Thursday, June 12, 2008
Which majors make the most?
Recently I discussed what jobs make the most money. The route to those jobs might not be clear, however. Daniel Hamermesh's recent study of which majors make the most concludes that major choice has less effect on earning potential than many think, once one controls for various other variables.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Be a satisficer, not a maximizer
The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz argues that in many arenas, greater choice leads, ironically, to greater unhappiness. For a helpful summary of his ideas, check out this post from Gretchen Rubin's fabulous Happiness Project blog. As she writes, "Satisficers are those who make a decision or take action once their criteria are met. That doesn’t mean they’ll settle for mediocrity; their criteria can be very high; but as soon as they find the car, the hotel, or the pasta sauce that has the qualities they want, they’re satisfied. Maximizers want to make the optimal decision. So even if they see a bicycle or a photographer that would seem to meet their requirements, they can’t make a decision until after they’ve examined every option, so they know they’re making the best possible choice."
One can imagine all the painful experiences being a maximizer might bring in the college process. To think in positive terms, however, how might one be a satisficer when seeking out the right college? Some ideas:
1. Allow yourself to make the initial choices (big/small, rural/suburban/urban, etc.) with a moderate amount of evidence.
2. Embrace the idea that there is not just one perfect college for you.
3. Only complete as many applications as you can without sacrificing their quality or the quality of your life.
4. Find the positive in all the colleges to which you apply, whether it is harder or easier to gain admission to them.
5. When not actively taking tests, researching colleges, or applying, spend time thinking about all the other fun and rewarding parts of your life.
6. Recognize what an incredible privilege college attendance is.
One can imagine all the painful experiences being a maximizer might bring in the college process. To think in positive terms, however, how might one be a satisficer when seeking out the right college? Some ideas:
1. Allow yourself to make the initial choices (big/small, rural/suburban/urban, etc.) with a moderate amount of evidence.
2. Embrace the idea that there is not just one perfect college for you.
3. Only complete as many applications as you can without sacrificing their quality or the quality of your life.
4. Find the positive in all the colleges to which you apply, whether it is harder or easier to gain admission to them.
5. When not actively taking tests, researching colleges, or applying, spend time thinking about all the other fun and rewarding parts of your life.
6. Recognize what an incredible privilege college attendance is.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Mama, let your babies grow up to be hedge fund managers
If you really want to "make it" in the U.S., what profession should you pursue? As someone who has worked with many students who will be the first in their families to go to college, this question has floated through my mind occasionally. The stereotypical answer, and one that many parents encourage, is doctor. Some evidence points to this being a wise choice. This Forbes article profiles the top 25 best paying jobs on average; 13 of the top 15 are medical specialists.
This data, however, is quite misleading, due to the vagaries of the words "job" and "average." Consider two categories: CEO (#10) and financial manager (#25). While an anesthesiologist is an anesthesiologist (the #1 "best paying job" with a mean salary of $184,340), a "CEO" could be the guy who owns the local hardware store or the guy who runs Home Depot. A financial manager could be your local stockbroker, or John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who earned $3.7 billion (that's with a b, and those were his personal earnings, not what he made for his investors) in 2007. Indeed, it turns out that fund managers and CEOs are some of the top earners in the U.S.
Granted, you will probably not end up running a huge multinational corporation or a wildly successful investment vehicle. But consider that if you aim for that type of position, even falling a bit short will make you quite financially secure. The odds are great that you will make far more in your lifetime than if you specialized in putting people to sleep.
Hands down, then, if you are good at school, willing to work hard, and it is important to you to maximize your earning potential, choose an economics or mathematics major at a selective undergraduate college - a place that you love, with excellent teaching, so you can keep your energy up and master the math. Then seek a job as a financial analyst and then business school. Who knows, you may end up one of the Superclass.
