Where To Go To College?

The decision of where to apply to college, and eventually where to attend college loom over senior year like a giant rain cloud, threatening many students to freeze with fear.  Many seniors feel that if they go to one certain college, their future is set for success.  Alternatively, if they don't get into that college, their life is set for failure.  Here's a novel thought:  your success is determined more by YOU than by any college you go to, or don't go to.

Need some convincing?  Here's some great advice Abraham Lincoln gave a young student (letter quoted in the book Lincoln Unbounded, by Rich Lowry):

"In 1855, Lincoln wrote back to Isham Reavis, who had inquired about studying law with him.  Lincoln told him he was away from the office too often to take him on as a student, but he offered this advice:  "If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already.  It is but a small matter whether you read with any body or not.  I did not read with any one.  Get the books, and read and study them till you understand them in their principal features; and that is the main thing.  It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading.  I read at New-Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it.  The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places."  Before signing off he urged:  "Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing."  (Reavis went on to become a judge).    

Wow!  Powerful advice from Abraham Lincoln, and I completely agree!  Your success in college is based on your attendance, your interaction with professors and classmates, your involvement in academic pursuits, your reading the books to master the field you choose to study.  And these sorts of things can happen anywhere!  You can earn a degree at a small college or a large university--and when you've graduated and sitting in the interview--they'll want to know about YOUR expertise, YOUR knowledge, YOUR creativity, drive, and work ethic, much more than the name of the college you went to.  So, wherever you study, heed Lincoln's advice and remember the "main thing".

Also Read:   Book Reviews of "Where You Go Isn't Who You'll Be":  Book Post #1 and Book Post #2...yes, a book so good it deserved two posts.