I just filled out a survey my college asked me to fill out. It was arts-specific, so I believe only artistically-inclined people received them (I could be wrong, perhaps my biology-major friend, my economics-major friend, and my Classics-major friend all got them as well). And, well, you know how surveys are: it asks a bunch of questions that you probably never really gave much thought to in the first place, so you actually have to sit and think about it (that is, if you actually care). Most of the questions I didn't really care; I always make sure to answer honestly, but I just don't spend that much time on them.
But there was one question that hit me like a ton of bricks: "if you could do it all over again, would you still choose St. Olaf?" To be honest, I put "unsure" for my answer. Knowing all the things that have transpired in my life over the last seven years (yes, seven; I have to include the college search process as well), there are things that make me say yes, and there are things that would make me say no. Part of why I say yes is that I wouldn't have known the people I was blessed to have known, but then again, I'd say the same thing no matter where I went. I'm sure my choice would have made a difference in quite a few areas, but I still wonder if some of the same things would have happened regardless of where I went. I mean, I look at things now, and the people I see regularly now I probably would have seen regardless of where I was 2-6 years ago.
I chose the school because it offered me a better financial aid package than Illinois Wesleyan (my other option), and quite frankly because I had better impressions of the Norwegian-Lutheran "Jerusalem on a hill " when I visited. But now it seems that, had I chosen the other school, the only things that would change all exist in my periphery. Assuming my folks and I still would have gone to Ashby MN for my cousin's high school graduation, would I have done much (if anything at all) in Minneapolis that one night we stayed over? And, assuming my longtime friend from childhood still chose to move to Santa Cruz CA, would I have left the west the morning after we arrived? The challenge with speculating on these things is that I can only look at events that happened and try to guess how they would have changed. For instance, who is to say that I wouldn't have been invited to a wedding in Colorado or Virginia instead of Kansas City back in August (for all I know, a couple friends who went to Illinois Wesleyan or any other school had I chosen to apply could have tied the knot then)? Or, in the parallel case of my friend moving out west, who is to say that I wouldn't have embarked on a similar trail with another friend to say, Florida, for the exact same purpose?
To be honest, I could seriously apply the "if you could do it all over again..." question to just about anything. And to be fair, I'd probably have to say "I don't know" to many more of these choices.
What about you? If you could do it all over again, would you?