In a Parallel Universe

 

I am #ProudlyPenn. Love the two degrees I earned there. Love serving on its design school advisory board. Love having them as a client. Love that I met my wife there. Love that my kids have been educated by a K-8 school supported by them. It's not hyperbole to say Penn has shaped my adult life.

It didn't have to be. I chose Penn when I was a high school senior, and am eternally grateful for the choice. But my life could've gone in a completely different direction at that fork in the road. Rather than wanting to "go off" to college, far away from home, rather than being attracted by the opportunity to attend the #1 undergraduate business school in the nation, heck rather than finding it cool that I'd be going to the city of Fresh Prince and Boyz II Men and Dr. J, I could've chosen another school to spend four years.

My top choice for the longest time was Berkeley. I'd been to campus countless times, including spending a summer there at debate camp. My closest friends were also going, I knew a million friends and family members that had had positive experiences there, and it checked a lot of boxes in terms of rigorous academics and urban environment. Indeed, I tell people that it was precisely because it was a foregone conclusion that I would be going there that I chose to not go there, because what is college if it is not a launch out into the unknown, to find yourself as you flail around amid knowing no one and no thing? 

But a parallel universe in which I went to Berkeley would've likely been a great life: great education, great times with old friends and making new friends, and probably staying in California after graduation, which would've been a wonderful existence. Although I would not trade places with my current situation.

I also got into the University of Michigan. In addition to freezing my butt off, I think I would've loved Ann Arbor, that quintessential of all college towns. And college sports would've been a much bigger part of my undergraduate experience. After all, this is the University of Michigan, a perennial football powerhouse and I would've overlapped with the Fab Five of Chris Webber et al. That would've been fun!

Finally, I also got into MIT. It's crazy to think about a parallel existence in which I fall for Boston instead of Philly. Would I now be talking in a Bahstahn accent and rooting for the Celtics? It also would've been interesting to invest in my more technical side, which I did well in high school on the more science-y subjects but had less interest in them. Who knows if going to nerd heaven would've been frustrating or fulfilling, and what sort of career that would have launched me into?

This is all one big thought exercise. I'm lucky to say that, if given a chance to go back in time and make different choices, I would not, because I firmly believe I'm in the top 1 percent of outcomes my life could've had, so to roll the dice and do it all over again would likely land me worse off in lots of ways than the status quo. Still, it's crazy to think that this major life decision that set the course of this amazing life I've had, was taken when I was all of 18 years old and didn't know hardly anything. God is good and His plans are sovereign, so I pray peace and power for all the other 18 year olds out there making major life decisions. Happiness can be had in lots of different ways, and I hope you're lucky enough to find as much happiness as I've had. And, go Quakers!