Why I Chose Hillsdale: Jane Jeffes

It’s not often that a single piece of advice can motivate a 180 degree turn in a person’s life plans, but it happened to me. One short sentence from my high school guidance counselor completely changed my college search, and inadvertently, the direction of some of the most formative years of my life. But I didn’t hear it until it was almost too late—about half way through my senior year.

It was late fall of my last year of high school, and I thought I had it all together. After thirteen lovely years of being at the same K-12 school, I was ready. I was ready to leave behind my class of 23, the intense schoolwork, my involvement in every possible extracurricular activity, and the general pressures of a small community. I was ready to fade into a sea of 50,000 faces and coast to what I thought college’s end goal was: a pristine 8.5 by 11-inch piece of paper with my name printed on it. I had applied to a variety of schools, and one of them was Hillsdale College, but only because my sister was a student there. I knew what I wanted, and it wasn’t Hillsdale.

God had other plans. A short conversation with my guidance counselor would set off a chain reaction that would completely change my mind. As we discussed the differences between my past college visits, she advised, “when you are visiting colleges, you should look at the seniors on each campus and ask yourself if they are the type of people that you want to become.” She probably didn’t think this was a groundbreaking comment at the time, but it stayed with me. It planted a seed. It made me consider new questions. Could college really determine what type of person I would become? Were all college experiences not basically the same? Could four short years have as large an impact as she was claiming? I thought back to some of my college visits. Funnily enough, all of the students that I remembered were from one place.

I vividly remembered the faces, the conversations, and the comments from my visit to Hillsdale. I remembered how challenged I felt around Hillsdale students. I remembered feeling a little bit out of my league. The more I pondered, the more my competitive nature left me feeling conflicted. Although I had planned to take the easy route and fade into the background of a large university, Hillsdale was offering me a challenge that I was having trouble resisting.

In the end, the application process sealed the deal. After months of swimming in a sea of various colleges’ application questions, Hillsdale’s questions were refreshingly different. They didn’t ask me about what I was bringing to the table, or how I would change campus. They asked me about how I expected to be impacted by what Hillsdale had to offer, and how I would be changed by my education. As I answered these questions two years ago in a hometown coffee shop, I realized how beautifully Hillsdale’s questions paired with my guidance counselor’s advice. Like my counselor, they believed that college shaped people—that a degree wasn’t just a piece of paper with your name on it. C.S. Lewis deeply understood this concept and said it well: “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.” He understood that not all educations are equally good. What we read, what we talk about, and what we are taught to value sets us on a trajectory that holds eternal weight. Hillsdale takes this responsibility seriously. They have pushed me to consider who I want to become, not just what I want to become.

After two years of Hillsdale, I can confidently answer the questions of my younger high school self. Yes, education changes you. It has the weight to shape you, and no, not all educations are the same. College is a partnership, so partner with a place offering something real and true. Partner with a place that is going to push you to a higher standard than you might choose for yourself. This is why a college decision matters so much, and by the grace of God, that is why I chose Hillsdale.

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Jane Jeffes is an English and art double major from Hernando, Florida. She is a resident assistant, a member of the Admissions Student Ambassador Leadership Team, and is involved on campus with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.