Random Thoughts from Hills

College Shopping:Motivations

http://wsjclassroom.com/archive/06dec/care_ceocollege.htm

All of you have had or will have some experience with college. No one really talks about the college student life-cycle. That is --how one goes from a directionless freshman to a profession and career focused senior.

There seems to be a continuum that transitions from a Pre-College Student – New College Student – Junior College Student and finally to the College Graduate.

At some point a student’s attitude changes from a focus on the quality of the social scene offered by a college to how the college will prepare you for your professional life.

When I graduated from high school, there was great pressure (both internal and from my peers) to attend the best “brand name” school possible. This hasn’t seemed to change. I agree with Warren Buffet in the above article. Warren earned a graduate business degree from Columbia because his role models taught classes there. Well before attending the school he read about and practiced their economic theories. Yeah Columbia is Ivy League. However hid model works every where.

My point is the way we shop for colleges is backwards. Instead of focusing on what the institution can offer an individual, maybe there should be more of a focus on what the people-professors- at the institution can offer the individual. I’m not saying that these people will be one’s salvation. You must at least have a few of the internal qualities of success.-discipline, integrity, perseverance, spiritual relationships… I am saying that they can really help you move though the college student life-cycle.

So in closing, what would you tell a prospective college student is the method you would use to move along the college student life-cycle?

-PD
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