Grad School Loans

That Grad School Loan May Cost You. It's About Time
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/that-grad-school-loan-may-cost-you--it-s-about-time-88933.html
Our higher education system is broken. Families pay a fortune for degrees that do not pay off like they used to. However you feel about the future of advanced degrees, they’re certainly a mispriced asset—a mispricing that started in the market for student loans.
The biggest distortions are in graduate degrees, where students have the largest debt burdens. They represent 25% of borrowers, but account for half of all loans. The government has been the dominant lender here, but the Trump administration is scaling back significantly and creating an opening for private players. This will make graduate education more expensive as students are forced to turn to more costly loans, but that may be a healthy development. 

Are Business Schools Necessary?

I Teach at a Business School. It’s Time to Shut Them Down. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/18/opinion/business-school-mba-harvard-cornell-cambridge.html 

Economics PhD Placements

Expanding Opportunities: New Facts about the Placement of PhD Economists
https://docs.iza.org/dp18868.pdf
Abstract
Is the top of the economics profession becoming more insular? We study the placement of top PhD graduates over the past quarter-century matching them to their advisors. Three trends point towards greater openness: graduates increasingly place outside academia, outside the US, and into a tech sector recruiting broadly across gender, ethnicity, and program prestige. The disaggregated picture is less reassuring: the Emerging South is largely sidelined in the global job market, East Asians face persistent gaps in top academic placement, and elite advisors continue to confer substantial advantages within academia. Tech placement, meanwhile, is dominated by a single employer.

Economists Are Studying the Slowing Job Market – and Feeling It Themselves
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economists-job-market-hiring-2213807b
Newly minted Ph.Ds. tend to work for universities, government agencies and big white-collar companies. It’s not a great hiring time for any of them.

The Bull Market for Economists Is Over. It’s an Ominous Sign for the Economy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/business/economics-jobs-hiring.html
Earning a Ph.D. in economics has long been a reliable path to affluence and prestige. Not anymore. 

Related:

https://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2024/12/oversupply-of-economics-phds.html 

FT Masters in Finance 2026 Ranking

French business schools lead FT Masters in Finance 2026 ranking
https://www.ft.com/content/f628e3c6-dd61-4f83-99e3-fc0728d82d88
ESCP tops the table amid growing demand as graduates seek sanctuary from a tough job market. 

Grad Degree Bubble Bursts

A Master’s Degree Isn’t the Job Guarantee It Used to Be
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/a-masters-degree-isnt-the-job-guarantee-it-used-to-be-53e237aa
New data shows the unemployment rate has rarely been higher in the past 20 years among professionals under 35 with advanced degrees. 

The Decline of the MBA Degree

There Is a Fire Sale on M.B.A.s
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/there-is-a-fire-sale-on-m-b-a-s-87d56c69
With applications down, more business schools are offering discounts on specialized degrees that promise AI-era training. 

Why Colleges Are Slashing MBA Prices
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/college-tuition-cuts-mba-program-student-loans-da92a98b
The 2025 tax bill capped graduate borrowing at $100,000. Voila.

Global MBA Rankings – 2026

FT's Global MBA Rankings – 2026:
https://rankings.ft.com/rankings/3006/mba-2026
 
MIT Sloan tops FT Global MBA Ranking for the first time
https://www.ft.com/content/414d2b8c-20d4-4892-a730-255c0af7edb8 

Another Law School Bubble

Interest in Law School Is Surging. A.I. Makes the Payoff Less Certain.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/business/dealbook/law-school-ai.html
The number of applicants has risen more than 40 percent over the last two years, despite new limits on student loans and uncertainty over how artificial intelligence will affect legal work. 

Grad School - Not Always a Good Option

Even MBAs From Top Business Schools Are Struggling to Get Hired
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/even-mbas-from-top-business-schools-are-struggling-to-get-hired-11f4a167
Finding a professional job right now is so tough that it is taking many of America’s most credentialed business-school graduates months to land offers.

Economists Are Studying the Slowing Job Market—and Feeling It Themselves
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economists-job-market-hiring-2213807b
Newly minted Ph.D.s tend to work for universities, government agencies and big white-collar companies. It’s not a great hiring time for any of them. 

Is your master’s degree useless?
https://www.economist.com/international/2024/11/18/is-your-masters-degree-useless
New data show a shockingly high proportion of courses are a waste of money.

Blue-Collar versus White-Collar Jobs in the Age of AI

The blue-collar jobs revival: The skills the world needs now
https://youtu.be/KJG45knOzDg

Why this 26-year-old skipped college and took up a skilled trade
https://www.reuters.com/markets/on-the-money/why-this-26-year-old-skipped-college-took-up-skilled-trade-2026-01-23/

The Real AI Talent War Is for Plumbers and Electricians
https://www.wired.com/story/why-there-arent-enough-electricians-and-plumbers-to-build-ai-data-centers/
The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren’t enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up.
 
