As an 18-year-old, I applied to Maharishi University of Management because I wanted to spend four years developing myself. I also wanted to study English literature from a deep perspective I knew I wouldn't find anywhere else. After graduation, I learned that my decision had immense practical benefits out in the world.

My degree earned me a respect that was different, but in many ways more potent, than the respect I would have earned if I'd gone to Stanford or Yale. It marked me as an independent thinker and helped to set me apart when I applied to a competitive graduate program at UC Berkeley.

Today, as an editor at a national magazine, I credit Maharishi University of Management for training my mind to look beneath the surface of things — a skill that helps me every day in my career and keeps my inner life rich and rewarding.