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Looking for a specific word for 'the only option?' Phrase in my head is:
Graduating from college shouldn't be the ________ in telling whether a person will be successful.
For some reason, I have zero-sum/end-sum in my head but I am not convinced that is the right word — but perhaps sounds like it.
Decisive / deciding / determining factor, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary:
the most important reason
Their example sentence:
Cost was the decisive/deciding/determining factor in their decision.
Attribution: "Decisive/deciding/determining Factor." Merriam-Webster. Accessed June 13, 2018. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decisive/deciding/determining factor.
yardstick. dictionary.com
any standard of measurement or judgment: "Test scores are not the only yardstick of academic achievement."
As in:
Graduating from college shouldn't be the only yardstick telling whether a person will be successful.
