College: Your child’s environment will dramatically affect them

Malcolm Gladwell: Small Area Variation– Your Environment Matters Enormously

I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book: Revenge of the Tipping Point.  He discusses small area variation: how the environment dramatically influences people.  Doctors in Buffalo will follow medical procedures that are different from the medical procedures followed by those in Boulder. (If curious, Canada influences Buffalo). Gladwell provides a host of different examples: Parents who are part of the Waldorf Schools vaccinate their children at far lower rates; healthcare providers in Miami are far more likely to commit Medicare fraud et. al.

Intuitively, we understand this concept.

You are mindful of the company your children keep.

“Stay away from Eddie – he’s trouble.”

It’s one of the reasons why some parents choose private schools.

In providing college counseling through the years, I have emphasized “classmates” far more than most parents considered.  Your children’s peers matter.  They matter a lot.

The nonsense spouted by some: “it doesn’t matter where you go to college.”   IS NONSENSE.

Now that a reasonable number of former college counseling or SAT clients have come back for career counseling I see the effects.  I have enormous anecdotal evidence regarding “small area variation” and college.

This is the biggest decision of your child’s young life.

Ignore the nonsense.