What the Best College Students Do

Dr. Ken Bain, provost and vice president for academic affairs of the University of the District of Columbia, discusses how students succeed in his book What the Best College Students Do.

In researching What the Best College Students Do (sponsored), Dr. Bain interviewed graduates who had become successful in various fields after graduating, including comedian Stephen Colbert.

The common thread among graduates who had become successful was taking control of their own education by studying what they were passionate about, really engaging what they were studying and learning it in a deep and thorough way, and not being afraid to fail and learning from mistakes.

Dr. Bain mentions that Stephen Colbert said that "you have to embrace the bomb" (as a comedian meaning when you bomb onstage), and said that that's true of all of life; you can learn from mistakes and move on and not let them reshape you.

Research has found that students who study what they genuinely want to learn do better in college. By "do better in college" I mean that they score higher grades and have a higher Grade Point Average than they would if they were studying something that they really weren't interested in learning.

But the point is learning for intrinsic rewards, learning for its own sake, not chasing extrinsic rewards like grades or eventual paychecks. People who learn for intrinsic rewards learn on a deeper level and have a more thorough grasp of the subject.

The takeaway is that it's not always profitable to choose the major that makes the highest income. You may learn more and do better by pursuing your passion and studying what sincerely interests you to learn.

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