What College Admissions Miss
In October 2008, I sat on a plane at the New Haven airport. It was parent’s weekend so I was surrounded by proud parents fresh from visiting their above-average offspring — all first-years at Yale. You’d think this would be cause for unalloyed joy. But for some, joy was tinged with disappointment.
“My son really wanted to go to Harvard. But he didn’t get in.”
What to say to this decidedly ivy-covered lament? I riffed, “Oh, someday he’ll be a Harvard professor.” Then, I added seriously, “if he really wants it.”
A million high school students just got the news from colleges. Like the aforementioned Yale freshman, many missed their first choice. It was a weighty blow. They’ll have to accept their second, third, or even 10th choice. But does it matter?
Success is not assured by an elite degree nor precluded by a common one.
At least in science and engineering, I can say it does not. My data? More than 25 years of mentoring graduate students in biomedical engineering and neuroscience. They come to me sporting undergraduate degrees from all over. Some, from the most prestigious universities. Others were from small private 4-year colleges or state schools of greater or lesser renown. Most of them did succeed — defined as high quality research, presentations at conferences, and publications in peer-reviewed journals. But the prestige of their undergrad institution had little to do with it.
What does matter?
Four qualities: (1) Drive, (2) Resilience, (3) Passion, (4) a good sense of Humor.
Drive is essential to push through long work hours. Graduate training in STEM is not nine-to-five. (Neither is starting a business, climbing the corporate ladder, or being an airline pilot.) To overcome chronic exhaustion, one needs drive. For us, it might be fueled by the promise of a publication, acceptance into a community of experts, or satisfaction of a job well done. I have known students driven to be first in their family to get an advanced degree, achieve acclaim, or bring life-saving technologies to their home country. Drive propels people along the long hard path to innovation. Lack of it leads only to derivative work.
Science has its share of demoralizing moments. Experiments fail. Papers are rejected. Animals (including humans) do not behave as expected. A first brilliant idea has already been published. A second one turns out to be wrong. Successful students are resilient in the face of these setbacks. They compartmentalize disappointment and keep moving forward. Sometimes, resilience comes from surviving dire personal experiences. In these cases, resilience is a sort of “acquired perspective.” But in all cases, I suspect a strong genetic component.
Passion, like drive, requires energy, but it is topic specific. To become an expert in a topic, one must embrace all aspects of it. Even the most arcane. In graduate school (or any intensive training), passion means becoming intentionally consumed — obsessed — by a topic. This is an unnatural state. But it must be sustained for a long time to assure success. Of all my students, only one didn’t complete the Ph.D. He had innate ability and a toney undergraduate degree. He simply lacked passion for the topic.
Humor is the lubricant of social interactions and the cushion to failures. It can revive flagging Drive-Resilience-Passion. But self-directed humor has magical properties. It breaks down barriers, diffuses jealousies, and attracts allies. A person who can laugh at himself can admit that others think differently. That person is primed to learn from others and thus to succeed. Laughing together at work energizes our interactions and softens our disappointments.
I am not sure Drive-Passion-Resilience or Humor can be taught. Perhaps nascent forms can be cultivated. If so, young people should start cultivating now! Summon your inner drive. Work longer and harder than you thought you could. Identify your passions and organize your life around them. Learn to maintain your balance when disappointments arise — because they will. See the humor in things, and especially in yourself.
Sitting on that plane, I was transported back to my own moment as a hopeful college applicant — April 1978. Unfortunately, Yale consigned me to its wait-list. So, I moved on (resilience!) But by 2008, I was in New Haven for an interview. It went well. I scaled the academic ladder until 2016, when I made Full Professor at Yale.
I’m nearing retirement — I feel my own passion ebbing. I won’t take new students. But over my career, I have observed them closely. Success is not assured by an elite degree nor precluded by a common one. People make their own successes despite — and sometimes because of — setbacks. They succeed thanks to Drive-Passion-Resilience — aided by Humor. I know it.
I don’t know if the kid ever became a Harvard professor. But if he really wanted it, I bet he did.
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