Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

espadagroup wrote: post #2

Interesting how the author choose to profile only fellows whose ventures had no revenue. Kind of like a indirect finger poking.

Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed. This article seems to paint the picture that ALL fellows are not generating revenue.

Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

#5

Post by Jd » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 2:04 PM UTC

I believe the title is wrong. Virtually none of the applicants were "dropouts," although some were accepted to prestigious colleges and decided not to go. The program was envisioned as an alternative to college, and most applicants were pre-entry.

Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

#6

Post by paulhauggis » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 2:11 PM UTC

The type of person that will succeed without college won't really need it because they have the drive to succeed.

Most people aren't like this.

Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

#7

Post by jere » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 2:23 PM UTC

Jd wrote: post #5

I believe the title is wrong. Virtually none of the applicants were "dropouts," although some were accepted to prestigious colleges and decided not to go. The program was envisioned as an alternative to college, and most applicants were pre-entry.

If that's true, the "College thing he doesn't miss:" detail is also highly misleading, since it too implies they used to be in college.

Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

#8

Post by roc » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 2:39 PM UTC

paulhauggis wrote: post #6

The type of person that will succeed without college won't really need it because they have the drive to succeed. Most people aren't like this.

The whole endeavor is lousy.

With regards to 'success', for most people the education you get in college is secondary. What's of primary importance is networking and having that degree on your resume to get you in the door. [1]

But networking and having something on your resume that gets you in the door is provided automatically (and arguably in more effective doses) by rubbing elbows with Thiel and likeminded millionaires and billionaires and being featured in news articles.

So the 'success' of the participants should be expected to be equivalent-to-better than if they went to college just due the design of this stunt.

And it will prove nothing about whether college is useful or not in the general case. Because you can't scale "hang out with Peter Thiel and likeminded movers-and-shakers" beyond a tiny class each year.

[1] Which isn't to say that what you learn isn't important. It absolutely is. It just doesn't have much bearing on your business/monetary-axis 'success'.

Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

#9

Post by marquis » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 2:45 PM UTC

paulhauggis wrote: post #6

The type of person that will succeed without college won't really need it because they have the drive to succeed. Most people aren't like this.

I disagree - I think it's a cultural issue and perhaps you speak specifically of people in the upper OECD. Much of the world runs or works for a small family business where getting enough money to feed and house your family drives you to succeed within the limits of your education and life situation.

Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?

#10

Post by Jd » Thu, Aug 09, 2012, 2:57 PM UTC

confluence wrote: post #3

Three opposing view points concerning the same subject on Quora: Positive: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th... Negative: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th... Off topic: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th... Full Question/Answers can be found here: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th...

tl;dr:

Neg: Exhaustive review of individuals showing that nothing of value (except riding on existing trends) can be shown from any applicant, except potentially in the case of the Solar Energy startup, in which money was used to hire PhDs with actual domain knowledge.

Pos: Saying that everything great is under NDA and that the solar energy stuff is cool, that the youngin' in question has impressed PhDs enough that they want to work for him. No real info, expecting you to trust that good stuff is in the works.