Alumna

The eyes of the principal appeared hollow. It seemed plain obvious that he did not know the difference between useful and interesting.

"I don't quite get what you mean," he said.

"What I mean is: Why should some students choose the Naval Academy and the others the West Point? There are a number of factors; many of them we can do nothing to change. One important factor that is modifiable, however, is the experience of their friends and alumna - or comments by word of mouth if you like. The key misconception is: Which alumna would a secondary school student ask an opinion?"

"Alas..." The naval officer was beginning to see what he friend was getting at.

"You see? It's not going to be the ones who have graduated from a military school 20 years ago and is now holding a prominent position in the Department of Defense. Since they are green, they will ask someone that they have a personal contact. Obviously it would be alumna who are one or two years more senior than they are - which means the first or second year military school students, who themselves have very little idea what is useful and what not. If they are enjoying and doing something interesting - or if they see some others jump the queue and they are wasting their time, they will certainly tell their junior schoolmates."