Mismatch is where the student is way above or way below the academics of the rest of the college. If a kid with high stats goes to a lower level college, he has to work hard to find others on his intelligence level. That is easier than for the low performing kid at a school filled with much higher performing students, where he is always at the bottom of the class. It’s a disservice to send an underperformer to a selective college when a good state school would have given him the education he needs among a group of similar kids. The high performing kid at a less selective school can get scholarships and more attention from professors which can give him opportunities he may not have had at a selective school where he has to compete for everything including club memberships.
Ah, yes...the soft bigotry of moving standards.
Patronization.
Thank you.