AFHS students that have experienced the college application process may have anxiously pored over lists from Niche or even the famous US News Best National University Rankings. Many subconsciously believe the idea that only those top universities matter. However, prestige remains conceptual and fleeting, a label that can be given or taken away. An institution can be prestigious one day and obsolete the next. When applied to higher education, prestige connotes thoughts of success, fame, and seriousness. However, when digging into outlets that dictate “prestige” as it relates to colleges and universities, students will find that labels come from other people like parents and alumni. 

Instead, in order to find the right college fit. Fit means that a students college selection should be one they’ll most likely succeed at, and should be the foundation for a good college experience. Fitting with a school means your profile as an applicant fits well with their priorities as an institution.

CollegeVine elaborates on this concept, explaining that all colleges have certain aspects of academic, social, and extracurricular life that can be more important than others. Some schools place a heavy emphasis on sports, while others consider themselves schools for future business leaders. Some emphasize service and giving back to the community.

This means the information guiding college decisions should not be found in rankings, but in details from the school website, in visits to college campuses, talks with current students, and in deep introspection into personal goals. Paying attention to the school’s mission statement and asking some current students or recent grads about their experiences will do more for future success than any ranking. A student thriving at the top of a lesser-known school will have more confidence and readiness for whatever comes after, than by drowning at an Ivy League. It continues to be more about what you do than where you go.

Bright Horizon’s College Coach, UPenn graduate, and former Dartmouth and Northwestern admissions officer Landis Fryer supports this, references a 2018 Stanford School of Education study that concluded there “was scant evidence for the widespread belief that attending a ‘top tier’ college leads to success in school and in life.” AFHS students should think of college as more than a name: a match to be made, not a prize to be won.