Thiel Fellows.....have you heard of this before?

[8filltheheart]

http://www.thielfellowship.org/2014/06/peter-thiel-announces-2014-class-of-thiel-fellows/

 

One of ds's friends from SSP is one of this yr's fellows. Ds's response was that it was win win. If it's a success, you win. If not,you had major mentoring and life experiences and college is still there as an option, so nothing lost and perspective gained. I guess I'm too old and tired for that much enthusiasm. It is definitely out of the box!

 

Anyone know more about it? What do you think? Would you jump on board if your student had the opportunity?

[angela in ohio]

We were reading about it yesterday, because one of the winners has an interest in dd's area of research, and so someone sent her the link. I think it would depend on when they won. Right out of high school for a gap year, no problem, we told dd that was an option anyway. But in the middle of college, and then trying to come back if they decide to finish.... I'm not so sure about that.

 

It was interesting to read the mixed reviews from various college personnel. Some thought it was great, others not. Larry Summers called it the worst piece of philanthropy he's ever seen or something like that. :D

 

We read the list of projects so far, and nothing much earth changing has come of it, but it is pretty early. 

[Kathy in Richmond]

Dd has a very good friend in the 2013 Thiel Fellows group. This kid decided to drop out half way through a math degree in order to pursue research interests. So far, so good. :001_smile:

[chiguirre]

Thiel is one of the featured people in The Unwinding by George Packer. It's a very interesting (but depressing...you've been warned) book. The Thiel Fellowship's genesis is described.

[Teachin'Mine]

I'm sure it can and does work out very well for some.  I would imagine that if it became an option, that colleges would be willing to accept the student back should they want to return within a set amount of time.  I'd think that having a plan B would be good, especially if they'd be giving up great scholarships and/or financial aid.

[JanetC]

As an honor and opportunity for those who win one, it's great. As an alternative to our supposedly obsolete higher education system, well, I'm skeptical that, "instead of charging families thousands of dollars a year for college educations, let's just give our kids $100K and mentors let them start their own companies," will catch on in a broad way.

 

It's one thing to use someone else's money to take risks and try something new, it's another thing to hand your own kid their college funds (assuming your family has a 100K fund to offer) and your Rolodex of scientific and business contacts (umm...yeah...) and say, "go for it,"

[Laura in CA]

I haven't read the responses yet and am rushing out the door; however I have pretty strong opinions about this :). We've known about these for years (living in CA, I guess, where he's based), and while Mr Thiel has the right to do what he wishes with his money, I'm always annoyed by the folks who advocate not going to college while they themselves attended college -- and graduated -- and enjoyed their time there -- and in many cases met their spouse there, as well as friends, collaborators, etc. This list includes people like Mr Thiel, some prominent 'un-college' advocates, those conservative folks who don't want girls to go to college (while the married couple who are vocal supporters of this met in law school ).

 

From the Wikipedia article about Mr Thiel, "college and law school" section (emphasis added):

 

 

ETA: text deleted as requested! see link above :)

back to me -- why would you encourage others to miss out on the kind of life-defining enrichment (that can be) found at a university, from which you yourself have benefited (intellectually, monetarily, etc.)?

[8filltheheart]

Laura, thank you for posting that. You gelled many of my vague thoughts.

[Laura in CA]

8FillTheHeart, I'm just getting warmed up! :D

 

Giving money to promising young people such as Kathy's daughter's friend is awesome! But Mr Thiel's premise seems to be that college is a waste of time. For these kids (I've read the bios -- wowee!), yes, it probably is. Plus some of the teens already have degrees from prestigious schools. I just worry about the thousands of young people who see this and don't realize that they're not in the same league as the Thiel Fellows and forgo college in the misguided belief that they're "special" (I'm just reading David McCullough Jr's book You Are Not Special, so this is on my mind!).

 

I'd be more enthusiastic about college 'drop-outs' such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs funding such an endeavor ... but don't Bill & Melinda Gates give a lot of money to support education?? And even there, I'd argue that the few men who did drop out of college to start wildly successful companies are truly one in a million ... & their companies employ tens of thousands of non-drop-outs ... Furthermore, they did enough amazing things in high school to get accepted at Harvard, Reed, Stanford, etc. (they weren't playing video games & day-dreaming); they met other amazing students at college (Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard; the Google founders at Stanford [from Google's history page: Larry Page & Sergey Brin meet at Stanford, Larry, 22, a U Michigan grad, is considering the school; Sergey, 21, is assigned to show him around.]; the two men who started Yahoo were grad students at Stanford; Cisco was founded by two Stanford employees; SUN Microsystems was founded by Stanford grad students; Dropbox was founded by two MIT students ...); and, once at college, they already had a product & could judge for themselves that continuing with college would be a waste of time for them ... (not that it wasn't risky).

