I went to Bard College for a year. And then, even though I didn't think I should give my blood to the theater, I did go to N.Y.U., which is where I met Michael McKean.
TCU - they told me they were going to offer me a scholarship and kind of drug it out. I told other schools I wasn't interested because I thought I was going to be there. They disappointed me and kind of hung me out to dry right before signing day.
I never thought about college, but my mom thought about it for me. I knew 100 percent it wasn't for me.
I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.
When I was signing up for the University of Southern California's music program, I flipped a coin to decide my major. If it came up heads, it would be flute - tails would be voice.
I knew if I got an offer from Alabama, that's where I wanted to go... just because I liked what they stood for. I liked that they were winning.
I made three visits during my senior year of high school to Duke, UNC, and Virginia. If I hadn't gone to Duke, I would have went to Carolina, just like a lot of Carolina players who, had they not gone there, would have went to Duke.
For me, picking a college was really difficult. I wish I had had my parents there kind of supervising me. But I chose well. I did OK.
I don't think I could have thought of any place other than Stanford to leave Harvard for.
My mother never asked me whether I wanted to go to college, but told me I was going - to the University of Maryland on an academic scholarship.
It wasn't until my last year of college, 1976, that I decided well, maybe he's right. Delbert had been pushing me since high school to put 100% into my music.
I learned to canoe at summer camp and thought I'd pursue Olympic whitewater canoeing. In my senior year of high school, I instead decided to attend M.I.T. I like to say I've had only two jobs in my life: whitewater canoeing instructor and wilderness guide in college, and C.E.O. of iRobot.
How much does it really matter whether your child will soon be enjoying a first year at Harvard or Yale or will instead end up at her third or fourth or fifth choice? Probably much less than you think.
In 1948 I entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, undecided between studies of chemistry and physics, but my first year convinced me that physics was more interesting to me.
I auditioned at four different colleges. When I got into the University of Michigan, my parents said, 'Okay, maybe you do have talent.'
I never saw myself going to college. Even when I was looking at different schools, I was like, this really isn't right.