White-Collar Workers Shouldn’t Dismiss a Blue-Collar Career Change
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/white-collar-workers-shouldnt-dismiss-a-blue-collar-career-change-32dfa69e
It’s time for those struggling with a midcareer slump to consider another path. 

Ditch textbooks and learn how to use a wrench to AI-proof your job?
https://www.economist.com/international/2025/12/18/ditch-textbooks-and-learn-how-to-use-a-wrench-to-ai-proof-your-job
Generation Z is becoming less invested in university and more interested in skilled trades.
 
Job apocalypse? Not yet. AI is creating brand new occupations
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/12/14/job-apocalypse-not-yet-ai-is-creating-brand-new-occupations
Most needed: human skills.

Don’t fear the AI ‘jobpocalypse’
https://www.ft.com/content/7d9a2d8f-5fda-4b2b-a58f-fc8aea22558a
 
Did A.I. Take Your Job? Or Was Your Employer ‘A.I.-Washing’?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/business/layoffs-ai-washing.html

Even MBAs From Top Business Schools Are Struggling to Get Hired
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/even-mbas-from-top-business-schools-are-struggling-to-get-hired-11f4a167
Finding a professional job right now is so tough that it is taking many of America’s most credentialed business-school graduates months to land offers.

Economists Are Studying the Slowing Job Market—and Feeling It Themselves
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economists-job-market-hiring-2213807b
Newly minted Ph.D.s tend to work for universities, government agencies and big white-collar companies. It’s not a great hiring time for any of them.

Declining Demand for Economists

Economists are facing a recession
https://www.ft.com/content/eb080c14-e946-4806-ad66-81b2bb8c67ba
SOUMAYA KEYNES notes:
Hiring freezes helped to halve the number of US full-time academic postings between 2019 and 2025. In the most recent year alone, listings fell by more than during the Great Recession. And according to the most recent comparable data, since 2019 recruitment has shriveled faster for economists than philosophers or linguists. Oof. 

Economists Are Studying the Slowing Job Market—and Feeling It Themselves
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/economists-job-market-hiring-2213807b
Newly minted Ph.D.s tend to work for universities, government agencies and big white-collar companies. It’s not a great hiring time for any of them.

Law School Popularity - A Recession Indicator?

Why Is Going to Law School So Popular Again?
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/why-is-going-to-law-school-so-popular-again-84683.html
Bloomberg’s Justin Fox notes:
Law school has long served as a fallback for college graduates with reasonably good grades who can’t find good jobs or just can’t decide what they want to do when they grow up. With generative artificial intelligence possibly behind the hiring slowdown for young grads and definitely driving uncertainty about the future of white-collar work, there are surely more recent graduates in this position now than a few years ago. With the Trump administration on the warpath against federal civil servants and an unsettling recent barrage of corporate layoff announcements, it’s not just recent college graduates, either. The rise in law school applications may well be a warning sign of economic distress. 

Skills to Succeed in Law School:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/law/pre-law-majors/
According to Cooper, more than rote memorization or pure grit, you need resilience, consistency, adaptability, critical thinking and time management skills to succeed in law school.
“Law school is fast-paced and emphasizes reading and writing,” Cooper says. “Working hard is an ordinary expectation.
“The students who thrive aren’t always the loudest or the most confident; they’re the ones who know how to manage their time, bounce back from setbacks and stay consistent. Success in law school is earned week by week—as the saying goes, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
“It’s also a different animal when it comes to how you study,” he adds. “It’s less about pure memorization and more about truly understanding the law and applying it to different situations. Many students also need to adapt to the reality of being graded on a curve, and exams that reward understanding over rote learning.”

MS in Quantitative Economics Programs

MS Applied Economics and Econometrics
https://dornsife.usc.edu/econ/masters
Master of Quantitative Economics
https://master.econ.ucla.edu
MS Quantitative Economics
https://as.nyu.edu/departments/econ/graduate/ms.html
MS Economics
https://econ.wisc.edu/masters/admission
MS in Quantitative Economics and Finance
https://economics.ucsc.edu/academics/ms-program
MS in Quantitative Economics
https://www.bu.edu/econ/academics/masters-programs/ms-quantitative-economics
Master of Science in Quantitative Economics
https://www.mqe.pitt.edu
Master of Science in Quantitative Economics
https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/moore/study/economics/degree_programs/master_of_arts_in_economics 

International MBAs - An Attractive Alternative

Interest in American M.B.A. Programs Shrinks
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/interest-in-american-m-b-a-programs-shrinks-but-schools-across-asia-are-booming-d2fb6258
Visa restrictions and worries about job security put a damper on applications to U.S. business schools. 

