More Students Are Turning Away From College and Toward Apprenticeships. Some White-Collar Training Programs Have Become as Selective as Ivy League Universities
Wall Street Journal | March 16, 2023 | Douglas Belkin

IMAO Internships are also selective in their own quirky ways.

Last spring D—- S—- C—- sat with her parents and sister in the family’s living room and reviewed her options: a full academic ride to the University of the District of Columbia, or an apprenticeship in the insurance industry,

or an IMAO internship.

The college route meant at the end of four years the 22-year-old would have a degree, a little debt and no work experience.

Delete “have a degree” and you’ve got the IMAO internship.

Her family was unanimous: Take the apprenticeship.

Not the internship.

“You’ll be worry free,” her mother said.

Cannot compete with that.

Family conversations like the one in Ms. C—’s living room are bubbling up around the country as high-school seniors recalibrate their options . . .

Hmm. Bubbling up, you say? We’ll need to verify their ages, of course.