How much do entry-level economists actually know?

Jacob Wood9 said:Her name is... as far as I recall, Vlatka... so I suppose journalists could probably conduct a similar little investigation if they felt inclined.

As for her personally... I don't know her on a first-name basis, but I am aware she worked in international auditing. Apparently, she started her own firm after that, and it seems she’s just looking to share the expertise she's gathered over the years.

What shocked her and her colleague Nancy from their educational consulting firm most was that finance or accounting majors applying for auditor roles didn't actually grasp the fundamentals of reading financial statements or basic accounting principles.

In fact, the test results regarding technical skills were even more concerning, especially considering these subjects had spent years studying these exact topics at various universities across the USA.

Two hundred candidates applied for the position, but once they realized there would be a competency exam, a hundred of them dropped out immediately.

Richard Lewis16 said:Oh, come on now, let's be real... I’m pretty sure 90% of people could point to France on a map if they had to😁

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teM4T3TylFc

and then everyone will be crying about it when the nukes actually start flying here in the States

casuallynx8 said:Are they just incompetent?

I wouldn't go that far, but:

What shocked her and her colleague Nancy from their educational consulting firm most was that finance or accounting majors applying for auditor roles didn't actually grasp the fundamentals of reading financial statements or basic accounting principles.

In fact, the test results regarding technical skills were even more concerning, especially considering these subjects had spent years studying these exact topics at various universities across the USA.

Then again, this isn't exactly breaking news. I remember a lady telling me some 6 or 7 years ago that she’d have recent business school grads walking through her door who were hearing terms like "general ledger" or "chart of accounts" for the very first time.

We also have to consider this factor:

Two hundred candidates applied for the position, but once they realized there would be a competency exam, a hundred of them dropped out immediately.

John White50;18367394 said:here’s one about those brilliant Americans...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5FUz1x92Uk

If this is from some late-night talk show torture session, then honestly... it's no secret the questions are totally rigged.
A colleague of mine was once asked, "what kind of test does a Pope have to pass before he's chosen?" while the actual question on the show was "what is the Pope Test?" And you listen to her try to answer it: she starts rambling about how the Pope isn't selected based on tests.
Besides, it's all off-topic anyway.

Jamie Lee said:It makes me absolutely livid when people start talking trash about how students come out of university "stupid" and then turn around and blame the students themselves...

I’m studying economics at a university in Florida, and I walked into a campus full of energy... through the end of my first semester, everything seemed clear enough... but then I hit a wall. I realized the entire educational system is a complete failure, and quite frankly, students simply cannot walk away from these halls with any practical knowledge whatsoever...

The curriculum is ancient history. You’ve got professors who make your life a living hell just to feed their own massive egos, and nobody—literally nobody—can hold them accountable. And it is ALL JUST GODDAMN THEORY. Right now, I’m a graduate whose absolute peak in accounting was learning how to balance T-accounts and ledgers... which means someone with three years of high school and two weeks of experience using basic bookkeeping software can completely wipe me out of the job market. Is that normal? I don't think so. And when I say "three years of high school," I’m not trying to insult anyone; it’s just a baseline for comparison...

I am one of those people just counting down the days until graduation just to get the piece of paper. I won't be getting any actual knowledge—not because I lack interest, but because I'm being forced to memorize garbage that you can only actually use if you become a teaching assistant at this very same university. In the real world, this stuff is useless. I know this firsthand because I work at a major financial institution, and I can't apply a single thing I've "learned"...

I can maybe justify wasting five years of my life listening to nonsense and drowning in theory without a shred of practice if I have a degree to show for it. It’s totally senseless. At least the degree might help with career advancement or job hunting. The last thing on my mind is that having a Bachelor's in Economics means I possess applicable skills. What’s even worse? Not only should I have practical skills, I should be an expert in my field. For Christ's sake, it’s a UNIVERSITY... but it clearly isn't working like that...

So, back to my opening point... it isn't the fault of the students, nor is it just the professors. The entire damn educational system is broken. It is unbelievable to me that at the end of the day, everyone decides that something is wrong with the students. Now, students are being shamed because they are expected to deliver results they never even received during their education...

Who here is actually crazy...

Jamie Lee said:It makes me absolutely livid when people start talking trash about how students come out of university "stupid" and then turn around and blame the students themselves...

I’m studying economics at a university in Florida, and I walked into a campus full of energy... through the end of my first semester, everything seemed clear enough... but then I hit a wall. I realized the entire educational system is a complete failure, and quite frankly, students simply cannot walk away from these halls with any practical knowledge whatsoever...

The curriculum is ancient history. You’ve got professors who make your life a living hell just to feed their own massive egos, and nobody—literally nobody—can hold them accountable. And it is ALL JUST GODDAMN THEORY. Right now, I’m a graduate whose absolute peak in accounting was learning how to balance T-accounts and ledgers... which means someone with three years of high school and two weeks of experience using basic bookkeeping software can completely wipe me out of the job market. Is that normal? I don't think so. And when I say "three years of high school," I’m not trying to insult anyone; it’s just a baseline for comparison...

