visit to Seattle University (keep in mind it was the middle of winter).  Our tour guide, who was originally from Hawaii, commented on how the weather in the Pacific Northwest was an adjustment. But it just made him appreciate the sunny days even more.  He was able to overlook this obstacle because of all the opportunities that the University gave him.  So, take the weather into consideration, but you never know what else you might be missing.
Watch my video or read the summary below to learn more about the great things that Seattle University has to offer and why it worth over looking those cloudy days.

Today I had the opportunity to tour Seattle University.  There are three things that stood out to me about this wonderful school.  One is the urban location.  It is very close to the heart of downtown Seattle. And the university provides resources for students to tour this wonderful city.  Another thing that stood out was the beautiful architecture.  There is an amazing mix of new buildings with modern amenities with newly renovated older buildings that have been here since the school was founded in the 1890’s. 

Resources for Students

Another aspect that thoroughly impressed me are the abundance of resources available to students.  Students talked the community feel and the ability to build relationships with professors due the small classes.  Also students have access to wonderful tutoring facilities in many subjects.  Students also access to a 24-hour reference librarian that they can get to on-line. 

There are also areas of the library that are open 24 hours so that students can study when it is convenient for them.  Overall, I think Seattle University provides a strong community feel in a wonderful city.  I think that one of the things students may want to consider though is the weather.  Our tour guide came from Hawaii. And he did say that while the weather was an adjustment, it can be overrated.  It can be something that you certainly can get used to and you certainly learn to enjoy the wonderful sunny days in Seattle.

Great College Advice

The post Seattle University What’s the Weather Like Today? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Drama:

• Degree options:
  • BA: offered at colleges/universities and some conservatories; 1/3 of coursework in drama
  • BFA: usually offered only at conservatories; 2/3 of coursework in drama
  • BS: rare but similar to BA
  • two-year professional certificate: offered at conservatories only; some have transfer arrangements with four-year colleges
• Concentrations: performance, design, film and TV, production, musical theater
• Considerations:
  • What are the program’s philosophy and techniques?

Dance:

• Degree options:
  • BFA: usually offered at conservatories; for people who want to dance professionally; very rigorous
  • BS: offered at only a few schools
• Concentrations: ballet, jazz, modern dance
• Considerations:
  • What type of dance do you want to study?  Most programs only focus on one type, with the majority focusing on modern dance.
  • If you want to teach dance, you’ll need to find a dance education program.

Music:

• Types of programs:
  • Conservatories: prepare students for professional music careers; some colleges/universities have conservatories within them
  • Traditional colleges/universities: good if you want to study music education or an aspect of music other than performance; can pursue other interests in addition to music
• Degree options:
  • BM (Bachelor of Music): performance-oriented; offered by most conservatories and college music programs; 80% of coursework in music
  • BME (Bachelor of Music Education): for future music teachers
  • BFA: similar to BM
  • BA or BS: offered by many colleges/universities; less intense than BM or BFA; good if want to focus on another aspect of music besides performance
• Concentrations: accompanying; chamber music; composition; conducting and ensembles; jazz studies; music education; musicology; organ; piano and keyboarding; voice, winds, brass, percussion
• Considerations:
  • Does the program offer intense study in your instrument?
  • Music majors spend a lot of time with faculty members (i.e., in private lessons), so if possible, schedule a private lesson when you visit a school.

Great College Advice

The post An Introduction to Arts Colleges and Programs: Part 2 first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

I don’t know if this student was embarrassed, but I certainly would have been.  While her response to the tour guide’s question may seem innocent enough, it quickly revealed that she had not researched the college before visiting.  Her lack of preparation was further evidenced by the fact that, during the tour, neither she nor her father asked a single question.  While the tour guide probably could have cared less (hey, it made his job easier), imagine if this student also had an interview with an admissions officer while she was on campus.  Had she answered a question about her intended major the way she answered it on the tour, or had she been offered the opportunity to ask questions and not done so, the admissions officer likely would not have been impressed.

Does the school have the major you want?

The point of this story is that visiting a college is a great way to learn more about it, but that doesn’t mean you should go in blind.  If you want to make the most of a college visit, you should do some research beforehand.  First and foremost, find out if the school has the major(s) you’re interested in.  If not, does it really makes sense to spend your time and money (and that of your parents) visiting?  Probably not.

What is important to you?

Secondly, take some time to explore the college’s website for information about things that are important to you.  Do you want to live in a single-sex dorm?  Better find out if the school has them.  Hoping to join a fraternity or sorority?  Make sure they exist at the college.  (Not all schools have a Greek system.)  Hoping to write for the school newspaper but don’t want to major in journalism?  You need to see if that’s possible.  If you have questions whose answers you can’t find on a college’s website, call the admissions office.

As I explained in my blog post, “When Doing College Research, People Are One of the Best Resources”, going on a campus tour enables students to not only see the college’s physical setting, but also to ask questions of a current student — the tour guide.  Take advantage of that opportunity to get inside information about what life at the school is really like.  Better yet, talk to other students in addition to the tour guide.  But before you do, do some research so that you can ask relevant questions about what you’re interested in.  And if you’re going to have an interview during your visit, research becomes even more important.

With a little preparation, you can avoid being caught in an embarrassing situation like the one I witnessed.  Additionally, you’ll get a great deal more out of your time on campus.

The post Before Visiting Colleges, Do Some Research first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

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