I have selected a personal decision. A few years back, I decided to go
back to college while I was in a job. I had completed a degree, but that
was not helping me achieve the goals that I always wanted to attain.
Therefore, I decided to leave my job and take up a course that would
help me enhance my skills and later get me into a better job. The
opportunity cost, in this case, was that I had to forgo my income and
had to invest in enrolling in a course.
There were a number of qualitative as well as quantitative factors
that affected my decision-making. The quantitative factors that were
involved included the cost of enrolling in the course I wanted to take
up and the pay I would be getting if I chose not to join the course and
continue with my current job (Ochalek et al., 2021). In my research, I
was able to find out that if I get back to college and complete the
course, I will be able to earn much more than what I was earning
today. Considering all the factors, I felt that it was indeed worth it to
take up the course and leave my current job as of now.
The qualitative factor that affected my decision-making was the
choice of the college and the quality of education I would get. So, I
spent a lot of time in doing thorough research about the different
colleges that offered the course I was willing to enroll in. I took the
assistance of the advisors in order to find out which was the right
college for me and how it would help me in achieving what I wanted. I
also invested a great deal of time in going through the online reviews
of different colleges. It provided me with a better idea of the quality
of education offered at the colleges.
In my case, the qualitative factors did not outweigh the quantitative
factors. The quality of education was important for me. But more
than that, what mattered to me was the fact which college I should
enroll in to pursue the course so that my future earning potential
would increase significantly. I have a lot of responsibilities for my
family on my shoulder. So, increasing my earning potential by taking
up a course was the main factor that guided my whole decision to
leave my job.
References
Ochalek, J., Claxton, K., Lomas, J., & Thompson, K. M. (2021). Valuing
health outcomes: developing better defaults based on health
opportunity costs. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes
Research, 21(4), 729-736.
