I think the title of the book was supposed to be ironic: they thought of themselves as the “smartest guys in the room” but their carefully constructed house of cards eventually collapsed.
I know of at least one decision I made that turned out poorly; my choice of college major. I do not know if it was the best decision to have made based on the information I had at the time.
My experience was this:
I was considering which of two majors would be better. I was advised to choose one of them. I chose that one.
In my second year of college, I began taking courses specific to that major. I did not like them. I was informed that those courses are, in fact, awful, everyone hates them, but they cover necessary material for the better, more advanced courses, and that once I started to take the upper level courses, I would like the major more than I currently did. I accepted this advice, and did not change majors.
I then began to take higher level courses. As it turned out, they were about as bad as the lower level courses. It took me a while to realize this. By the time I thought it was likely that I was in the wrong major, however, I had taken many courses that could not be easily transferred to any other field. I decided that, as the courses I had already taken were a sunk cost, it would be better to put up with a few more awful courses and then graduate than to transfer to another major and start my college degree from scratch.
In the end, it took me six years to graduate. I graduated in May 2006, worked during the summer of 2006 in a temporary position I did not like, and have been happily job-free ever since (much to the dismay of my parents).
In hindsight, I realize that I would be more satisfied if I had chosen a different major, but I do not know at what point I ought to have known that I should have chosen a different major.
I do not know at what point I ought to have known that I should have chosen a different major.
I suggest, by your second year. I expect that you hated those classes more than most of the people who continue in that major, and by checking with third-year students, you could have discovered this fact.
In my second year, I took classes that everybody traditionally hated and grumbled about. And I dutifully grumbled about them along with the rest. But secretly, I liked them. (There was much to complain about, but in the end, they were interesting.) And when second-year students asked me about them in my third year, I believe that I admitted this. (Ironically, I changed majors in my third year anyway, but for different reasons, and with little waste.)
Well, this is just a hypothesis, but I wonder (if you even notice this comment three years late) if it seems reasonable to you.
I think the title of the book was supposed to be ironic: they thought of themselves as the “smartest guys in the room” but their carefully constructed house of cards eventually collapsed.
I know of at least one decision I made that turned out poorly; my choice of college major. I do not know if it was the best decision to have made based on the information I had at the time.
My experience was this:
I was considering which of two majors would be better. I was advised to choose one of them. I chose that one.
In my second year of college, I began taking courses specific to that major. I did not like them. I was informed that those courses are, in fact, awful, everyone hates them, but they cover necessary material for the better, more advanced courses, and that once I started to take the upper level courses, I would like the major more than I currently did. I accepted this advice, and did not change majors.
I then began to take higher level courses. As it turned out, they were about as bad as the lower level courses. It took me a while to realize this. By the time I thought it was likely that I was in the wrong major, however, I had taken many courses that could not be easily transferred to any other field. I decided that, as the courses I had already taken were a sunk cost, it would be better to put up with a few more awful courses and then graduate than to transfer to another major and start my college degree from scratch.
In the end, it took me six years to graduate. I graduated in May 2006, worked during the summer of 2006 in a temporary position I did not like, and have been happily job-free ever since (much to the dismay of my parents).
In hindsight, I realize that I would be more satisfied if I had chosen a different major, but I do not know at what point I ought to have known that I should have chosen a different major.
I suggest, by your second year. I expect that you hated those classes more than most of the people who continue in that major, and by checking with third-year students, you could have discovered this fact.
In my second year, I took classes that everybody traditionally hated and grumbled about. And I dutifully grumbled about them along with the rest. But secretly, I liked them. (There was much to complain about, but in the end, they were interesting.) And when second-year students asked me about them in my third year, I believe that I admitted this. (Ironically, I changed majors in my third year anyway, but for different reasons, and with little waste.)
Well, this is just a hypothesis, but I wonder (if you even notice this comment three years late) if it seems reasonable to you.