Blog post #7- Risk and Uncertainty

Every decision that we make, regardless of whether it is and financial, social, or personal decisions, has an impact on our future. For the most part, the greater the decisions, the bigger impact it will have on your future.  Certain people make their decisions with an eye towards the future, more so than others. Others prefer to focus on the present and make the decision that is most optimal in the present, with little regard for how it will affect their future. In my own personal experience, I have had brief periods when my decision making has had little regard for the future, and other periods when every decision, small or large, was made with an “eye towards the future.”

Prior to arriving at college, mainly speaking of the high school years, my decision making in all aspects of life was mainly driven by what seemed optimal in the here and now, with little regard for the future. I consider myself lucky with the freedom I was given to make my own decisions, with very little limitations. With so much uncertainty in future outcome from decisions made in high school, the risk was somewhat unknown in this situation. Many high school students, like myself, do not have a clear path for them at such a young age, and have little to no preference for what their future career will be. This lowers the risk of many decisions being made because no clear outcome is preferred. I chose the classes that I found interesting, activities I found fun, and had economic assistance to make any, responsible, economic decisions I needed to without accumulating any debt.

Once I arrived at college the dynamic completely shifted. Since freshman year of college I have been working with the Marine Officer Selection Office to work to become a Marine officer. From the beginning of freshman year on, all of my decisions have been made with regard to accomplishing this goal in the future. Financially, this allowed for a lot of flexibility in decision making, but with a budget. My parents agreed to pay for tuition and housing, while book, food, etc, had to be paid by me. The Marine Corps has allotted me a stipend each semester to pay for these items. This has given me the flexibility to make economic decisions, to work towards achieving my goal, with limitations. This is very similar to a budget restriction incurred by a business, and I, like many businesses, had to decide how to allocate this stipend in the most effective way to improve my progress towards becoming a marine officer.

This career path also had a huge impact on my choice of major. The Marines don’t require a specific major choice for the program, so I had complete freedom in my choice. This eliminated any risk in major choice. Instead of choosing a major that may have been slightly outside my ability, for better job prospects, but with the risk of not succeeding in that major and having to switch, I chose a manageable major that allowed me to get my education without future career implications affecting my decision. This seems to be a rare situation, when compared with organization, as rarely do corporations find themselves with absolute freedom over their decisions, and no effect on their future outcome.

My situation is unique to many college students because of the fact that my ultimate goal drew up a path that limited the amount of decisions that I actually had to make, which allowed for more freedom in some aspects, and several limitations on actions. For example, instead of gaining experience in the economic field over the summers, to gain more knowledge on the subject, I was instructed to go to training for the Marine Corps in Virginia. So while this limited my ability to pursue other interests, it gave me financial freedom, once the training had been completed, to pursue any interests I had. My mindset is very similar to the millions of other who joined the armed services. While the actual service provides a lot of limitations and restrictions, many see “the light at the end of the tunnel,” so to speak. In other words, many armed services members see the freedom that serving in the military allows in the future as far as choosing colleges (paid for by the G.I. Bill), as well as other financial and secondary benefits.