Parents - Prospective - Fit versus prestige

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"Fit" Versus "Prestige"

When students begins the college search process, they are faced with the task of narrowing down the list of more than 3,600 four-year colleges across the United States to focus on the one that is the "best" for them. Many guidebooks place these colleges into subsets ("most selective," "very selective," "selective,") that seem to carry a certain degree of prestige.

The reality is that prestige has very little meaning if a college or university is not the best "fit" for a student. Many students transfer schools after their first semester or first year, because they did not pay enough attention in the initial search process to the concept of "fit."

To help our prospective students and parents determine if Elizabethtown College is the best "fit" for them, we have developed what we call the "Trinity of Fit."

At Elizabethtown College, we are committed to "rolling admission" and the "Candidate Reply Date" of May 1 so that prospective students have an opportunity to compare their final colleges to come up with the absolute best choice for them. We want our prospective students to have time to visit our campus two or three times before they make their final choice. We want them to come for an initial introductory visit. If that is a positive experience, we want them to come back for a college interview. If that goes well and the student is accepted by Elizabethtown for the fall, we want them to have time to return and experience an overnight, during which they will attend classes, live in the residence halls, taste our food, participate in our activities and meet many of our students.

Many families tell us that we are the first college they have dealt with that actually wants to slow down the process for the student rather than speed it up. This is because Elizabethtown College holds very high regard for its retention rate from first year to sophomore year (currently 92%). We firmly believe that there is a direct correlation between the thoroughness of the initial selection process and the retention of a student, which ultimately leads him or her to graduate from Elizabethtown in four years.

Parents do not want their students to chose a college and then see them transfer a year later. Neither do we! Therefore, we build into our process all the steps we think are necessary for a good decision, one that will ensure an excellent "fit" for years to come.