Feeling the Best Fit: The Role of Emotions in College Decisions

Using ethnographic observations and interviews with students and staff in a college access nonprofit (CAN), I show that college-going inequalities may also reflect structurally based emotional barriers and that these barriers can be overcome through opportunities to imagine futures with positive emotional valences where the student “fits” in college, and where college is a “fit” for the student. Before joining the CAN, students aspired to attend college, but their sense of fit was low and grounded in negative emotions (e.g., worries about challenges, ambivalence about college choices). Through CAN-sponsored college visits and precollege career-opportunity programs, students were able to imagine futures where they fit in college and where college fit their goals—imagining futures with positive emotional associations. This sense of fit allowed students to confidently make emotionally informed decisions about colleges and majors. I argue emotional barriers play an underdiscussed role in college transitions and clarify how emotions, by undergirding college decisions, shape youths’ paths to college.