Economics uses a term called utility to refer to an individual's satisfaction or happiness at a given point in time. An individual's utility is expressed by a model or function that demonstrates how and from where a person derives their happiness. An individual actively "maximizes" the variables of this function where he or she derives the most happiness. For example, hot chocolate and a popsicle both make me happy, but in order to have the most satisfaction at a certain time, I would want to maximize my consumption of hot chocolate during the winter and popsicles during the summer.
As graduation nears and I begin to think about signing an apartment lease and working long hours at a job that isn't grading papers or holding office hours as a T.A., I have begun to reflect on the past four years. I am very proud of my accomplishments during my time at Brown and would not change any major components of it, academic, social or otherwise. But I was curious as to how my experiences as a student at Brown could be mapped using this economic concept.
Were I to create a utility function that modeled the potential components of a Brown student's happiness, it would include a portion on the academic experience (A), social experience (S), overall health (H), future prospects for after graduation (F). And it would look something like this:
Looking back on my four years, as a freshman, the future prospects component, F, was not even on my radar and my overall health consisted of maximizing my rattycerealbar time. My utility or happiness was derived principally from maximizing the Social component of this function, most importantly friendships and activities, and following the advice of my Meiklejohn and focusing on electiveclasses rather than concentration in the Academic component. In sophomore and junior years, my maximization was spread more evenly across all parts. There was a noticeable spike in the GCBfishcoSpatsHouseParties variable from my 21st birthday when entrance to the beloved nonprofit basement bar was possible and a substantial increase in academic and social activities with my role as a co-head of The Herald's business staff. Senior year mirrored freshman year with maximization around the Social components of the utility function as well as electiveclasses such as Persuasive Communication and Mande.
This is the general maximization path of my four years at Brown, and for me, this resulted in a very high level of happiness and satisfaction. Yet, if I asked 15 different students to chart their path, none would have the same pattern of maximization and composition of their happiness across the same four years. Their individual utility functions may touch on variables that I didn't maximize, such as research or thesis, and could even include an entirely different set of variables all together.
Attempting to model a universal Brown experience does exactly what Brown attempts not to do — normalize student life. There is not one prescribed path to get the Brown experience "correct." My hope is that when we walk out through the Van Wickle Gates, each of us can reflect positively on our time at Brown with as few regrets as I have.
Claire Kiely was general manager of The Herald in 2010. In the fall, she will start work at Bain & Company in New York.
