How can you help students find their best-fit university?

“Tough decisions ahead” should be the warning label that comes with the university application process. The internationalisation of higher education means that students today have an overwhelming number of options when it comes to choosing their higher education path.

While this is a positive development, the abundance of options can leave students and parents completely paralysed, fearful of making the wrong decision.

This is why you often find so many students and parents relying heavily on university rankings. How else are they supposed to even begin to sort through all of these options? And what are they supposed to be looking for?

Your role as counsellor is to bring order to the chaos, empowering families to feel confident that their decision is the right one for them.

1. Setting priorities and understanding fit

Before students can even begin to have an understanding of the process of applying to university, they need to know themselves. Best fit is important, as admissions processes are designed to test fit and strengths.

The search for best fit begins with the student’s assessment of their wants, needs, strengths and goals, and those are then applied to guide the university research. This determines what they will need to look for when they research universities, and how they will determine whether a university is a good option for them.

Here are some ways to spark the students’ (and parents’) thought processes:

Interests: What are they interested in? What do they know about this subject? How have they explored it?

Strengths: Personality assessments and mind maps are a great way to get students thinking about what they are good at, and how that might differ from what they are interested in.

Wants and needs: Introduce an exercise that asks students to think about their ideal university. What would it be like? Ask students to reflect on elements such as location, accommodation, learning style and curriculum.

Goals and values: How do students define success? How do they see themselves in 10 or 20 years’ time? Writing exercises can help students reflect on these ideas.

Aspirations and expectations: Often, parents and their children are not great at communicating with one another, and the initial family meeting together will be the first time that a student learns what their parents’ expectations are for their future. Encourage these kinds of conversation at home by asking families to complete a questionnaire that helps students and parents to think about their goals and fears going into this process. This can also help you in setting some discussion points for your first meeting with the family. And it encourages parents to understand the difference between an aspiration and an expectation – and to communicate clearly with their children.

2. Doing thorough research

Many parents and students begin by looking at university rankings because they don’t know how else to learn about universities. Once a student has determined what they’re looking for, rankings may very well be useful in helping them to draw up an initial list of universities. But there is so much more they could be researching to determine if a university meets their own priorities.

Try directing them to the following:

• Websites or spreadsheets to help guide what kind of information they should be looking for
• Common datasets
• University mission statements
• Blogs by current students, such as those published on THE Student
• Social media
• Publications and websites such as niche.com, ucas.com, The Princeton Review and Fiske Guide.

3. Involve universities in the process

This is a good way to increase your network and learn more about the university options out there, while also educating students and parents about the options available and the importance of best fit.

Events that you could hold include:

Mystery fair/round robin: This is an event where parents and students are introduced to universities without any mention of their name, so that students can focus on aspects of the university experience that may or may not appeal to them. At the end of the event, university representatives reveal the name of the institutions they represent.

Lunch and learn sessions: These are sessions where a university representative is invited to have lunch with a small group of students, to discuss in more depth their university or course choice – or a different topic.

Taster lectures: Many universities will send professors to hold taster lectures on a variety of subjects. This is a great opportunity for students to explore subjects beyond those they are already familiar with.

Mock admissions: One of the best ways to show parents just how complex the admissions process can be involves putting them in the decision-making seat and making them decide whether or not to admit a student.

Information sessions: Such sessions are standard practice in many high schools, but there are a few ways to improve them. Let the university representative know ahead of time if there are particular topics you’d like them to focus on (such as the importance of supercurricular and extracurricular activities or how to write a strong personal statement). Discuss with them the messaging you have been sharing with students and parents, so that what they say during their session is consistent with your advice and can reinforce the message.

Rather than hosting individual information sessions for each university, you could also create thematic information sessions, in which a number of universities participate. An example could be an information session on studying law, involving three to five universities and focusing on what it means to study law broadly, the preparation required, the offering of each university and the differences between programmes.