Do you remember the summer before heading off to college? For me that was the summer of 1982, which is as long ago today as was Hitler’s Anschluss before that. I think I’m going to go lie down now.

The summer of 1982, which I recall as being fun and happy. Then again, I am sure this memory is a product of what we behavioral scientists call “fading affect bias,” which means the miserable bits fade away and the happy parts stick around in the episodic memory of the hippocampus. I have little doubt that I was, in reality, my typical self: a tortured soul, all summer long. Still, that’s a fine little ‘stache, don’t you think?

In those days I had only one goal: to be the world’s finest French horn player. I was set to move to New York City to attend a music conservatory and study with the principal hornist of the New York Philharmonic, but changed plans abruptly at a summer music festival in Grand Teton, Wyoming. There, I met a charismatic, bohemian French horn soloist who convinced me to move instead to Valencia, California, and study with him at the California Institute of the Arts. This turned out to be a poor decision on my part, despite receiving a full scholarship. Most of my misfortunes were self-imposed due to a combination of foolishness and inadequate adult supervision. 

But not the biggest one…

You know that dream you had as a young adult, in which you realize you forgot to go to a class all semester? Well, that really happened to me. On the first day of college, I read my schedule wrong and went to the incorrect room for a required class. I attended that wrong class all semester long. I did the work, took the exams, got a good grade…and failed the class I was supposed to be taking in the room next door. This put me on academic probation, leading to an untimely exit from college altogether, and going pro as a French hornist at 19. 

Sometimes I wonder whether life would have been better or worse, had I stayed in college. Which leads to this week’s newsletter theme: Does college make you happier?

At first glance, the relationship between college and happiness appears very positive. Many scholars have found that educational attainment seems to push life satisfaction up, in general, for both individuals and countries. Most studies ascribe this effect to the fact that formal education improves labor-market outcomes, which raises living standards, resulting in higher well-being.

When we look at happiness in other domains of life, things get a bit more complicated. Higher education improves job satisfaction, as well as offering financial benefits—but only if one’s career expectations match actual employment opportunities (and this is especially the case in rich countries). The obvious explanation for this might be that some college majors actually do not prepare students for good careers. Universities rarely talk about the reality that, whatever inherent value certain degree qualifications may have, entitlement to a top salary is not one of them—so some graduates get a nasty surprise.

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The research provides a simple guide to making college a happier experience.

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  1. Follow the ikigai of college. First, fortunate is the student who is extremely fascinated by the course of study in greatest demand by the job market. Most students, however, will need to find a balance between these two priorities: interest and reward. One method to help you strike that bargain is to use a simplified version of the Japanese concept of ikigai: in this case, the sweet spot of overlap between what interests you and what is professionally practical.
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  2. Avoid debt as much as possible. For the sake of happiness, avoid educational debt as much as possible. For people lucky in their family circumstances, student debt is not an issue, even if they attend expensive private universities. For others, however, more limited resources mean starting at community college and staying within a state system, or learning through one of the many affordable, virtual courses proliferating today.
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  3. If you hate school, find a different path. According to the trade-skill staffing company PRT, the United States has a critical shortage of tradespeople in fields such as plumbing and electrical contracting.4 I strongly suspect that one factor behind this shortage is an everyone-must-go-to-college mentality. The overt intentions may be admirable but can conceal an unconscious snobbery about class and profession that pushes into higher ed many talented, hardworking young people who would be much happier in occupations that do not require a college degree.

On balance, I think things turned out all right for me, despite my misbegotten lost year of college. I had what my parents fondly called a “gap decade,” but did finally go back to school by correspondence (which was all I could afford, being still not the world’s finest French hornist). I graduated a month before my thirtieth birthday, which meant going out to my apartment building’s mailbox to get my diploma. It came in a cardboard mailer marked DO NOT FOLD.

It was folded.

But hey, I graduated.

Here I am four years later, at age 34, graduating with my PhD. They gave me a real diploma—and a real baby! I kept both.

See you next week,

Arthur

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References‍
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[1] Araki, S. (2022) Does Education Make People Happy? Spotlighting the Overlooked Societal Condition. Journal of Happiness Studies 23, 587-629.

[2] Veenhoven, R. (1996) Developments in satisfaction-research. Social Indicators Research 37, 1-46.


[3] Sloane, C. M., Hurst, E. G., & Black, D. A. (2021) College Majors, Occupations, and the Gender Wage Gap. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35(4), 223–248.

[4] PRT Staffing. (2024) The looming crisis: America’s skilled tradesmen shortage & its impact. PRT Staffing.
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