 

Oh, I just found my go-to article about this whole business -- with all of my points. I'll post it below.

 

I guess this touches a nerve, haha .... Perhaps b/c we live in/near Silicon Valley and know many successful entrepreneurs -- some homeschooling dads are Employee No. 2 at a start-up; a good friend's son is Employee No. 50 at Google; my cousin's husband is a venture-capitalist and EIR (entrepreneur in residence) -- and others who have lost their shirts ... and b/c many fellow (affluent) homeschoolers here have embraced the "my child is going to be an entrepreneur and doesn't need college" idea. My problem with that is -- being an entrepreneur means separating people from their money, for a product you have to convince them they need ... also that obviously entrepreneurs need many employees, and who's to say your kid won't be one of those? (see "You're Not Special" above ... :) )

 

 

ETA: I'll be the first to say that college is NOT for everyone! I'm a fierce advocate of trade schools, professional schools, apprenticeships, etc. I think the trades should get more respect. And many colleges aren't worth the money. I'm a big supporter of community college too. Just didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea! :)

[Laura in CA]

Here's the article. I think I've posted it on these boards before :) ... but it has a lot of good points!

It ran in the local paper in Feb. 2011, and I passed it on to fellow homeschooling moms in our area back then even (whose sons were pooh-poohing college). Oh, and it even mentions the Thiel Fellows! :)

 

note: emphasis (in the article) added where relevant

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

[ETA: note: text of article deleted as requested!]

[Gwen in VA]

 

Why not give yourself a year to get a company running? If it fizzles go back to school.

 

Yup, exactly. At least in my experience, when asked politely by good students, colleges will give students a year off in which they can re-enroll without going through the application process again. (Okay, my sample size is based on three people's experiences, but at least that represents 100% of students I know who wanted to leave on good terms in case they wanted to come back!)

 

If you are itching to start that company (hopefully a low-budget in-the-garage kind of thing), arrange to take a year off and see how it goes!

 

My ds dropped out of college by requesting a year off and seeing how high he could fly in that year. At the end of the year he was happy and saw no need to go back, but the fact that he had the option to return made dh and feel much better about his pursuing a definitely "alternative" route!

[Laura in CA]

yep - all the schools I've attended (or relatives, etc.) offer at least a "leave of absence" if you're in good academic standing. Some schools are even looser and they call it 'stopping out' instead of 'dropping out' -- you can leave & come back whenever you like. I see Stanford changed their policy a few years ago, but it's still fairly generous.

 

ETA: I should mention that at an information session in April at my son's college, for prospective students planning to major in computer science, a parent asked the professor/dean about job prospects. He laughed and said that the problem is keeping kids in school ... Many companies try to lure the students away well before graduation ...

[Catherine]

For me as a parent, this all comes down to *security*. As in, the security of a degree. I think I would be able to recognize if I had a Bill Gates on my hands, but in fact, have any of you read Steve Jobs' biography? It would be a big stretch to say he dropped out of Reed to work on his Silicon Valley startup. In fact he dropped out and drifted for a few drug-soaked years before he and Steve Wozniak started working on their joint project.

 

Of course he was successful in the end. No degree would have helped him. But if I had been his parents, I would have had a few years of nail-biting and worry. And what about the many, many college dropouts everywhere that are NOT Bill Gates, who have debt, no degree, and are working for low wages?? I guess that I am just too close to the other side, the one with no opportunity, no security, no prosperity. I'd be very worried if my kid wanted to drop out.

[Gwen in VA]

I think it all depends on WHY your kid wants to drop out.

 

* Is he dropping out to hang out, or is he dropping out because college is preventing him from pursuing his dreams!

 

* Is your kid dropping out because he can't handle the structure discipline of classes, or is he dropping out because he is already helping the college seniors with their theses and he doesn't feel college can contribute much to his skill base?

 

* Is he dropping out without a clue where he is headed, or is he dropping out with a reasonable Plan A ready for action and a Plan B waiting in the wings?

 

* Is he realistic about the potential cost of dropping out? Is he willing to take that risk?

 

Speaking as the parent of a college drop-out (and yes, his GPA was doing quite well before he left and he was at a tuition-free school, so his leaving college had nothing to do with academics or finances), for some kids leaving college can be the right and wise decision.

 

BTW, it took months and LOTS of discussion before dh and I were on board with his decision, but he is living his dream and we are incredibly proud of him.