Everyone’s Asking the Wrong Question About College
- Lynn Hofstad
- Apr 20
- 3 min read
Updated: May 1
13 years is a lot of post-secondary education. That is how long I spent in "college" after high school. First, four years of college (Um Yah Yah), followed by two years for my master's degree, and finally seven (grueling) years of doctoral studies. Yet, to the best of my memory, I don't think anyone asked me during all of those years why I was going to college (though I certainly asked myself that many times during those last seven years). Instead, most people asked me where or what—Where are you going to college? What is your major? What are your plans after college? While these are much easier questions to answer (most of the time), I argue they are the wrong questions to ask during the college search and application process.
The college search should start with why not where. It is very difficult to get to the right destination if you don't know why you are going there in the first place or even if it's the right place to go. Currently, there is constantly a line around the block at the first Raising Cain's Chicken in the state, but if I don't like chicken and am allergic to breading, why would I stand in line. Perhaps this is a weird metaphor, but it actually fits the way many students and families approach the college search these days—they "get in line" for a college because they heard it's the best or the right place to go, regardless of whether or not it is the right fit for the student.
When a student starts with why, their college search shifts from trying to fit themselves into the "perfect" college to finding a college community that actually fits them. If you start with why it helps focus on the college search. Reading through the Fiske Guide to Colleges can be overwhelming if you read every entry, but if it is narrowed based on criteria that fit a student's why, then the list becomes more manageable. Likewise, if you enter a single college name into the Niche.com search, you will only get one result, but if you search based on criteria guided by why, new, unexplored options might emerge.
Looking back, I knew my "why"—I wanted a college where:
I could participate in music, without having to major in it
There was a strong science program with a high rate of graduate acceptance in medical school (yes, I was pre-med back then and actually finished college pre-med)
Most students lived on campus and there was a strong community emphasis
There was not an active Greek system.
Could I have articulated that why as an 18-year-old? I'm not sure. I think if someone had asked me, some form of those four criteria would have emerged. What I can tell you is that I found a college that fit all of those "why's," and it ended up being a great college experience.
Today there is so much focus on where. The name of the college has become more important to many people than whether or not the college environment is a good fit for a student's why. Start by asking yourself (or your student) why. Why do you want to go to college? What are you hoping to experience during those four years? What is important about the experience? What does that experience look like?
If why is hard to articulate, a good starting point might be to visit college campuses. Visit a big university, a small college, an urban environment, a rural setting, a commuter campus, a residential campus. Find out what fits and begin to form your why. It can be the best and most exciting decision you make.
