Rankings vs good fit: What should students pick?

Here are some key points parents and students, who are in the process of finalising the college list or taking an enrolment decision, could consider.

By Devesh Lathi

Five years ago, I came across an interesting career counselling case. One of my Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) students, who were accepted at some of the top-ranked institutions such as the Stanford University and Harvard University, decided to enrol himself at the US-based Harvey Mudd College. I was dumbstruck by the choice he made and wanted to understand what made him make that decision.  

In 2014, when I was an SAT Math tutor, I was not familiar with the applications process, college selection and enrolment choices for undergraduate education. However, my work with The Next Genius Foundation and Dr Neeraj Mandhana helped me gain a lot of insights and understanding about these aspects of career counselling.  While researching about why someone would select a college which is lesser-known in India over a top-ranked university, I came across a lot of points that would logically justify the decision made by him.

Here are some key points parents and students, who are in the process of finalising the college list or taking an enrolment decision, could consider:

Ranking is just one of the many parameters: Too much emphasis is laid on rankings in India, and too little on the right fit. While the best counsellors strive to identify the right fit colleges for their students, an average counsellor or parent is fascinated by rankings. Furthermore, there are many organisations out there releasing college rankings and all of them have their own parameters and biases of scoring and ranking the colleges. So, while shortlisting colleges, you must remember that ranking is just one of the paraments for selecting the right college.

The post-graduate-education-abroad culture in India: Stanford University, Harvard University, the New York University and other similar names are so popular in India because of a lot of reasons. However, one factor which makes them even more popular than other colleges is that these colleges offer post-graduate courses. While Harvey Mudd College (HMC) offers only undergraduate courses, it is one of the most popular Liberal Arts Colleges in the US. It is only in India that many of us have not heard about it. Most Indian families would recognise colleges and universities which offer post-graduation because there are 10 times as many post-graduate students going to the US as there are undergraduate students. It is obvious that you would have heard more about universities offering postgraduate courses as compared to that about undergraduate courses only.

The right fit: An institution that is the right fit for a student is the one that is suitable for them academically, emotionally, financially and socially. The right academic fit means that the student should be academically challenged by the course work but at the same time, the stress shouldn’t go overhead. Also, remember that academics should also not be so easy that they get bored at college. Does the college offer what you want to study? Is the college financially feasible for you and your family? Emotionally and socially, what kind of weather, social setting, class size suits you better? Answer these questions to identify whether or not an institution is a right fit for you. If time and finances permit, do visit the colleges you are aiming to gain a sense of the ambience, culture, campus and students’ body.

Before preparing the list of colleges you plan to apply to or making the enrolment decision, make sure you look at all aspects of the college and not just the rankings. Everyone talks about the success stories after college but rarely anyone talks about those students who simply return back from the college mid-way because of the stress, the competition or simply because the college didn’t feel right. I advise you all to look beyond rankings.

About author:

Known as the Quizmaster among his students, Devesh Lathi loves teaching quantitative math. Working closely with a leading career counselor, Dr Neeraj Mandhana, he helped build ed-tech products - SATgym & Next-Genius.com. As the program manager at The Next Genius Foundation, he is responsible for growing the outreach of the program to attract the most promising Indian students to apply for The Next Genius Scholarships. He has co-authored a book titled ‘India’s Top 100 Common Sense Puzzles’ with Dr Neeraj Mandhana.