20/20 Hindsight for 2020 Career: Reimagining My Formal Education from 7th Grade to the Present

This post was last updated on 2/12/2021.

Secondary Education: Grades 7 through 12

Magnet or Private

• From preschool through 6th grade, I attended a sectarian private school. From grades 7 through 12, I chose to instead attend public schools. If I could do it over again, I would have attended a magnet public school or nonsectarian private school from grades 7 through 12.​

College Admissions Exams

• In the summer between 10th and 11th grade, I would have created a schedule and study strategy for taking the SAT exam—no more than twice—through the fall of 12th grade.
• To avoid overkill and preserve school-life balance, I would take only the SAT and not the ACT.

Advanced Placement Courses

• Honors and AP courses should be chosen judiciously, not as an ego trip or status symbol, because these courses require more work to earn the same grade.
• To protect school-life balance as a student athlete, I would not take more than two AP courses during my senior year
  • AP Calculus AB
  • AP English Language and Composition

Summer After Graduation from High School

• I would sit for the first actuarial exam, in probability.
• I would get a head start on my upcoming college classes.

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Postsecondary Education: Undergraduate

Location

• As I did originally, I would only apply to schools in California, my lifelong state of residence at the time.

Major

• I would major in (Applied) Mathematics for a Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, depending on the school at which I would graduate.
  • ​I believe in choosing a traditional major that matches the name of an academic department which is standard at colleges and universities. Such majors usually have a name consisting of a single word. For example: Mathematics, Statistics, Economics.
• I would not minor nor double major in another subject. Instead, I would invest more time studying for my major to make sure I graduate with at least a 3.75 GPA (A-), and to retain more of what I learned in the degree​. The choice to not have a minor or double major would also ensure that I do not take longer than four years to graduate, and it would reduce the total financial cost of my undergraduate education (including the possible opportunity cost of deferring the start of career employment).​
• I would not take honors versions of courses, especially if attending a school on the quarter system (11 weeks instead of 16 weeks per class). There are two reasons for this strategy:
  1. To maximize GPA
  2. To maximize school-life balance

School

• I would apply to the following 9 schools, ranked in my order of preference, based on the US News rankings of their graduate programs in Mathematics, Statistics, and Economics:

1. Stanford University
2. UC Berkeley
3. UCLA
4. UC San Diego
5. UC Davis
6. UC Irvine
7. UC Santa Barbara
8. UC Santa Cruz
9. UC Riverside​​

• Using the US News College Compass, I would refine my ordered list if necessary.
• I was admitted to UC Santa Cruz and UC Riverside in 1993, then by UC Davis in 1994. Currently, UC Davis edges out UC San Diego in the US News rankings of national universities. Therefore, I am confident that I would have been admitted to at least one of my top 4 picks above.
• If not admitted to schools higher on the list, I would reapply to them as a transfer student.
• I prefer the semester system over the quarter system, but the reputation of the school and its program would take precedence in my decision.

Duration

• I would have started at age 18 like I originally did.
• I would have graduated within 4 years, by age 21.

School-Life Balance

• I would limit my extracurricular participation to a single activity such as baseball, disc golf, or Hawaiian language.
• I would participate organically in a normal, healthy social life to ensure an enjoyable and memorable college experience.
• I would avoid gratuitous distractions and diversions.​

​I don’t think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did. In fact, prison enabled me to study far more intensively than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college. I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions, too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that. Where else but in a prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day?

-- Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley. (1964). The Autobiography of Malcolm X (p. 207).
New York, NY: Random House Publishing Group.

Summer Breaks

• Additional activities would be reserved for summer breaks:
  • Prepare for upcoming courses
    • Obtain required textbooks and their solutions manuals
    • Pre-read assigned textbook chapters
    • Work odd-numbered chapter problems
  • ​​Career preparation
    • Internships
    • Actuarial exams
    • Data science certification exams
    • Competitions in data science or actuarial science
  • Athletics
    • Disc golf tournaments
  • ​​Cultural enrichment
    • ​Hawaiian language: become as fluent as possible

Graduation and Employment

• Earn degree in no more semesters than necessary, and with no more units than necessary, to avoid incurring additional educational cost, including the loss of income from deferred entry into the workforce
• Enter the workforce and begin career upon graduation
• The main reason for earning an undergraduate degree is to enjoy a great career that provides for financial independence, a good standard of living, and a good quality of life. This includes the ability to:
  • Save and invest money
    • Retirement savings
    • Educational expenses of children
  • Maintain hobbies, sports, and other recreational pursuits
  • Travel regularly
  • Receive quality healthcare
  • Be a proud homeowner, spouse, parent, grandparent
  • Be a supportive relative and friend
  • Be an active community member
  • Contribute to charity

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Student Athletics

Baseball

• Baseball was my favorite sport growing up. I played for 9 years, from ages 7 through 15, ending with 10th grade in high school. If I had to do it over again, I would have played through 12th grade in high school, then for the team at the university of my choice if given the opportunity, then professionally if possible.

Student Athlete GPA Goal

• ​As a student athlete in a single sport, my goal would be to maintain at least a 3.25 GPA (B) in high school and college.
• Otherwise, I would reconsider being a student athlete.

Student Non-Athlete GPA Goal

• ​If not a student athlete, my goal would be to maintain at least a 3.75 GPA (A-) in high school and college.
• For the class of 1993 in high school, I graduated with an academic GPA (grades 10-12) of 3.67 (A-). This is consistent with my hindsight goals, as a blend of the two, given that I played on the junior varsity baseball team for grades 9 and 10.

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Postsecondary Education: Graduate

Master's Degree

• After earning a bachelor's degree in (Applied) Mathematics, my next step would be to consider earning a master's degree in Statistics along with commensurate employment—which I am currently pursuing.
• I would have entered the master's degree program as early as age 22. 

​Beyond Master's

• Subsequently, I would consider earning one or both of the following career objectives along with commensurate employment:
  • Earn a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Statistics or Economics.
  • Complete the full series of exams to become an Actuary (fellowship level).

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Recommended Starting Points for Career Planning

• Occupational Outlook Handbook
• US News Best Jobs Rankings
• US News College Compass (for undergraduate education)