This data, however, is quite misleading, due to the vagaries of the words "job" and "average." Consider two categories: CEO (#10) and financial manager (#25). While an anesthesiologist is an anesthesiologist (the #1 "best paying job" with a mean salary of $184,340), a "CEO" could be the guy who owns the local hardware store or the guy who runs Home Depot. A financial manager could be your local stockbroker, or John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who earned $3.7 billion (that's with a b, and those were his personal earnings, not what he made for his investors) in 2007. Indeed, it turns out that fund managers and CEOs are some of the top earners in the U.S.
Granted, you will probably not end up running a huge multinational corporation or a wildly successful investment vehicle. But consider that if you aim for that type of position, even falling a bit short will make you quite financially secure. The odds are great that you will make far more in your lifetime than if you specialized in putting people to sleep.
Hands down, then, if you are good at school, willing to work hard, and it is important to you to maximize your earning potential, choose an economics or mathematics major at a selective undergraduate college - a place that you love, with excellent teaching, so you can keep your energy up and master the math. Then seek a job as a financial analyst and then business school. Who knows, you may end up one of the Superclass.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Keep talking (and emailing, and texting, and...)
Communicate, and you will ensure a certain level of success. Have you fallen behind on an assignment? Immediately let your teacher know. Are you beginning to feel differently about your college list than you did last month? A call home and a visit to your college counselor, asap. Did you just ace a major evaluation? Send an email to update your colleges. Feeling a nagging pain? Check with the trainer. In every part of school life, communication helps immensely.
The harder something is to say, most likely the more important it is to say. Money, status, pride, independence – if one of these is on the line, you may be tempted to avoid the discussion. For example, you have a sense that your folks aren’t sure they can pay for an expensive college, but you really want to go to one. The time to have that talk is before you apply, and for good measure bring your college counselor into the picture.
Communication is the best insurance against real crisis.
The harder something is to say, most likely the more important it is to say. Money, status, pride, independence – if one of these is on the line, you may be tempted to avoid the discussion. For example, you have a sense that your folks aren’t sure they can pay for an expensive college, but you really want to go to one. The time to have that talk is before you apply, and for good measure bring your college counselor into the picture.
Communication is the best insurance against real crisis.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
How to be happy in one sentence (with commentary)
My single sentence on how to be happier (subject to revision and improvement!): Sleep, eat, and exercise, and optimistically work closely with others towards specific goals that contribute to the greater good.
This sentence is, of course, an oversimplication. Still, some habits are far likelier to lead to happiness than others, and scholars have in recent years made great progress in identifying these habits. To learn more, I recommend Professor Tal Ben Shahar, author of the bestselling book Happier, who teaches one of the most popular classes at his college. His course and book use research to determine what can lead us to more fulfilling lives. I would also point you to Professor Martin Seligman, one of the pioneers of the positive psychology movement; his book Authentic Happiness is fascinating.
Now for a little more detail on my happiness sentence:
Sleep. When constantly surrounded by friends, this is particularly difficult. I would suggest taking some time just after dinner each night to reflect on your sleep goal. Then plan your evening tasks backwards from that point. Sleep allows learning to solidify and leads to happier and deeper personal connections - something to think about if you frequently miss sleep to study or to hang out with friends! Professor Norbert Schwartz discovered in his recent happiness study that "Making sixty thousand dollars more in annual income has less of an effect on your daily happiness than getting one extra hour of sleep a night."
Eat. Michael Pollan, author of An Omnivore's Dilemma, recommends "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” By "Eat food," he means "Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." I would add that the "not too much" advice is aimed toward an overly sedentary American population as a whole; as active, competitive and growing high school students, I might even change this completely to "Quite a bit!"
Exercise. Almost all of you are excellent on this point so I will not belabor it. Hooray for the runner's high, and for general fitness.
Optimistically. One’s thoughts have a self reinforcing quality. While it is not possible to turn a tragedy into a joy simply by thinking about it, it is possible to preempt a blah day with a conscious focus on gratitude, forgiveness, curiosity, and energy.
Work closely with others. Spending time with others makes people happier. School makes this not only quite easy, but almost unavoidable! Here is another area in which almost all of you excel.
