Here’s why the traditional college model will probably never die

Here’s some research from Stanford University on what exactly first-stage investors (in startups) are looking for when they give money. The essential “elevator pitch” of the story is that an early-stage investor typically has 1,000 meeting requests in a year, has to choose… Continue Reading

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A practical, vocational college major is a terrible fucking idea

Colleges Don't Prepare Students For Work

Honestly, sometimes when I look at the gap between “what universities do to prepare students” and “how potential employers view students,” I silently weep to myself. The gap between A and B is a fucking chasm; it’s about 1,000 times… Continue Reading

Do universities use inaccurate marketing to get students in the door, especially at the business/grad program level?

This is kind of an interesting topic to me for a variety of reasons. I went to grad school (two-year business program), struggled to get a job, finally did, and now regularly look back on the entire process and reflect. That’s… Continue Reading

Brief thought exercise: In higher education, research is hard. It takes time (presumably). So is there truly any incentive to actually focus on teaching?

Two quick anecdotes to jump this off: 1. Last night, I was going to a graduate school class. I ran into my friend on the steps and we stood there talking for 10-15 minutes — in the process annoying the crap… Continue Reading

You probably shouldn’t major in arts at Murray State University, or straight-up attend Shaw University

Well, this is depressing. PayScale did some “college ROI” and found that Harvey Mudd College is basically a more valuable education than Harvard or Stanford (red flag!) and (first link) there are a bunch of schools — topped by Shaw University in NC… Continue Reading

What exactly is happening at Ole Miss in terms of the racism these days?

Couple of major incidents have transpired at Ole Miss in the semi-recent past: a noose appeared around a statute of James Meredith, the university’s first black student (a fraternity was basically expelled as a result of that), and there was… Continue Reading

In this era of Amazon and Google, could we finally drastically lower the cost of textbooks?

Check out the chart above. It’s from here (AEI) via here (The Atlantic), and basically it captures this idea: since 1978, the cost for college textbooks has exceeded the rising rate for medical services, new home prices, and even inflation. While… Continue Reading

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This one paragraph essentially summarizes one of America’s biggest challenges today

More than a third of American colleges and universities have deteriorating finances, according to a 2012 report. While more Americans find that a college degree is their only ticket to the middle class, fewer institutions are able to provide it at… Continue Reading