Richard Ngo on MATS Mentor Selection: Clarity of Thinking Matters Most
RichardMCNgo · x · 2026-08-22
Richard Ngo announced he will continue serving as a MATS mentor this winter. He shared his selection criteria: he primarily values an applicant's ability to think clearly about complex topics, and the best signal is having written a blog post that taught him something. He doesn't value publication records—in fact, he believes the number of papers is negatively correlated with clarity of thinking. He strongly welcomes applicants without an undergraduate degree. His post also links to a Substack article reflecting on his own intellectual judgment and research.
Related event: Richard Ngo to Mentor at MATS Again, Valuing Clear Thinking Over Papers(2 posts)→
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