Towards specific goals. Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi not only has one of the coolest names I've ever come across, he also has written Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He concludes that great happiness often comes from striving towards challenging but attainable goals.
Contribute to the greater good. Studies have shown that people are happiest in jobs that serve others, and that people who give time, money, or support to others are more likely to be happy and satisfied with their lives.
So go forth and sleep, eat, and exercise, and optimistically work closely with others towards specific goals that contribute to the greater good!
This sentence is, of course, an oversimplication. Still, some habits are far likelier to lead to happiness than others, and scholars have in recent years made great progress in identifying these habits. To learn more, I recommend Professor Tal Ben Shahar, author of the bestselling book Happier, who teaches one of the most popular classes at his college. His course and book use research to determine what can lead us to more fulfilling lives. I would also point you to Professor Martin Seligman, one of the pioneers of the positive psychology movement; his book Authentic Happiness is fascinating.
Now for a little more detail on my happiness sentence:
Sleep. When constantly surrounded by friends, this is particularly difficult. I would suggest taking some time just after dinner each night to reflect on your sleep goal. Then plan your evening tasks backwards from that point. Sleep allows learning to solidify and leads to happier and deeper personal connections - something to think about if you frequently miss sleep to study or to hang out with friends! Professor Norbert Schwartz discovered in his recent happiness study that "Making sixty thousand dollars more in annual income has less of an effect on your daily happiness than getting one extra hour of sleep a night."
Eat. Michael Pollan, author of An Omnivore's Dilemma, recommends "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” By "Eat food," he means "Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." I would add that the "not too much" advice is aimed toward an overly sedentary American population as a whole; as active, competitive and growing high school students, I might even change this completely to "Quite a bit!"
Exercise. Almost all of you are excellent on this point so I will not belabor it. Hooray for the runner's high, and for general fitness.
Optimistically. One’s thoughts have a self reinforcing quality. While it is not possible to turn a tragedy into a joy simply by thinking about it, it is possible to preempt a blah day with a conscious focus on gratitude, forgiveness, curiosity, and energy.
Work closely with others. Spending time with others makes people happier. School makes this not only quite easy, but almost unavoidable! Here is another area in which almost all of you excel.
Towards specific goals. Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi not only has one of the coolest names I've ever come across, he also has written Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He concludes that great happiness often comes from striving towards challenging but attainable goals.
Contribute to the greater good. Studies have shown that people are happiest in jobs that serve others, and that people who give time, money, or support to others are more likely to be happy and satisfied with their lives.
So go forth and sleep, eat, and exercise, and optimistically work closely with others towards specific goals that contribute to the greater good!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Keeping a calendar and to-do list
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Organizing for tasks that do not repeat
High school is repetitive (in a good way). Where are you supposed to be next Tuesday at 10:40 AM? In September you receive a piece of paper that tells you, and you fairly quickly memorize it. What are you supposed to do this evening around 8 PM? Run through a list of classes for the next day in your head and recall, look up, or ask a friend what the homework is. You do not need an advanced organizational system to stay on track (or, more precisely, school has created an advanced organizational system for you).
Searching for the right college, however, is a series of actions that generally are most likely things you have not done before and things you will not do again. This poses a challenge, since you are used to succeeding without any way of making sure you get things like this done. This may be one reason why the college search can feel harder than a class, even though it is neither as intellectually challenging nor as time intensive.
How to handle tasks like this? I like David Allen's Getting Things Done, but whatever system you choose I suggest the first step is recognizing that you may need a structure to organize your college search to-dos.
Searching for the right college, however, is a series of actions that generally are most likely things you have not done before and things you will not do again. This poses a challenge, since you are used to succeeding without any way of making sure you get things like this done. This may be one reason why the college search can feel harder than a class, even though it is neither as intellectually challenging nor as time intensive.
How to handle tasks like this? I like David Allen's Getting Things Done, but whatever system you choose I suggest the first step is recognizing that you may need a structure to organize your college search to-dos.
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