What’s an example from your own life where building human capital and signaling quality to colleges have come into conflict? How did you resolve the conflict? Do you think you made the right choice? Is there anything you would have done differently?
When I planned to apply for university I had to find somewhere that would let me take A Levels, the cost of A Levels outside of school being prohibitive. Anyway, I eventually found a school that would let me do it. Naturally, however, the requirement to be in school from 8:30-15:00 allowed me far less time than I’d normally have to learn and pursue my own interests—the environment was utter hell if you were trying to learn in your free time. They didn’t even really have a library you could go if you wanted somewhere quiet to think; they had a small room with books in that backed onto an open-plan classroom but it wasn’t really suitable.
I resolved this by convincing the school change their registration procedures for the sixth form so that people could sign themselves in and out of school when they weren’t meant to be in class.
Do I think I made the right choice? Well, it wasn’t a bad choice. But there were better choices—I’ve since learned that some universities let you join without pre-existing qualifications if you do a bit of hoop-jumping, and I’d probably do that if I were doing it over again. Given what I knew then though I don’t think I could have done much better.
When I planned to apply for university I had to find somewhere that would let me take A Levels, the cost of A Levels outside of school being prohibitive. Anyway, I eventually found a school that would let me do it. Naturally, however, the requirement to be in school from 8:30-15:00 allowed me far less time than I’d normally have to learn and pursue my own interests—the environment was utter hell if you were trying to learn in your free time. They didn’t even really have a library you could go if you wanted somewhere quiet to think; they had a small room with books in that backed onto an open-plan classroom but it wasn’t really suitable.
I resolved this by convincing the school change their registration procedures for the sixth form so that people could sign themselves in and out of school when they weren’t meant to be in class.
Do I think I made the right choice? Well, it wasn’t a bad choice. But there were better choices—I’ve since learned that some universities let you join without pre-existing qualifications if you do a bit of hoop-jumping, and I’d probably do that if I were doing it over again. Given what I knew then though I don’t think I could have done much better.