Last week, at the urging of some friends, I applied to be a New Student Week leader. At the time, I had heard through the grapevine that SAO was short on applicants, and I figured that I would at least apply. When I applied I was not totally sure if I would commit to the program, but I figured I’d keep my options open (I wasn’t even thinking about the Dan Airley article from earlier this term!).
This morning, I woke up to an email from someone in SAO saying that there were more applicants than ever before for the 65 open NSW Leader positions. The email was sent to all students who applied to be Leaders asking them to confirm their commit to the program if accepted. I have until noon tomorrow (Friday, May 16) to decide whether or not I want to be a NSW Leader. I figured that I would “think out loud” on this blog.
The benefits to being a NSW Leader are that I would get to spend an extra week on campus with my friends. This week would include minimal amounts of work. Additionally, I would get to meet some of the incoming freshman and give them my perspective on life here at Carleton. I had great NSW Leaders, and I think that it would be fun to help incoming freshman get acquainted with campus.
There is a pretty large opportunity cost associated with being a NSW Leader. I would have to come to campus ten days early: giving up the approximately $500.00 pay check that I could earn working at Caribou Coffee. So is a few extra days with friends and a chance to meet incoming freshman really worth $500.00?
One factor that I must consider is how much I will be itching to get away from home after the three months that I will be spending there. This is hard to conceptualize because, right now, I am very excited to be home, but I know that after three months I will be ready to be back in Northfield.
It is also entirely possible that I could start my on-campus job (which pays better than Caribou!) ten days early, in which case, being a NSW Leader is definitely the better choice. If, on the other hand, I have to wait until the start of Fall Term to start working then I think it would be wise to stay home.
It looks like I have a couple phone calls to make…
I think this really highlights how implicit and explicit costs come into play in everyday decisions. $500.00 is a very concrete thing that is hard to give up, but after this winter break when I spent 6 weeks at home doing nothing I also understand how wanting to return to Carleton as soon as possible can become a really big factor in a decision like this. Even though implicit costs don’t come with a dollar value, they are still very important in making decisions.
I think this post highlights important opportunity costs that one must give up to come back to Carleton when making a decision. I thought the $500 was definitely not something I personally will give up, but considering the fact that NSW leader is getting paid while they are at Carleton I think makes explicit costs negligible especially if you are earning more at Carleton. It’s also important to note that you may also have to pay for housing, but I am not exactly sure how NSW leader thing works.