Doesn't it ring alarm bells that society attempts to herd 100% of students through 4 year programs? That sounds far from optimal, no?
It seems highly likely to me that if you get someone who excels on the steep parts of learning curves, 6 months studying the right things would be just as effective (if not more) than 4 years doing mostly busy work.
> What jobs do these grads walk into?
I think they walk into entry level jobs. I know I much prefer working with people that love to live on steep learning curve slopes over those who prefer to go at the pace of the system.
> remember what a dot product or a t-test is from week 1?
I have been in data science for many years and most of the terms I was taught college (like t test) never come up. Maybe once or twice a year I have to spend 60 seconds to refresh on dot product algo.