Don’t Know What To Do With Your Life? Seek Bargains.

I note with interest that Cal, having chosen academia over a career in the "real world", seems to have become an expert in gaming academia in itself, its tests and admission hurdles, etc. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that; many people need a college degree for their own ends, and may be helped by what Cal provides. But navigation of the academe is not a large niche, not large enough to avoid making choices for. So the value of following the Cal's rule here is far from self-evident.