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Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

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Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#11

Post by jtmarmon »

Thiel Fellow here. The question is not whether or not you should take it, it's whether or not you should drop out.

I had already dropped out when I took it so it was a no brainer for me. If you've already dropped out or decided to I don't even know why you're asking - at worst it's free money.

If you're asking whether or not you should drop out, that's a pretty opinionated thing and depends entirely on your circumstances, but I'd recommend you go for it (fellowship or not). As morgante said, you can always go back to college. 10 years from now sillicon valley might not be so friendly to us tadpoles

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#12

Post by jarcane »

burkaman wrote: post #5
jarcane wrote: post #4

Are you morally and ethically comfortable with taking money from a fascist to be a living cog in his anti-education political statement?

Isn't he mostly a libertarian? You can't just label all political views you don't like "fascism".

He's buds with the NRx scene, funds Moldbug's company, and the two basically quote each other's anti-democractic, anti-education, anti-woman rhetoric regularly enough to be a known quantity. He basically wrote a whole book aping Moldbug's "Cathedral" theory. FFS, he gave money to Ted Cruz, a guy who makes Donald Trump look less frightening.

I sure as shit don't want his dirty money, not even to slack off for two years.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#13

Post by giaour »

Kind of, in the sense that fellows get a large check and few responsibilities. You have to drop out of college, but you can always reapply and return.

Not really, in the sense that fellows are used as poster children for Thiel's vision of society. If you don't agree with the seasteader movement, you probably won't appreciate being a spokesperson for that worldview. If a different organization you disagreed with offered you a big check to drop out of college and act like a true believer, would you do it?

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#14

Post by vessenes »

If you aren't already plugged in to Silicon Valley in some way, getting accepted will definitely help your startup career, mostly through knowledge and mentoring acquired and the relationships. Social capital, essentially. Plus all the knowledge you get trying to make a startup go.

I would imagine if you'd been accepted, you could always go to University once your startup is 'done', either finished or acquired, and you would likely have your pick.

That said, you get a different sort of social capital from going to a top-tier school and graduate school, and of course, in a good technical degree program you will learn a bunch of useful things, largely around rigor of thought, how to learn, how to work with peer groups and just how much smarter than you many people are.

Peter says those things don't matter, and in a way he's right; for the indomitable, driven hard-working, socially skilled, lucky entrepreneur, college is bullshit. Seriously, a total waste of working years. For the rest of us, there are benefits, especially at a top-tier school.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#16

Post by jtmarmon »

SaaS_throwme wrote: post #10
morgante wrote: post #2

I didn't go through it, but you should almost certainly apply. You can always decline later. I'm too old for it, but it's basically free money. You can always return to college later if you really want to.

> but you should almost certainly apply Also, need to remember it adds up - YC, 500Startups, tech stars, etc. and then pondering about the results and then the sorrow phase after not being accepted. Weigh your trade offs.

don't apply to things because you might get rejected from them is certainly good life advice

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#17

Post by ESRogs »

giaour wrote: post #13

Kind of, in the sense that fellows get a large check and few responsibilities. You have to drop out of college, but you can always reapply and return. Not really, in the sense that fellows are used as poster children for Thiel's vision of society. If you don't agree with the seasteader movement, you probably won't appreciate being a spokesperson for that worldview. If a different organization you disagreed with offer…

Are you really asked to be a spokesman for seasteading? Or are you just pointing out that fellows will find themselves associated with it

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#18

Post by XFrequentist »

jarcane wrote: post #12
burkaman wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't he mostly a libertarian? You can't just label all political views you don't like "fascism".

He's buds with the NRx scene, funds Moldbug's company, and the two basically quote each other's anti-democractic, anti-education, anti-woman rhetoric regularly enough to be a known quantity. He basically wrote a whole book aping Moldbug's "Cathedral" theory. FFS, he gave money to Ted Cruz, a guy who makes Donald Trump look less frightening. I sure as shit don't want his dirty money, not even to slack off for two year…

"Anti-woman"? On what is that based?

(Agree that the other antis listed are indeed self-evident, btw.)

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#19

Post by Balgair »

jtmarmon wrote: post #16
SaaS_throwme wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but you should almost certainly apply Also, need to remember it adds up - YC, 500Startups, tech stars, etc. and then pondering about the results and then the sorrow phase after not being accepted. Weigh your trade offs.

don't apply to things because you might get rejected from them is certainly good life advice

I think they are talking about the time involved with the application and the associated worry and issues of rejection after rejection (on odds).

Re: Ask HN: Is the Thiel Fellowship worth it?

#20

Post by Harimwakairi »

jtmarmon wrote: post #11

Thiel Fellow here. The question is not whether or not you should take it, it's whether or not you should drop out. I had already dropped out when I took it so it was a no brainer for me. If you've already dropped out or decided to I don't even know why you're asking - at worst it's free money. If you're asking whether or not you should drop out, that's a pretty opinionated thing and depends entirely on your circumsta…

While I completely agree that attendance at a four-year university is overhyped as The Key to Success, the idea that "you can always go back to college" is flawed. While people do go back to school all the time, calling a multiyear timeout on making money is extremely difficult once you start acquiring real responsibilities, and working a real job while in school is no cakewalk.

source: I dropped out, worked as an engineer, then went back and graduated at 29.

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