I really liked this post. I find the undergrad degree metaphor useful in some ways (focus on succeeding in your studies over 4 years, but give a bit of thought to how it sets you up for the next stage), but since the end game is only 3 years (rather than a normal 40 year career), overall it seems like your pacing and attitude could end up pretty different.
Maybe the analogy could be an undergrad where their only goal is to get the “best” graduate degree possible. Then high school = early game, undergrad = midgame, graduate degree = end game. Maybe you could think of “best” as “produce the most novel & useful result in their thesis” or “get the highest possible score”.
Another analogy could be an 18 year old undergrad who knows they need to retire at age 25, but I expect that throws the analogy off a lot, since if impact is the goal, I wouldn’t spend 4 years in college in that scenario.
I really liked this post. I find the undergrad degree metaphor useful in some ways (focus on succeeding in your studies over 4 years, but give a bit of thought to how it sets you up for the next stage), but since the end game is only 3 years (rather than a normal 40 year career), overall it seems like your pacing and attitude could end up pretty different.
Maybe the analogy could be an undergrad where their only goal is to get the “best” graduate degree possible. Then high school = early game, undergrad = midgame, graduate degree = end game. Maybe you could think of “best” as “produce the most novel & useful result in their thesis” or “get the highest possible score”.
Another analogy could be an 18 year old undergrad who knows they need to retire at age 25, but I expect that throws the analogy off a lot, since if impact is the goal, I wouldn’t spend 4 years in college in that scenario.