One of the most unpleasant pieces of advice I give sometimes to students is to remember that the institution will not love you back.
This is true of the school, the company, even (unfortunately) the church.
This is true of the school, the company, even (unfortunately) the church.
A lot of *people* at those places will love you back. Insofar as those institutions have good people and healthy cultures, it can seem like the institution loves you too. But don't confuse that.
Admittedly, I have some assumptions here about what I mean by institution, and the church piece of this has Dulles rattling around in my brain, so here's a swing at it:
The institution is a non-personal entity that has a mission, an organizational structure, and a history. It depends on people for its continued existence, but is not reducible to any of those people.
And despite the Romney-ist "corporations are people too, my friend" approach, I don't think institutions are really capable of willing the good for others for their own sake. Even if that's the stated mission, it's the people who animate the institution who do that.
And, more to the point, it's the institution that those people will hide behind when they don't love you back.
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