Choosing College

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.

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