Original Cin

The big news that I’ve seen lately on several blogs is that fewer people are taking the GRE; I think I saw it at Marginal Revolution first. Anyway, posting at both this blog and FanCruft have been slim lately because I was studying for both a calculus exam and the GRE. I did great on both of them. Some thoughts:

• I did, in fact, get very, very discouraged by an experimental section where I had to guess at most of the answers, although I realized it was experimental about halfway through the next section. (An unlikely alternative: what I think was the experimental section was the real deal and I’m the luckiest person alive, having solved dozens of problem by guessing). Experimental sections suck.
• Studying made a huge difference. When I first took a GRE practice test, my quant score was only average. After reading about the GRE for a few months and doing a lot of practice problems, the next time I took a practice test, I got an average score for people trying to get into master’s programs in econ. My actual score on the test was above average for everyone that said they were hoping to get into a econ program. I used an ebook version of GRE Prep Course by Jeff Kolby and Scott Thornburg; I only got about halfway through the math section and only glanced at the verbal section on the book, but I’d still highly recommend it. (I’m getting my “averages” from ETS’s own PowerPrep)
• On a related note, reading about the format of the test actually helped a lot. Among other gems in the book; some types of problems on the test will yield faster to a “brute force” attempt where you plug in numbers than trying to solve them the “right” way. Since this is dangerous if you do it wrong, see the book for details.
• I decided that I wanted to go to grad school long before people were complaining about the current economic conditions. I am not easily swayed by minor, impersonal statistics in my grand plans. Maybe the fact that applications to take the GRE are down is a sign that, unusually, other people aren’t for a change either.
• Alternatively, maybe most of the people who would normally go into grad school are under the impression that GDP will increase by 10% overnight once Obama is sworn in, and the world will instantly be filled with candycanes, gumdrops, and
• On the flip side, having less competition to deal with can sometimes be a good thing, and I’m pretty sure this is one of those cases, so I like the news I’m reading about fewer people taking the GRE.

Serial entrepreneur Micheal Robertson takes the college board to task on the return to investment of college:

I am writing in regards to the “Education Pays” report that you co-authored for the College Board. I appreciate the College Board attempting to get information distributed about the financial value of a college education. I think this is necessary and valuable that young people and their parents have accurate and objective information so they can make informed choices about their future. Your report concludes that “[Higher education] yields a high rate of return for students from all racial/ethnic groups, for men and for women, and for those from all family backgrounds.” My belief after analyzing your report is that several critical errors were made in the data used to arrive at that conclusion. These errors and assumptions mean that the report does not represent the true financial picture for the average student.

….

According to your chart, the net difference in income after 40 years between a high school and college graduate is under $250,000. If one is to adjust the numbers using the changes listed above (-$421,441) then the financial benefit of a college education goes negative. Thus it would make more financial sense for the average young person to bypass college and simply graduate from high school and enter the workforce.

I regret going to college. This is for a lot of reasons, most of all because I failed to recognize that college is primarily social signaling and networking* rather than merely “taking classes.” There is probably no better way to waste time and destroy financial resources than to go to a private college (Ripon College**) without recognizing this. Over and over again, I was told that “classes come first” — in fact, I now think that classes should come “last” for the typical college student — making sure you “get into” your field and develop a portfolio of accomplishments (not “experience” as it is typically understood) is far more important.

As far as classes go, however, I wish I had audited more classes that were “difficult but interesting.” Just auditing rather than taking for credit 2 or 3 classes would have significantly boosted my GPA, which is an issue now that I’m considering grad school, and also when applying to federal jobs. The potential cost for a typical student if they follow my advice? Possibly being required to retake the classes for credit if they decide to continue in the field; if they paid attention the first time around, it should be an easy “A.”

*I was also completely shocked my freshman year to find out what most college students were actually like. I somehow expected a bit more sophistication and/or INTPness.

**Excellent professors, terrible location, administration, and support. I would NOT recommend it to anyone. And the way they call asking for money makes me feel less like a member of a community and more like I’ve been put on sucker list.