A college degree from a prestigious business school? Just think of the possibilities… or just think of the limitations.  – James Schaefer

My now 18 year-old son James visited the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota last weekend. When he returned, he said he was still unsure which way he wants to go with his education next year.

He shared with me that a relative had encouraged him to just think of all the possibilities that a degree from this prestigious business school might offer. He told me when they asked him that, he immediately thought to himself, “Think of the limitations.” I wasn’t sure what he meant and asked him to explain.

He told me he envisioned that once you get a valuable degree in something it limits your thinking to simply working within the scope of that degree. I totally understand that idea as my specialty medical training in anesthesia kept me in the operating room for 19 years.

He also said that he was concerned about graduating with an ability to think only the way the Carlson School would train him to think. That totally made sense too. As you spend night and day for four years programming your thinking a certain way, it would be very difficult to think any other way.

He felt that the combination of these two ideas might limit his ability to learn independently and to seek mentors that offered innovative ideas and thus self-direct his education.

Wow, imagine the limitations… smart kid, eh?