Feeling the Best Fit
The Role of Emotions in College Decisions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24020165 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Madison Garcia (0000-0003-0642-2055, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0407 • E-ISSN: 1939-8573 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00380407261470787 |
| OpenAlex | W7172247481 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 61 |
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.
Ambivalence · Emotional labor · Ethnography · Feeling · Futures contract · Grounded theory · Higher education · Sociology of Education · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Higher Education Research Studies · Social Power and Status Dynamics
Paying for the Party
Class and Campus Life
Choosing Colleges
The Privileged Poor
Abductive Analysis
Class Warfare
Inside Graduate Admissions
Unequal Childhoods
The Sociology of Emotions
Crossing the finish line? A review of college completion inequality in the United States by race and class
Racial and Ethnic Gaps in Postsecondary Aspirations and Enrollment
Overcoming Barriers to College Enrollment, Persistence, and Perceptions for Urban High School Students in a College Preparatory Program
Family Lessons and Funds of Knowledge
Passing the torch
Going Places
Culture Shock Revisited
Same major, same economic returns? College selectivity and earnings inequality in young adulthood
Framing the Search
The Postsecondary Future Selves of Black and Latinx Boys
What Do I Need That For
Collaborating in Class
Who Benefits Most from College
Feeling Race
Effects of College Transition and Perceptions of the Campus Racial Climate on Latino College Students' Sense of Belonging
The Attitude-Achievement Paradox Among Black Adolescents
The Role of Familism in Explaining the Hispanic-White College Application Gap
College Aspirations and Expectations among Latino Adolescents in the United States
They Always Call Me an Investment
Pink Slips (for Some)
Translating Authentic Selves into Authentic Applications
Income-Based Gaps in College-Going Activities
Habitus Adaptation and First-Generation University Students' Adjustment to Higher Education
Cohorts, ''Siblings,'' and Mentors
Instrumental and Expressive Education
Creating Cultural Consumers
Potholes on the Road to College
School Strategies and the 'College-Linking' Process
The Price of Opportunity
Belonging and Boundaries at an Elite University
Go with Your Gut
Bright Futures in Malawi's New Dawn
Is a College Degree Still the Great Equalizer? Intergenerational Mobility across Levels of Schooling in the United States
College for some to college for all
Social origin and college opportunity expectations across cohorts
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |