Michelle ManettiPresident Obama will be going through a lot of changes in 2016. Not only will he be leaving office, but his oldest child will be headed off to college.
President Obama spoked on Monday at a town hall meeting on College Access and Affordability. He was quick to share the college advice he has given his daughter Malia, who will be headed to college in the fall of 2016. “Be open to new experiences when you go to college,” he said. “Don’t go to college just to duplicate the same experience you had in high school. Don’t make your decision based on, well, where are all my friends going so that I can do the exact same things with the exact same friends that I did in high school.”
While Malia will have her choice of many colleges, including her father’s alma maters Occidental College and Columbia College, and her mother’s alma mater, Princeton University, her dad advises don’t let the name sway your decisions. “Just because it’s not some name-brand, famous, fancy school doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get a great education there. So one is, lower the stress levels in terms of just having to get into one particular school.”
This is great advice for all students headed to college. We know that school is what you make of it — after all, remember when Tom Hanks advocated for community colleges? Yeah, we bet at the time he didn’t realize the huge impact his school would have on his career.
Check out the video below to hear what else President Obama had to say!