Cut through the noise and make better college and career choices
This book is about addressing the college-choosing problem. The rankings, metrics, analytics, college visits, and advice that we use today to help us make these decisions are out of step with the progress individual students are trying to make. They don't give students and families the information and context they need to make such a high-stakes decision about whether and where to get an education.
Choosing College strips away the noise to help you understand why you’re going to school. What's driving you? What are you trying to accomplish? Once you know why, the book will help you make better choices.
The research in this book illustrates that choosing a school is complicated. By constructing more than 200 mini-documentaries of how students chose different postsecondary educational experiences, the authors explore the motivations for how and why people make the decisions that they do at a much deeper, causal level. By the end, you’ll know why you’re going and what you’re really chasing.
The book:
- Identifies the five different Jobs for which students hire postsecondary education
- Allows you to see your true options for what’s next
- Offers guidance for how to successfully choose your pathway
- Illuminates how colleges and entrepreneurs can build better experiences for each Job
The authors help readers understand not what job students want out of college, but what "Job" students are hiring college to do for them.
Table of Contents
Foreword: Helping You Make Progress xvii
Part I Introduction 1
1 Is This Book for Me? 3
Ask the Right Question 3
You Could Be Struggling Because… 4
Why This Book Can Help 5
Helping You as a Student 8
Helping You as a Parent 10
Helping You as a School Professional 11
2 College Choosers Face a New, High-Stakes World 13
The College-Choosing Problem 13
A Higher Percentage of People are Going to College Than Ever Before 14
More People Apply to More Places 14
Many Don’t Know Whether to Go to College at All 16
Want a Job? Go to College! 16
Stop Stressing About Whether You’ll Get In 18
College Doesn’t Work for Many People 19
College Doesn’t Pay Off for Many People 20
Even If You Complete, It Might Not Be a Good Investment 22
There are Other Good Pathways 23
That Adds Up to a Lot of Dissatisfied People 23
It’s Not Just 18-Year-Old High School Graduates 24
The Rankings and Advice Out There Won’t Necessarily Help You 27
Don’t Leave Your Choice to Luck 28
Part II Helping Learners Make Better Choices 31
3 Help Me Get into My Best School 33
Getting In 34
Devin’s Story 36
Talikha’s Story 37
Ujana’s Story 38
Understanding the Help Me Get into My Best School Job 40
How to Be Successful When You Have This Job Arise in Your Life 44
What to Do If You are a Parent of a Child with This Job 57
What Not to Do 61
What to Do 62
4 Help Me Do What’s Expected of Me 63
Going for Others 63
Maddy’s Story 65
Trisha’s Story 67
Greg’s Story 68
Understanding the Help Me Do What’s Expected of Me Job 70
How to Be Successful When You Have This Job Arise in Your Life 73
What to Do If You are a Parent of Someone with This Job 82
What Not to Do 84
What to Do 85
5 Help Me Get Away 87
Your Escape Room 88
Naomi’s Story 88
Kyle’s Story 90
Understanding the Help Me Get Away Job 91
How to Be Successful When You Have This Job Arise in Your Life 94
What to Do If You are a Parent of a Child with This Job 102
What Not to Do 104
What to Do 106
6 Help Me Step it Up 109
Pick it Up 110
Naomi’s Story 110
Neil’s Story 111
Olivia’s Story 112
Understanding the Help Me Step it Up Job 113
How to Be Successful When You Have This Job Arise in Your Life 119
What to Do If You are a Parent of a Child with This Job 128
What Not to Do 130
What to Do 132
7 Help Me Extend Myself 135
Learning for Learning’s Sake 136
Naveena’s Story 136
Trisha’s Story 138
Karen’s Story 139
Understanding the Help Me Extend Myself Job 140
How to Be Successful When You Have This Job Arise in Your Life 144
What to Do If You are a Parent of Someone with This Job 147
What Not to Do 149
What to Do 150
8 Living Life Through the Jobs 151
Bob’s Story 151
Five Principles for Your Learning Journey 154
Part III Helping Educators Design Better Choices 161
9 Why Understanding the Job Changes What You Offer 163
Applying the Jobs to Your Job 164
Why Needs, Demographics, Categories, and Listening to Users Misleads 165
Moving from Correlation to Causation: What Job Does a Milkshake Do? 170
How Understanding the Job Changes What You Offer 173
Organizing Around a Job 176
10 How Institutions and Entrepreneurs Can Design Better Experiences 181
Wayfinding Academy’s Story 181
Comparing the Five Jobs 184
Go Beyond the Averages and Surveys 186
Help Me Get into My Best School 187
Help Me Do What’s Expected of Me 190
Help Me Get Away 192
Help Me Step it Up 196
Help Me Extend Myself 200
Why Most Colleges Must Focus 204
Part IV Conclusion 207
11 Parting Advice for Learners and Educators 209
Recommendations, Not Blueprints 209
For Students 210
For Schools and Learning Programs, Both Established and Yet to Be Created 214
Forging an Educational Marriage 223
Appendix: How to Unearth a Job 225
The Forces and Timeline That Comprise a Job to Be Done 225
How to “Watch” What People Do and “See” the Job to Be Done 230
Identify the Energy in Someone’s Decision 232
Who We Interviewed 234
How We Chose the Students We Interviewed 237
Interview, Code, and Cluster 238
Acknowledgments 243
About the Authors 251
Notes 253
Index 271
