Devin+Soni+RP+Post+1

1. Presentation of research findings: I am leaning towards writing a position paper, which will allow me to take in information from various sources of differing believes and ultimately process through all of it and discern for myself which side is more compelling. This type of paper interests me the most because I feel that having the liberty of presenting a conclusion and not just summarizing information is conducive to well-done, thorough research. The approach of the position paper serves many functions, in that it acts as a super-set of other research presentations. A position paper requires thorough research of both sides, synthesizing each topic, and analyzing the pros and cons of each side in order to find the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. It also serves a more real-life purpose in that it can be used decisively and not solely as a source of information to be further analyzed.

2. The pursuit of new knowledge: Do college experiences truly differ between colleges? Does intelligence determine one's success in life?
 * Does the specific college that one attends influence one's success later in life?**

3. Background and early knowledge: From the grapevine and from personal accounts, I have seen examples of poorly-rated colleges producing the extremely successful and the ultra-prestigious producing the extremely unsuccessful. Also, from my own research into the college process, I have seen that the curricula are largely the same between all colleges and the hard information learned in each is very similar. However, I have seen that the difference in college choice seems to be largely related to the soft aspects of the process, such as personal development and personal connections made at the school. In general, however, my early research has shown that the majority of successful (powerful/wealthy) people did happen to go to a well-regarded school, although this may be a case of correlation and not one of causation.

4. The rationale: This question truly interests me because, as someone who will soon be entering the college admissions process, the issue of prestige vs. affordability frequently pops its head into discussions. We often justify a higher price tag with promises of wealth, power, and fame, but we also fail to justify this claim with anything more than displays of correlative proof. This issue is therefore very interesting to me because it is something that will greatly affect my own choice in the matter, and a very important choice indeed, and it will also affect my mentality even during my time in college, regardless of where I choose to attend. I can see this paper going in a very multidirectional way, as success is very multifaceted and even if it is constrained to a certain definition, there will still be many aspects of it to explore. Additionally, the college experience itself offers many things, and in order to thoroughly analyze this relationship, it is fitting that I do not ignore any of the main facets of a college education. The main concern that I have about writing with this research question is that it will most likely be difficult to separate the correlation from the causation, in that many successful people have gone to great colleges, but these people were also tenacious and perhaps well-connected to begin with, possibly nullifying or shrinking the college's specific contributions to their lives.