All else equal, we consider applicants stronger when they have degrees in challenging fields from strong institutions. It’s not the only thing we’re looking at, even at that early stage. And the early stage is for filtering; ultimately, things like work trial assignments will be far more important to hiring decisions.
Hm, I’m not sure why our form asks for more detail on undergrad relative to grad—we copied the form from GiveWell and may not have thought about it. It’s possible this is because the form was being used in an earlier GiveWell search where few applicants had been to grad schools. I’ll ask around about this.
All else equal, we consider applicants stronger when they have degrees in challenging fields from strong institutions. It’s not the only thing we’re looking at, even at that early stage. And the early stage is for filtering; ultimately, things like work trial assignments will be far more important to hiring decisions.
What does a “challenging field” mean here? Do you have a ranking of fields by degree of challenge or rely mainly on intuition?
Not sure if interpreting Khorton correctly, but interested anyway: Why focus on undergrad and not on postgrad (or highest level achieved/pursuing)?
Hm, I’m not sure why our form asks for more detail on undergrad relative to grad—we copied the form from GiveWell and may not have thought about it. It’s possible this is because the form was being used in an earlier GiveWell search where few applicants had been to grad schools. I’ll ask around about this.