FICRY

Undergraduates of journalism across the country are finding themselves at a crossroad: Jump head-first into a withering field or attend graduate school. For pro-blogger-turned-student Hunter Walker, he chose the latter. At a nearly $48,000 price tag to attend journalism school at Columbia University (top-notch, by the way), Walker found himself questioning his motive. Is this [...]

Exactly one month ago, FICRY published a piece asking one hotly-debated question: Is College Really a Waste of Time or are the Right-Wing Pundits Trying to Make Us Stupid? Now from the BBC comes the shocking story of one woman who sued her college for being a waste of time. According to the article, 27-year-old [...]

According to the FICRY-fueled media, these dark economic times should have us reexamining our priorities on everything from fashion to finance to friendship. But until recently, there was perhaps one bubble that had not yet popped, one industry that had not yet been accused of scamming us out of our savings: higher education. Sure, in [...]

Writing for Reuters, Erin Kutz reports that Harvard University, the world’s richest institute of higher education, will fire 275 employees in to mitigate the gathering financial storm. The FICRY triggered a 30% fall in The Crimsons’ multibillion-dollar endowment in 2009, from $37 billion, to $29 billion in December, and now, to $25 billion. The layoffs [...]

Well, we already know the market is irrational. The financial crisis has forced  many academics and  economists to reevaluate the  relevance of the “efficient  market hypothesis.” The hypothesis argues that given  consumer access to perfect  information, the market  behaves completely  rationally. The FICRY seems  incompatible with this sort  of logic. If the market is efficient, [...]

In front of an audience of Yale alumni, university president Richard Levin hosted a  discussion Tuesday on the financial crisis with John Geanakoplos (James Tobin Professor of Economics) and Robert Shiller (Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics). Both of the professors we critical of Obama’s bailout plan, feeling that it could further sink the American [...]

Foundations are facing a sharp increase in demand for aid, Stephanie Strom for the New York Times reports, even as their assets have declined, which is forcing them to rethink the way they do business. Some foundations have decided to increase the amount they dispense each year, even though that may trigger a higher excise [...]

In 2008, 48% of Harvard business school graduates flocked to lucrative Wall Street jobs or other careers in financial services.
To those whole followed “Harvard M.B.A. Indicator,” this was anything but good news.  Soifer Consulting, created an indicator that tracks the relationship between percentage of Harvard M.B.A.s going to Wall Street and the relative success of [...]

Is it silly to having business school students pledge to uphold ethical business practices upon graduation? A totally meaningless symbol or an attempt to encourage healthier corporate cultures? Joe Weisenthal, reports on the pledges taken at this year’s graduation ceremonies. 
According to the NYT, 20% of students have voluntarily  taken this pledge:
THE MBA OATH, click [...]

Writing for The Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal investigates the educational background of FICRY’s biggest culprits. No big surprise: Most of the bankers, politicians and regulators who got us into this mess went to a handful of elite universities and business schools. He argues that these school’s curricula helped frame the big-wig’s economic philosophies,  provided them [...]