The whole “Wall Street / Hedge Fund” attraction for BS grads is so longstanding and powerful, no one questions it, at least at 22 years-old.
it was even the case when I graduated decades ago.
Yes, they pay the best. That, and the name, are how even the smart kids compare and rank themselves. And the smartest kids need and expect recognition more than most. They were raised on it. Moving to Goldman Sachs in NYC carries the same cache as being a varsity captain, or getting into Princeton or Stanford did for them 4 years prior in high school
Trading printed money in the temple is sucking up the top 5% of America’s brainpower. I don’t blame China. Its the system we devised for ourselves. Imagine instead if it were “cool” for the top kids to go into nuclear power design, or materials science, or medical equipment manufacturing, rather than trading money or analyzing social-media app usage trends?
I agree with you 50-70% of stem grad students are foreigners. I meant undergrad - but I could also be underestimating.
“...I agree with you 50-70% of stem grad students are foreigners. I meant undergrad - but I could also be underestimating ...”
I retired to a university town and when I go over to the engineering campus. I think looking at undergraduates the percentages are high but from what I can see still not totally unreasonable. What discourages the undergrad STEM student here from going to graduate school is debt & culture. WV is a blue collar state, many students are from families where they are the first to go to college. Many have considerable debt & grad school is not on their radar screen.