On my understanding, EA student clubs at colleges/universities have been the main “top of funnel” for pulling people into alignment work during the past few years. The mix people going into those clubs is disproportionately STEM-focused undergrads, and looks pretty typical for STEM-focused undergrads. We’re talking about pretty standard STEM majors from pretty standard schools, neither the very high end nor the very low end of the skill spectrum.
At least from the MATS perspective, this seems quite wrong. Only ~20% of MATS scholars in the last ~4 programs have been undergrads. In the most recent application round, the dominant sources of applicants were, in order, personal recommendations, X posts, AI Safety Fundamentals courses, LessWrong, 80,000 Hours, then AI safety student groups. About half of accepted scholars tend to be students and the other half are working professionals.
At least from the MATS perspective, this seems quite wrong. Only ~20% of MATS scholars in the last ~4 programs have been undergrads. In the most recent application round, the dominant sources of applicants were, in order, personal recommendations, X posts, AI Safety Fundamentals courses, LessWrong, 80,000 Hours, then AI safety student groups. About half of accepted scholars tend to be students and the other half are working professionals.