They're like all a bunch of ugly nerds
That's an insult I'd expect from a sixth grade girl, not an economics PhD.
Peter Thiel on Stanford Econ
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I have three friends from my grad cohort at Top 5 departments.
- for one of them, it was obvious from day 1 that this was where he should end up.
- another was very, very smart, but wanted to do theory. He did end up in a top five place, which I believe is well deserved (his referees clearly feel the same), but his next best offer was well outside.
- the third is someone who literally no one - neither faculty nor student - would have ended up where he did. He worked harder than anyone, but you wouldn’t have guessed where he ended up from his first year grades.
Finally, the first person in this same cohort with a publication in Econometrica is a literal UKAP.
In other words: Thiel is full of s**t. Being rich by getting lucky with PayPal does not make him smart. I have no idea why he is taken seriously anywhere.