It's a societal convention that the smartest people go to college. However, systematic studies suggest that this correlation is not causation: http://www.daily

It's a societal convention that the smartest people go to college. However, systematic studies suggest that this correlation is not causation: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/23/elite-colleges-not-the-only-path-to-elite-paychecks/ http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/23/elite-colleges-not-th... Now, the two economists have updated the study with new data, more detail -- and the results are even more compelling. In the abstract, they report: "When we adjust for unobserved student ability by controlling for the average SAT score of the colleges that students applied to, our estimates of the return to college selectivity fall substantially and are generally indistinguishable from zero." In this view, college is just an imperfect, expensive proxy for your SAT score. And the reason this proxy exists is because of the Griggs vs. Duke Power ruling, which prohibits companies from administering SAT-type tests of general reasoning. It may not be coincidental that the explosion in college prices began around that time. If it turns out that a three hour SAT at $100 can replace a four year college degree costing $250,000 in terms of its predictive value for an employer - and the Dale/Krueger study sure seems to show this - then yes, Peter Thiel is on to something very big, and you may want to short higher-ed. Or at least Sallie Mae.