As a semi-outside viewer, who both works with several people in RSP, and has visited FHI back in the good-old-non-pandemic days, I highly recommend that EAs both apply to the program, especially if they aren’t sure if it’s right for them (but see who this program is for,) and talk to or work with people in the program now.
That said, I think that these comments are both accurate, and don’t fully reflect some of the ancillary benefits of the program—especially ones that are not yet experienced because they will only be obvious when talking to future alumni of the program. For example, in five years, I suspect alumni of the program will say:
It’s very prestigious step on a CV for future work, especially for EAs that are considering policy or academic work outside of the narrow EA world, and would benefit from a boost in getting in.
It gives people (well-funded) time to work on expanding their horizons, and focus on making sure they can do or enjoy doing a given type of work. It can also set them up for their next step by giving them direct experience in almost any area they want to work in.
The network of RSPs is likely to be very valuable in the next decade as the RSP program grows and matures, and the alumni will presumably be able to stay connected to each other, and also to connect with current / past RSPs.
Thanks for this! I agree that a lot of the value of RSP won’t become obvious until after the programme (and also want to flag that as our first cohort is only finishing this autumn, it’s still quite uncertain how large this value will be).
At this stage, the best information we have on how things will shape up for scholars after the programme is what our first cohort have lined up to do immediately after the programme—see here.
As a semi-outside viewer, who both works with several people in RSP, and has visited FHI back in the good-old-non-pandemic days, I highly recommend that EAs both apply to the program, especially if they aren’t sure if it’s right for them (but see who this program is for,) and talk to or work with people in the program now.
That said, I think that these comments are both accurate, and don’t fully reflect some of the ancillary benefits of the program—especially ones that are not yet experienced because they will only be obvious when talking to future alumni of the program. For example, in five years, I suspect alumni of the program will say:
It’s very prestigious step on a CV for future work, especially for EAs that are considering policy or academic work outside of the narrow EA world, and would benefit from a boost in getting in.
It gives people (well-funded) time to work on expanding their horizons, and focus on making sure they can do or enjoy doing a given type of work. It can also set them up for their next step by giving them direct experience in almost any area they want to work in.
The network of RSPs is likely to be very valuable in the next decade as the RSP program grows and matures, and the alumni will presumably be able to stay connected to each other, and also to connect with current / past RSPs.
Thanks for this! I agree that a lot of the value of RSP won’t become obvious until after the programme (and also want to flag that as our first cohort is only finishing this autumn, it’s still quite uncertain how large this value will be).
At this stage, the best information we have on how things will shape up for scholars after the programme is what our first cohort have lined up to do immediately after the programme—see here.