College admissions insanity is substantially explained by this fact: The number of elite entry level jobs (e.g. McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Google, The Economist) is flat, demand for them has exploded, and hiring managers and people teams have no cap on the # of hires they can make from target schools
SE Gyges
at some point in looking at university admissions scandals it becomes inescapable that elite colleges are, functionally, granting admission to an aristocracy, which makes this sort of thing much, much more legible the lesser noble houses are upset that their children are not being elevated
Jul 7, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Liquidity Affects Job Choice: Evidence from Teach for America*
Abstract Can access to a few hundred dollars of liquidity affect the career choice of a recent college graduate? In a three-year field experiment with Teach For America (TFA), a prestigious teacher placement program, we randomly increase the financial packages offered to nearly 7,300 potential teachers who requested support for the transition into teaching. The first two years of the experiment reveal that although most applicants do not respond to a marginal $600 of grants or loans, those in the worst financial position respond by joining TFA at higher rates. We continue the experiment into the third year and self-replicate our results. For the highest-need applicants, an extra $600 in loans, $600 in grants, and $1,200 in grants increase the likelihood of joining TFA by 12.2, 11.4, and 17.1 percentage points (or 20.0%, 18.7%, and 28.1%), respectively. Additional grant and loan dollars are equally effective, suggesting a liquidity mechanism. A follow-up survey bolsters the liquidity story and also shows that those drawn into teaching would have otherwise worked in private-sector firms.
Top economists and Jerome Powell agree that Gen Z's hiring nightmare is real—and it's not about AI eating entry-level jobs | Fortune
"The U.S. labor market experience is peculiar," UBS' Paul Donovan wrote in a UBS note asking, "the kids are alright?"
Palantir’s billionaire CEO says only two kinds of people will succeed in the AI era: trade workers — ‘or you’re neurodivergent’ | Fortune
Billionaire Alex Karp tells Gen Z to skip elite college degrees, as one-fifth of Fortune 500 companies recruit more neurodivergent talent by 2027.
Charlie Kirk had a message for the over 2 million unemployed Gen Z NEET men: You don’t need college to make your dreams happen
From dropout to multimillion-dollar nonprofit leader, Kirk claimed college was overrated—and many Gen Zers share his skepticism.
Recent Grads Say AI Is Making It Impossible to Find a Job
Recent college graduates are entering a job market fraught with austerity, and gatekept by the very technology degrading their prospects.
Arvind Narayanan on Twitter / X
This week I had the honor of speaking to Princeton’s entire incoming undergraduate class to address their AI anxieties. I had three messages for them — good news, bad news, and a note of optimism. Here’s a condensed version.The good newsWe have enough evidence now to conclude…— Arvind Narayanan (@random_walker) August 27, 2026
What is Math Academy? - Ivy Scholars
In this article, we’ll cover what Math Academy is, how it works, and how you can take advantage of what they offer.
Why the super rich are inevitable
Why some mathematicians argue the economy is designed to create a few super rich people – unless we stop it.
Why Can’t Programmers... Program?
I was incredulous when I read this observation from Reginald Braithwaite: Like me, the author is having trouble with the fact that 199 out of 200 applicants for every programming job can’t write code at all. I repeat: they can’t write any code whatsoever. The author he’s
University science in the US needs a coherent plan
The Trump administration continues to degrade America’s scientific establishment, causing widespread harm to the country’s broader interests and well-being. Last week, the Association of American Universities reported that graduate student enrollment in major research universities, which award half of all doctorate degrees in the United States, is down 15% compared to a year ago. And no wonder, considering the effect of recent immigration policies that deter international students and the financial uncertainties that universities are facing given the unpredictable nature of federal funding. The ability to support new doctoral students depends heavily on research grants, and any responsible administrator would be cautious about making commitments to students they can’t keep. This is discouraging to the scientific community but should be alarming to everyone.
Math Academy
The Math Academy curriculum and pedagogy leverage cutting-edge cognitive learning theory. Why? Because it’s been studied extensively, backed up and proven to work. We aren’t providing edu-tainment. This isn’t enrichment. We teach math as if we were training a professional athlete or musician, or anyone looking to acquire a skill to the highest degree possible. This is real work for a student who is serious about learning math. We expect every student using our system to actually master the material, and do it efficiently and effectively.
Young Graduates Face the Grimmest Job Market in Years
Artificial intelligence could reshape work, but for now a low-hire, low-fire labor market is the main impediment for young people seeking employment.
Bosses Horrified as “AI Native” College Graduates Hit the Workplace
"AI native" college graduates are hitting the workplace -- and, as experts warned, bosses are finding their performance disappointing.
Fraud Investigation Lessons From Finance
Social programs shouldn't have to pay tuition to fraudsters; finance has already. Here's what we've learned.
"A department generating high credit-hour production across the university but with few declared majors is not an inefficient department. It is a department whose students are not being counted in the metric being used against it."
Asheesh Kapur Siddique
An excellent analysis of the war on Black studies that also includes a deeply perceptive critique of the neoliberal logic of valuing disciplines based on # of undergrad majors: chronicle.com/article/the-erasure-of-black-…
This, and even more - to get super-rich almost requires *suppressing* the cultivation of a self or interiority. “Our system produces, elevates, and rewards psychopaths.” x.com/uTobian/status/20412132683884…
Levi Stahl
The empty boredom of the super-rich who never had to cultivate a self or interiority is the root cause of so many of our problems.
