How comfortable are you around water? Are you a strong swimmer or do you struggle to keep your head above water? Are you comfortable venturing into the deeper water or do you prefer to move into shallow water where the bottom is 1?
Most people expose themselves to water and swimming situations according to their 2 levels of skill and comfort. The same might be true as you assess your comfort level with different academic environments 3 a good college "fit". Just as you might study a body of water to figure out its temperature, depth and current before venturing in, you need to 4 the difficulties, pace and depth of an academic environment —and your ability to keep your "head above water" if admitted—before deciding to apply.
When looking at academic difficulties as a(n) 5 of "fit", you are likely to find that you have the capacity to "get the job done" academically in a range of college environments.6, you are not likely to have difficulty with the "water" itself. You will fit best, however, at colleges and universities where your ability and preparation enable you to rise to new levels of 7.
Your goal should be to find academic environments where your levels of ability and preparation will enable you to achieve well as you stretch yourself 8. These places represent appropriate "bodies of water" for you academically.
The best 9 of comprehension regarding your preparedness to meet the academic requirements of various colleges and universities are your high school teachers. Because they are very familiar with your capabilities, your teachers can offer 10 help in identifying the colleges where you will find the best academic programs for you.
Assuming you are able to find appropriate environments academically, you then need to assess the 11 of your school reports for admission to those colleges. How does your academic record (grades and test scores) pile up against those of other students who will be 12, most (about 90%) of whom are just like you in that they can do the work too?
You need to be honest in 13 this part of the picture, especially if you are considering colleges that can be highly selective and tend to admit very small percentages of the students who apply. A lot of students get in over their heads competitively when they fail to consider the real odds of gaining admission. While you might feel you are a 14 candidate at schools that can be very choosy, the reality is that you need to be in the top 25 percent of applicant pools at such schools to have a fighting chance of being admitted. By the way, you don't 15 your chances of getting into at least one such school by applying to a dozen of them!
