On choosing a college
For some fortunate 17 year olds, the end of the year is the day for a momentous decision, one that’s largely out of the comfort zone of a 17 year old.
A four-year college education in the US can cost nearly half a million dollars once we count the expenses and foregone opportunities that go with it. It can shift our persona, our learning and most of all, the systems we live in for the rest of our lives…
One way to make a complex decision of this magnitude is to relentlessly make it simpler. We can begin by vividly describing the flavors, factors and preferences that go into the choice (I have heard every single one of these from students I’ve coached or spent time with) and then pruning them away:
- I like the weather there
- They have recycling bins all over campus
- The tour guide who showed us around was cute/engaging/friendly
- I think I’d have fun at the football games
- My peers in high school will be impressed
- It is much cheaper than the alternatives
- It’s expensive and so it must be better
- I might make the soccer team
- I grew up watching the school’s teams on television
- I hear they have a really good math program
- It’s close to my house and doing laundry will be easier
- It’s far from my house and I won’t have to deal with being at home a lot
- My parents went there
- My parents didn’t go there
- It feels right
- I’m tired of this and need to get it over with already
- It was a stretch to get in and I feel accomplished
- It was a stretch to get in and I feel intimidated
- My guidance counselor said it was a ‘good’ school
- The people I know have heard of this school
- I know exactly what I want to do for a living and this it the best place to start on that journey
Many of these are matters of short-term taste, and are the sorts of things we bring up when everything else either feels the same or we’re afraid to examine the real issues too closely. In my case, I picked the college I went to partly based on the radio station I heard (or didn’t hear) when I visited the campus.
Here’s a different way to look at it, one that we can broaden into an insight about adult decisions about where to work, where to live, who to hang out with. There are two parts:
- Are the people this place attracts the sort of people I want to spend time with and become more like?
- Is the system that is in place here one that pushes and cajoles and processes people to become more like the kind of person I’d like to be?
That’s it.
It doesn’t matter if the campus is pretty or if the football team is good. It doesn’t matter if it was sunny on the day you visited. Unless… unless those factors are the factors that are attracting and keeping the folks you had in mind in #1.
A party school isn’t a party school because there’s a good liquor store on campus. It’s a party school because the combination of #1 and #2 create a self-perpetuating system.
Once you answer these two questions, pick the least expensive option that helps you get to where you’re going.
Perhaps this feels like a big decision because it’s about you. But it’s not actually about the you you are right now. It’s about the you you hope to become.
…
You're getting this note because you subscribed to Seth Godin's blog. Don't want to get this email anymore? Click the link below to unsubscribe.
Renowned tap dancing star Maurice Hines Jr., who also enjoyed a long career as an actor and choreographer, has died, his agent said Saturday. He was 80. 
Special counsel Jack Smith on Saturday asked an appeals court to reject former President Donald Trump's claim of immunity in his federal election interference case. 
An undercover Oakland, Calif., police officer is dead after being shot while while responding to a break-in at a business in the city's waterfront entertainment district, authorities say. 
A former deputy fire chief in southern Massachusetts is dead after being shot and killed by police, local officials have confirmed. 
Authorities have identified three members of a Massachusetts family who were found shot to death this week inside a palatial, 27-room mansion in a wealthy section of suburban Boston. 
BAFTA-winning actor Tom Wilkinson has died at the age of 75. 
Convicted felon Sam Bankman-Fried won't face an additional federal trial accusing him of making illegal campaign contributions and five other federal charges, prosecutors say. 
Without mentioning any specific threats, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Friday security is being tightened in the Big Apple ahead of New Year's Eve festivities. 
Nearly 500 Polish troops were dispatched on Saturday to the eastern Lublin region to search for a Russian cruise missile that penetrated Polish airspace amid a massive barrage fired at Ukraine. 
Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the Serbian capital of Belgrade Saturday, again protesting federal election results from earlier this month. 
A federal judge has granted a temporary injunction blocking Iowa officials from enforcing a new state law aiming to remove books discussing gender identity or sexuality from classrooms. 
Pop music star, dancer and TV personality Paula Abdul has sued "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance" producer Nigel Lythgoe for alleged sexual assault. 
The Biden administration says it has allowed a $147 million emergency arms sale to Israel without congressional approval as Jerusalem ramps up its war efforts against Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip. 
Arnold Schwarzenegger shared a photo on social media of him visiting his former "Twins" co-star Danny DeVito after a performance of DeVito's Broadway play, "I Need That." 
Thousands of travelers seeking to take the cross-channel Eurostar train from Britain to continental Europe were stranded in London on Saturday due to flooding in a tunnel in southeastern England. 
Pop star Taylor Swift's "1989 (Taylor's Version)" is the No. 1 album in the United States this week. 
Millions of revelers hit the road after New Year's Eve celebrations and the inevitability of impaired drivers make the holiday one of the nation's deadliest. 
Forecasters say more monstrous waves along California coast such as the ones that took onlookers by surprise earlier this week are likely to continue well into the weekend. 
Actor Sheryl Lee Ralph turns 67 and singer Ellie Goulding turns 37, among the famous birthdays for Dec. 30. 
On Dec. 30, 2013, four NFL coaches were fired on the league's so-called Black Monday: Mike Shanahan of the Washington Redskins, Leslie Fraiser of the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay's Greg Chiano and Jim Schwartz of the Detroit Lions. 