I am one of those people just counting down the days until graduation just to get the piece of paper. I won't be getting any actual knowledge—not because I lack interest, but because I'm being forced to memorize garbage that you can only actually use if you become a teaching assistant at this very same university. In the real world, this stuff is useless. I know this firsthand because I work at a major financial institution, and I can't apply a single thing I've "learned"...

I can maybe justify wasting five years of my life listening to nonsense and drowning in theory without a shred of practice if I have a degree to show for it. It’s totally senseless. At least the degree might help with career advancement or job hunting. The last thing on my mind is that having a Bachelor's in Economics means I possess applicable skills. What’s even worse? Not only should I have practical skills, I should be an expert in my field. For Christ's sake, it’s a UNIVERSITY... but it clearly isn't working like that...

So, back to my opening point... it isn't the fault of the students, nor is it just the professors. The entire damn educational system is broken. It is unbelievable to me that at the end of the day, everyone decides that something is wrong with the students. Now, students are being shamed because they are expected to deliver results they never even received during their education...

Who here is actually crazy...

Jeffrey Johnson2 said:It’s honestly wild that nobody’s calling this out yet—leaking data from a single test like that is straight-up unethical. It says everything you need to know about how "professional" the lady handling recruitment actually is. :-S

I bet one of those hundred idiots didn't even know who Bush was—and another probably thought some landmark in NYC was just as important as this lady up there. These "ethical journalists" are real pros, huh? Writing a total trash piece just to bash young people. If they were actually the standard for morality, then all of us with a degree from Harvard Business School should be embarrassed—not to mention those poor souls who actually sat through that testing.

Look, I finished at Harvard Business School and met a ton of people there—honestly, I can't wrap my head around how any of them wouldn't know the answers to the stuff in these articles. It’s basic general knowledge, let alone those "expert" questions about accounts.

And besides—the text doesn't even specify which business schools we're talking about here. Are these those fancy Ivy League management programs or just standard state universities?

Honestly, no University actually teaches you how to be a well-rounded person—they should be pushing students to go out and educate themselves, but that’s the real flaw in our education system. It lets you pass exams just by memorizing a few definitions, and frankly, some professors actually encourage that kind of rote learning. I'm speaking from experience here—I caught a ton of lower grades because I wouldn't just recite a textbook definition word-for-word. Instead, I actually tried to understand the material—always looking for real-world examples and extra context. I could write pages of analysis for an exam and still walk away with a C because the professor thought I was "overthinking" instead of giving the exact answer they wanted. Look, I never gave a damn about the GPA anyway. I left school with a massive amount of theoretical knowledge—some useful, some not—for the job I do now, and honestly? I’ve never found anything I learned to be useless. You can never have too much knowledge.

Look, I didn't hit up University thinking I'd walk out with a plug-and-play job manual—that's not how this works. A University is supposed to teach you how to actually think, not just act like some trade school. So yeah, I finished my degree with pretty much everything I wanted to get out of it. In the real world, I’ve never seen a gap in my skills because of my education—if anything, the "gap" is caused *by* the education. Honestly, I can't tell you how many times at school I'd drop something in conversation like, "Oh, I read about that in a study" or "I saw this in a book." I wasn't some genius or anything—just your average student who spent just as much time hitting the social scene as I did sitting in lectures—so I don't get why everyone's whining about "unprepared graduates."

I went through like 5 or 6 serious job assessments—always getting called back for interviews, too—but I never saw a single damn result until my last one. That was the one where I finally landed a role in my field. After grinding through a year of internship stuff, they actually showed me the scores and offered me a full-time position... honestly, they shouldn't be ashamed of those results—if anything, they should brag about them.

I was throwing my resume at companies I actually cared about—even when they didn't have openings posted—and guess what? It worked. Ended up landing a job where there wasn't even an official listing; they just pulled me straight from their "talent pool."

I’ve sent my resume over to Ernst & Young—specifically where this lady works—maybe two or three times now. Every single time, I hit every single qualification they asked for, yet nothing. Not even a "thanks but no thanks" canned email—just total radio silence. Their hiring criteria are a joke if they're letting people pass tests with results like that. Definitely adding them to my blacklist of places I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.

Jeffrey Johnson2 said:And what kind of knowledge are you even planning to use if you're approaching college with the mindset that you're only there for the degree?
Do you have some innate genius skills or something?
Man, University is supposed to teach you how to think and research—so when you run into a problem at work (and I don't mean office gossip), you actually know how to process things and find quality info to reach the best solution. Who in the hell needs a degree to book accounts? If you need to learn that, you'll pick it up in a week. Why would you learn that in college unless you're an accounting major? It’s enough to know what a balance sheet looks like, why certain items are where they are, and what they mean. You learn to read financial statements and then you pretty much forget it from freshman year until graduation, but you can always brush up if you didn't fail your accounting classes... I don't see a problem with your University, just your attitude. Sure, you'll pass some exams just to check a box, but you should be leveling up the stuff you actually care about—putting in the work yourself instead of waiting for some professor to hand you a script to memorize.