# Is College Worth It? (Plus, waitlists and marriage markets) Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-turns-out-7561721/is-college-worth-it-plus-waitlists-and-marriage-markets Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-turns-out-7561721/is-college-worth-it-plus-waitlists-and-marriage-markets.md Podcast: [It Turns Out](https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-turns-out-7561721) Published: 2026-05-15T19:54:00+00:00 Episode link: https://itturnsoutshow.com/episode/is-college-worth-it Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/7e87f580-45e2-4773-9331-b655a009df73.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/it-turns-out-7561721/episodes/is-college-worth-it-plus-waitlists-and-marriage-markets Duration seconds: 2403 ## Resource Is a college degree actually worth it, or do universities simply accept students who were already destined for success? Using a clever natural experiment - in an era when lots more folks doubt the usefulness of a college degree - University of Chicago economist Jack Mountjoy tries to figure out whether college really pays off. And for who? Plus, how does your life change when you get off a waiting list from an elite college? And how are your marriage prospects altered depending on your major? Subscribe to our Substack ! Did you know you can also watch the show? Subscribe to the show on YouTube! ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/it-turns-out-7561721/episodes/is-college-worth-it-plus-waitlists-and-marriage-markets/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/it-turns-out-7561721/is-college-worth-it-plus-waitlists-and-marriage-markets.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.