‘I just like the vibe’: hard facts versus gut feeling when choosing a university

What phone will you buy next? An iPhone or an Android? And based on what factors will you make the decision?

Making a relatively large purchase, like a phone, necessitates a concerted decision-making process involving many factors.

For instance, with purchasing a phone, you may want to look at the objective or hard factors, such as battery capacity, power consumption or processors. 

However, we can’t forget the alluring subjective or soft factors, such as the phone colour, packaging, marketing or brand loyalty. Even though we might want to think of ourselves as rational consumers, it may actually be these seemingly cosmetic or superficial factors that draw us in. 

Deciding on an electronic item to buy seems to elicit a detailed approach involving researching, analysing and comparing.

Hard versus soft factors

But how about deciding on a university? This choice should ideally involve as much research as buying a phone, because it’s a student’s future at stake. There are also a lot of specifications to consider, which can be divided similarly into hard or objective versus soft or subjective factors. 

The hard factors require research, involving questions such as: what are the graduate outcomes? Does a speciality exist for the field of study you’d like to pursue? What’s the total cost of attendance? Are there internship and research opportunities? Do they allow double majors and exchange opportunities? 

However, there are soft factors, too. What do the dormitories look like? What’s the school’s mascot or brand colour? What’s the vibe of the campus? Did the university’s cafeteria win an award? Are your friends going there? In fact, these subjective factors could swing the decision-making process. 

As a counsellor, you might be frustrated that after you’ve gone through a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the hard factors, a student chooses a university because it just “feels right”. What’s the backing for that? 

Applying Kahneman’s framework to university decision-making

Fortunately, there is a psychological framework that helps us understand the differences between hard and soft factors. 

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for their pioneering work in Systems 1 and 2 thinking. Kahneman explain this in his popular-science book Thinking Fast and Slow, which can help us understand how students make decisions about universities.

Kahneman proposes two types of system thinking.

System 1: thinking fast 

System 1 thinking is fast and automatic. Based on intuition or instinct, it operates with little to no effort. When we’re making quick decisions and judgements based on patterns and experiences, we are engaging in System 1 thinking. 

System 2: thinking slow

System 2 thinking is slow and deliberate. Based on conscious, effortful thinking, this is useful for complex problem-solving or analytical tasks. 

System 1 can be seen as more emotional thinking, whereas System 2 can be perceived as more logical thinking. 

Thinking fast and slow – about universities 

When a student considers the hard factors mentioned earlier (curriculum, graduate outcomes, internships, costs), they are engaging in System 2 thinking. This often involves counsellors’ intervention because teenagers might not know how to start the research process required.

When a student jumps to the soft factors (vibe, college colours and mascot, whether their friends are attending the university), they are actually engaging in System 1 thinking. This might befuddle counsellors and alarm parents because students seem OK with making a life-altering decision based on vibes and whether or not they like the mascot. 

Some strategies

1. Promote System 2 thinking 

Students cannot easily reach System 2 thinking without our guidance. This is where our expertise in thinking about what makes a quality and fitting university education can come into action. 

What I’ve noticed is that students are often not bothered to think about universities this deeply until they have two or three to choose from. So mandating this degree of research and comparison should be timed well. I’ve created a university comparison table for when students are down to choosing between two or three universities, which could be useful for this purpose.

2. Distinguish between needs and wants 

The question here is deciding what is negotiable and what is not. We might think hard factors are non-negotiable and soft factors more negotiable. But some soft factors might be as non-negotiable as some of the hard factors. For instance, the vibe might uncover the atmosphere of the university and personality of the student, which is a crucial factor in determining student well-being. 

Asking students questions and helping them work out their preferences is one of our most vital and rewarding tasks as college counsellors. 

3. Stress how one option is not necessarily objectively better than another

When a student is down to deciding between two universities, they (or their parents) might want to reach a conclusion such as “University A is better than university B”, leaning on either System 1 or System 2 thinking. 

As college counsellors, we should explain that there is not necessarily an objectively better choice – there are just different possibilities, with trade-offs in both directions. 

4. Do not ignore intuition

Sometimes, even with much concrete data accrued (System 2 thinking), gut feeling and intuition can lead someone to make a decision (System 1 thinking) – whether about a phone or a university. 

Since the Enlightenment, we like to think of ourselves as rational beings – which can mean discrediting or belittling intuition. However, System 1 thinking is not a lesser system, and should also be considered in the decision-making process. Think of a time when you made an important life decision based on your gut feeling (System 1 thinking) and it turned out to be right. Just ensure that intuition (System 1) is not the only thing at play – that it goes hand in hand with being informed (System 2).

5. Let go of the need to make students’ decisions for them

Our job as college counsellors is to ensure students make an informed decision – not to make their decision for them. If we’ve led them to do the research, then it’s up to the students to decide for themselves. 

If we have overzealous parents, maybe help them see that this decision should be made by their child, not any of the adults involved. This is the first step as students transition into independent adulthood.

After we have helped students collate all the resources and research to make an informed decision using System 1 and 2 thinking, let’s stand back and respect their decisions. This will mean a great deal to them. 
 
Thank you, Francis Miller, for the inspiration for this article.