---
title: Some thoughts on college education
feed_description: new Quora answer
author: Issa Rice
creation_date: 2015-04-23
last_major_revision_date: 2015-04-23
language: English
# accepts "notes", "draft", "in progress", or "mostly finished"
status: notes
# accepts "certain", "highly likely", "likely", "possible", "unlikely", "highly unlikely", "remote", "impossible", "log", "emotional", or "fiction"
belief: possible
# accepts "CC0", "CC-BY", or "CC-BY-SA"
license: CC-BY
tags: uw, education, school, advice
#aliases: 
---

I wrote this answer on Quora today in response to the question "I've completed my freshman year of university with a 4.0 GPA, yet I feel something is missing. How do I make college the most fulfilling, enlightening experience possible?"
You can read the answer on Quora [here](https://www.quora.com/Ive-completed-my-freshman-year-of-university-with-a-4-0-GPA-yet-I-feel-something-is-missing-How-do-I-make-college-the-most-fulfilling-enlightening-experience-possible/answer/Issa-Rice).
Although I don't mention it in my answer, the strategy outlined in my
answer is essentially one I am taking now at the [University of
Washington]().
File this under one of my [advice for young people]().

> It's hard to give advice given so little information, but
> I'll take a shot. Unless you're at a prestigious
> institution, it's very unlikely that you'll be enlightened
> by your courses (or your peers), especially during the first
> year (again there are exceptions: if you're already taking
> advanced undergraduate or graduate level courses, then maybe
> this doesn't apply to you).
> 
> Education is all about signalling, so most people shouldn't
> really expect to get much out of it besides the diploma. See
> "[The Present Value of a
> Sheepskin](http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/01/the_present_val.html)"
> by Bryan Caplan for more. Caplan has some other good posts
> that you might want to check out, including "[How I Love
> Education](http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/07/how_i_love_educ.html)",
> "[What Every High School Junior Should Know About Going to
> College](http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2014/09/what_every_high.html)",
> and "[Page One of My Next
> Book](http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2007/03/page_one_of_my.html)".
> 
> Also unless you have some special reasons for doing so,
> getting a 4.0 GPA is likely to be a huge waste of time and
> effort. See [Andrew J. Ho's answer to What are the
> disadvantages of having a high
> GPA?](https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-disadvantages-of-having-a-high-GPA/answer/Andrew-J-Ho)
> for more.
> 
> One thing I would recommend is establishing an online
> presence (if you haven't done so already). You might find
> [Cognito
> Mentoring](https://www.quora.com/Cognito-Mentoring)'s page
> on this topic helpful: [Maintaining your online
> presence](http://info.cognitomentoring.org/wiki/Maintaining_your_online_presence)
> (disclosure: I've contributed to the page). Making a
> personal website can lead to some benefits in terms of
> networking and getting experience (with writing, setting up
> the site, etc.) which you might consider fulfilling. You
> will also want to take advantage of places like Quora and
> Facebook (see [Using Facebook
> effectively](http://info.cognitomentoring.org/wiki/Using_Facebook_effectively);
> again, I've made edits to the page).
> 
> If you're looking for the "liberal arts education" that many
> universities tout, you usually won't find it at the
> university. You'll find that instead by reading the right
> books and blogs, and talking to the right people (who will
> most likely be online). As Katja Grace says in "[Advice to
> aspiring
> undergraduates](https://meteuphoric.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/advice-to-aspiring-undergraduates/)"
> (intended for high school students, but still relevant):
> 
> > In case you actually want to learn things, it is not clear
> > whether university will help or hinder this on average.
> > There seems to be a lot of variation between people. If
> > you are unsure whether having someone talk at you for
> > hours at a time while you struggle to write down what they
> > said ten seconds previously helps you learn, sit in on
> > some lectures before you sign up. Doing so is usually
> > free.
> 
> As for activities in university outside of courses (clubs,
> spending time with people, research), it's hard to say. If
> you like research, you might find that fulfilling, but
> otherwise it might just be a waste of time (but not much
> harm trying it out at least). Clubs and socialization depend
> heavily on what sort of people you can come across. Again,
> unless you're at an elite school it can be very difficult to
> find people who are worth interacting with for long periods
> of time. In that case, just look for people online.