Connections and opportunities

Take your standard college town.

It has: a sprawling campus. Dorms, quads, and classrooms. Bright, capable students. Brilliant teachers.

Perhaps, an adjacent city. Locals and their houses, bookstores and grocery stores. Coffee shops, eateries, and bars. Plenty of parks and places to walk. Maybe a gym or two.

Almost every campus has these things in common. So, what, exactly, makes them unique? Why choose one over another?

Certainly, some schools have a higher caliber of these things (in either quality or quantity, or both), and that's mainly what makes many of them unique. But assuming there's an abundance of food to eat, books to read, and things to do with your friends, not much differentiates the average school from the elite.

And so, all things being equal, the value you'll get from any one school is comparable to that of most.

Of course, that’s not true. Because you certainly get something from going to a better school. It’s just that that something isn’t a ‘product’ to consume—a ‘better’ lecture, dorm room, dining hall, grocery store, library, or café.

What you get from a truly better school are all the opportunities (at present, and undiscovered) of going to a better school. That if enough smart people enroll in the journey you’re on—living and learning synchronously together for a year (or four)—you can’t help but benefit from the net effect of all that connection.

Indeed, it's that web of connections—of students and teachers—and the ideas and opportunities those connections afford and beget, that make going to a specific school a far better investment than going to any school.

We don't often think about that when it comes to choosing where to go to college, but we'd certainly be wise to. That instead of thinking about dining halls and dorm rooms, sports teams and tuition, we'd do better to think about our proximity to people and places that enable the exchange of ideas and opportunities we find interesting.

Everything else is mostly embellishment.