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The Big Question

What Do You Wish You Had Learned in College?

Sep 24, 2014 | 28 videos
Video by The Atlantic

At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, we asked a group of academics within some of America's top universities to reveal what they regret from their undergraduate years. "I wish I had learned that failures only hurt for the first two days," says Harvard University professor Elisa New. "In college, if I had known that, I would have been less afraid." Other panelists include Google X founder Sebastian Thrun, Harvard University president Drew Faust, Yale Child Study Center lecturer Erika Christakis, and UC Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks.

The Big Question is a series inspired by The Atlantic's back-page feature.

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Authors: Sam Price-Waldman, Nadine Ajaka, Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg

About This Series

Ideas and insights from leaders at the Aspen Ideas Festival