At The Indian School of Business, One Prof Is Using AI & VR To Build Smarter, More Strategic MBAs
https://poetsandquants.com/2025/06/30/at-the-indian-school-of-business-one-prof-is-using-ai-vr-to-build-smarter-more-strategic-mbas/
 
‘WE’RE NOT LEARNING ANYTHING’: Stanford GSB Students Sound the Alarm Over Academics
https://poetsandquants.com/2025/07/23/were-not-learning-anything-stanford-gsb-students-sound-the-alarm-over-academics/ 

FT's Masters in Management Rankings

Masters in Management Rankings – 2025
https://rankings.ft.com/rankings/3004/masters-in-management-2025 

International Affairs - Grad School and Career Info

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About IR Grad School
https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/25/ir-graduate-school-apply-phd-ma/
Some straight talk for prospective students from a longtime professor.

So You Want to Work in International Affairs
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/29/career-advice-international-affairs-first-job-college-university 
A veteran practitioner’s 12 tips to land that first job.

The New Economic Geography
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/new-economic-geography-posen

The Weaponized World Economy
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/weaponized-world-economy-farrell-newman

The Top International Relations Schools of 2024, Ranked

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/30/international-relations-school-rankings-university-undergraduate-masters-phd-programs/

Foreign Affairs – Graduate School Forum:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/graduateschoolforum

Interesting Grad Programs:

Masters in International Political Economy - King's College London

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/courses/international-political-economy-ma

Master of Arts in Global Affairs – Tufts University

https://fletcher.tufts.edu/programs/masters/MGA

Master in Public Policy in Global Affairs – Yale University

https://jackson.yale.edu/academics/mpp/

Master of Global Affairs – Rice University

https://mga.rice.edu/

Master of Global Affairs – Notre Dame

https://keough.nd.edu/master-of-global-affairs/

MA in International Affairs – Johns Hopkins

https://sais.jhu.edu/academics/degree-programs/master-degrees/master-arts-international-affairs-maia

Master of International Affairs – Columbia University

https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/sipa-education/masters-programs/master-international-affairs

MA in International Affairs – George Washington University

https://elliott.gwu.edu/international-affairs-masters

MA in International Affairs – Boston University

https://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/academics/graduate/ma-in-international-affairs-maia/

Master of Global Affairs – University of Toronto

https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/mga

Overhyped MIT Study Retracted

What the failure of a superstar student reveals about economics
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/05/22/what-the-failure-of-a-superstar-student-reveals-about-economics
Aidan Toner-Rodgers was enjoying a meteoric rise at MIT. Then questions started to be asked about his work.

MIT disavows doctoral student paper on AI’s productivity benefits
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/17/mit-disavows-doctoral-students-paper-on-ai-productivity-benefits/

MIT Says It No Longer Stands Behind Student’s AI Research Paper
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/mit-says-it-no-longer-stands-behind-students-ai-research-paper-11434092
The university says it has no confidence in a widely circulated paper by an economics graduate student.

Related: https://economics.mit.edu/news/assuring-accurate-research-record

Author of the disputed study was interviewed by The Atlantic earlier this year:
https://youtu.be/wMEBbRHBosk 

Engineering and Business School Rankings

CEOWORLD Business School Rankings:
Best Business Schools in the World For 2025
https://ceoworld.biz/2025/04/06/best-business-schools-in-the-world-for-2025/ 

US News and World Report Rankings:

2025 Best Engineering Schools - Grad
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings
2025 Best Engineering Schools - Undergraduate
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate

The Legal Profession

The Competition to Get into Law School Is Brutal This Year
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/law-school-application-increase-job-market-623bb314
Applications are surging as students seek stability in a difficult job market.
 
The young lawyers shunning £180,000 salaries for an easier life
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/15/young-lawyers-shunning-180000-salaries-easier-life/
Gen Z and millennial solicitors are forgoing big pay packets to prioritize work-life balance. 

Impact of DOGE Cuts

The loss of early career workers has raised concerns about the impact on the next generation of civil servants.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-cuts-young-federal-workers.html

As Layoffs Continue, Federal Workers Face Sluggish Job Market
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/business/economy/federal-workers-layoffs-job-market.html
Unemployment is low, but there isn’t much room to move around — especially for those with highly government-specific skills.

 
Uncertainty about how much money colleges and universities stand to lose has led some schools to reduce the number of doctoral students, in some cases reneging on offers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-university-funding-grad-student-cuts.html

The Musk-Trump War on Federal Employees Doesn’t Add Up
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-financial-page/the-musk-trump-war-on-federal-employees-doesnt-add-up