Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life

by Michael B. Horn, Robert Moesta

Cut through the noise and make better college and career choices This book is about addressing the college-choosing problem. The rankings, metrics, analytics, college visits, and advice that we use today to help us make these decisions are out of step with the progress individual students are trying to make. They don't give students and families the information and context they need to make such a high-stakes decision about whether and where to get an education.  Choosing College strips away the noise to help you understand why you’re going to school. What's driving you? What are you trying to accomplish? Once you know why, the book will help you make better choices. The research in this book illustrates that choosing a school is complicated. By constructing more than 200 mini-documentaries of how students chose different postsecondary educational experiences, the authors explore the motivations for how and why people make the decisions that they do at a much deeper, causal level. By the end, you’ll know why you’re going and what you’re really chasing. The book: The authors help readers understand not what job students want out of college, but what "Job" students are hiring college to do for them. 

Genres: College, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 20, 2019

About the author

Michael B. Horn strives to create a world in which all individuals can build their passions and fulfill their potential through his writing, speaking, and work with a portfolio of education organizations. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns; Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools; Choosing College; Goodnight Box, a children’s story; and the forthcoming From Reopen to Reinvent: (Re)creating School for Every Child, which will be released in July 2022.

Michael is the co-founder of and a distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, a non-profit think tank. He cohosts the top education podcasts Future U and Class Disrupted. He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and writes the Substack newsletter The Future of Education. Michael also serves as an executive editor at Education Next, and his work has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, and NBC.

Michael is a senior strategist at Guild Education, which partners with leading employers and organizations to help offer education and upskilling opportunities to America’s workforce. He serves on the board and advisory boards of a range of education organizations, including Imagine Worldwide, Minerva University, and the LearnLaunch Institute and is a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners.

Michael was selected as a 2014 Eisenhower Fellow to study innovation in education in Vietnam and Korea, and Tech&Learning magazine named him to its list of the 100 most important people in the creation and advancement of the use of technology in education. Michael holds a BA in history from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Horn's fundamental proposal is that college is a solution to multiple, disparate problems, rather than a required extension of high school. By identifying and clarifying the various reasons for choosing to attend college, Horn attempts to improve the focus of both the attendees and the institutions themselves. Centrally, this approach can help those who will not benefit enough to warrant the expense in time and money to avoid blindly stumbling toward college.

Horn starts by clarifying that one should not attend college until and unless one can first identify the specific purpose for which one is choosing this "service" (Horn consistently treats college as a packaged, unemotional economic good). Only then can one decide if college is the best solution to achieve that purpose and, if it is, which college/major will most effectively fulfill that purpose.

The various purposes which might be met by attending college include:
1. Get me into my best school
2. Help me do what is expected of me
3. Help me step it up
4. Help me extend myself
5. Help me get away

By taking the emotion out of the college decision process, Horn simplifies the process. He completely ignores emotional considerations such as attachment to a specific family alma matter, football teams or factors such as scholarships. The charitable interpretation of this omission is that they fit into the various jobs one might be seeking to accomplish via college.

Likewise, his message to institutions of higher education is to tailor their offerings to meet specific students with specific purposes, rather than trying to be everything to everybody. In so doing, colleges can streamline their institutions, reduce the bloat in administration and tighten their messaging to students. Not only does this allow both students and colleges to find better mutual matches, but it reduces costs and improves success rates.

This book is helpful for anybody who is considering college as a solution to one of their objectives. It is a relatively short, easy read and helps refocus the analysis of higher educational solutions. Although it could serve to improve the focus of colleges, I doubt many institutions will consider following this advice until they are forced into rethinking their current path through dire financial distress.

[Tasos Manouras]

Nice read but not what I was looking for.

[Tom Arnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big choices in life, like choosing when and where to get an education, can be overwhelming and sometimes even debilitating. Studying the advertised benefits of your various options often makes choosing harder. This book actually makes choosing a lot easier by helping you understand what really drives your motivation. My college choosing decisions are behind me, but I could see my story clearly in the narratives of this book.

[David Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was great--it was like a good session of therapy. Really drove some insights into 18-year old me and how I was making decisions. Fundamental insights about myself, really. Which college we attend is one of the biggest decisions we make behind spouse and career (and really weighs into both of those) and we make that decision at such a young age, when I know I was not especially self-aware. Loved it.

[rachelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful application of the Jobs to be Done framework to why students choose to attend college, and reminder that many of those jobs are not what we traditionally think of. Useful read for people working in higher ed — not totally clear to me if it would be equally useful it would be from the side of the student.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise about thinking about what job you are hiring college to do for you. They had five categories, and I felt like the last two were the easiest to understand and had the most practical application. I think this book may be more useful for adults who are thinking about next steps than for the high school student. Some good takeaways, though, for the parent of a high schooler.

[Santhosh Guru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this book applies the jobs-to-be-done theory for education. It definitely has good tips for parents and educators who are not aware of the JTBD theory. It helps you think about education through another lens. But that's it. I think I had a different expectation and trying to glean new insight, but it does offer anything for me.

[Dave Moyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timely book in the age of rising college debt, increasing teen anxiety, and well-meaning parents who often contribute to the stress. Great practical tips on how to navigate college and career choices at various stages of life with a solid theoretical base.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting approach to the college decision-making process. I read it as someone interested in education, not for advice, so I probably didn’t get as much out of it as others. I also listened to the audiobook; I don’t recommend that format for this book.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very compelling application of the Jobs To Be Done Theory that just about anyone can apply to themselves and derive considerable value from the experience. Highly recommended!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the different circumstances students are in when choosing to go to college

[Gabriel Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

a practical application of the JTBD theory. helping students, parents and administations which are the clear driver and motivators to choose education options, colleges and programs.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great view of JTBD, strong research, and good recommendations - quick read.