Your College List: Academic Fit with Cyndy McDonald

College and Career Clarity

EPISODE SUMMARY

The Four Pillars of Building a College List kicks off with finding a school with a good academic fit. In this episode, I sat down with Cyndy McDonald, a highly connected independent college counselor, to discuss how students can ensure they find the right fit before applying to college. Cyndy talked about ensuring a student gets admitted because, without that, the rest of the pillars of a college list don’t hold much weight.

When you’re a college-bound family, taking the time to research and build your high school student’s college list is a crucial part of getting admitted in the end. But what does a “good academic fit” mean? In this episode of the College & Career Clarity podcast, we find out.

EPISODE NOTES

Setting your teen up for success in college and putting together their list of colleges where they’ll apply to can be broken down into four pillars- Academic Fit, Social Fit, Financial Fit, and College Major & Career Fit. Each of these aspects is imperative to a successful college experience. Today, I sat down with Cyndy to discuss the first one on our list- academic fit.

Academic fit is all about how your student will mesh with the school when they’re on campus. Every student has different needs, so understanding your teen’s and how their ideal school admits students will help your family pick out the perfect school from the over 3,000 4-year colleges and universities.

But it’s about more than just how many students are in a class or what majors are available. There are several integral aspects of academic fit that you need to consider, both from your perspective and the perspective of the college you’re applying to. Not only do you need to find a school you want to attend, but you also need to find a school that wants you there.

Understanding your teen’s chances of “getting in” can be confusing. That’s why this episode of College & Career Clarity takes the time to really dive deep into what academic fit means and how you can apply it to decisions as your family looks at schools.

Click here for more information about building your perfect college list for any family. If you’d like to learn more about how to do great college visits, check out episode #4, Getting the Scoop on College Visits and #23, College Visit Tips fom the College Spy . And if you’d like more information about a particular school, including their admission rates, visit Peterson’s and College Board.

Keep an eye out for the next episode in the series all about Social Fit, and hear how one of my past students got out of overwhelm and her advice to your teen.

Highlights

• What student-first centered college selection is
• How to navigate where it’s getting harder and harder to be admitted to selective schools
• How identifying “target” colleges can benefit the family
• Resources for finding academic data
• The top 2 academic factors for getting admitted

Meet Our Guest

Cyndy McDonald, CEP, is a recognized leader in both college counseling and in business. She has over thirty years

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