In 1996, I (Lenny Teytelman) got accepted to Columbia and Stanford. My brother was a graduate student in Stanford, I was dying to go to California, and Stanford was ranked far above Columbia in any of the majors that I was considering. There was no contest. My only problem was that I fell in love half a year before I had to decide between these schools.
I did realize that first-time love, at the age of 18, before starting college, was most likely doomed as a relationship. But whatever the chance of failure, I knew that if I moved to Stanford, there was absolute certainty that the relationship would end. I decided to "sacrifice my education" for the infinitely low odds of the relationship succeeding.
I was right to choose love - we got married two years later and have been together since. I was wrong to think that Columbia was a sacrifice. Now I know that for undergraduate studies, it is irrelevant whether one goes to Columbia or Stanford. Back then, the sacrifice felt monumental.
Sure, a high school senior, under the influence of love, seldom has the perspective on college choice of a tenured professor or a CEO of a big corporation. The goal of this blog is to share exactly these perspectives on how to choose a college.
The initial e-mail that started this blog is in this post.
I did realize that first-time love, at the age of 18, before starting college, was most likely doomed as a relationship. But whatever the chance of failure, I knew that if I moved to Stanford, there was absolute certainty that the relationship would end. I decided to "sacrifice my education" for the infinitely low odds of the relationship succeeding.
I was right to choose love - we got married two years later and have been together since. I was wrong to think that Columbia was a sacrifice. Now I know that for undergraduate studies, it is irrelevant whether one goes to Columbia or Stanford. Back then, the sacrifice felt monumental.
Sure, a high school senior, under the influence of love, seldom has the perspective on college choice of a tenured professor or a CEO of a big corporation. The goal of this blog is to share exactly these perspectives on how to choose a college.
The initial e-mail that started this blog is in this post.
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