What a programme fit score actually means (and doesn't)

It's tempting to read any score next to your name as an odds calculation. It isn't one, and conflating the two is exactly the kind of false precision that makes admissions advice untrustworthy.

A fit score reflects alignment: how well your academic background, target field, career goal, and funding situation line up with what a specific programme is looking for and what it can offer you. It draws on your profile and whatever the programme's own published information says.

It does not know your personal statement quality, your references, your interview performance, or the hundred small factors an admissions committee actually weighs. No tool that hasn't seen those things honestly can predict an outcome — so we don't pretend to.

What the score is genuinely useful for: telling you where to spend your limited application-writing time. A Strong Match with a clear 'why this fits' is worth a real application. A Low Alignment result is a signal to either strengthen your case or look elsewhere — not a rejection before you've applied.