Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
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Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
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Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#2> Olin College, a small engineering school in Needham, MA, which graduates around 75 students per year
So its a tiny college with an emphasis on starting a company? At Stanford your numbers are being diluted by colleges whose student body don't tend to start a company (e.g. humanities, pre-med).
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#3Not surprising. I've met some Olin kids (I helped teach a session of their product design & development class) and they are some of the most impressive college students I've ever encountered. They tend to take feedback extremely well, and are genuinely interested in creating useful things for people.
Whatever they're doing over there, I hope they keep it up.
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#4Two comments:
1. First and foremost, go Olin College! It sounds like a really special place where liberal arts and engineering are valued. I wish more colleges followed this model.
2. It's not very surprising and likely a statistical quirk that their per capita founding rate is so high. After reading this piece on why the highest and lowest cancer rates by county in the US are in rural counties, I am seeing this statistical phenomenon everywhere: https://books.google.com/books?id=JRueDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14&lpg=P...
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#5Putting this one on the suggest/visit list for my son, definitely.
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#6Well, perhaps ...
1. There is more opportunity for Stanford students to pursue graduate degrees, leading many to forgo the entrepreneurial route
2. Stanford students receive better job offers upon graduation, leading many to forgo the entrepreneurial route
3. Stanford attracts more international students who come from countries less encouraging of entrepreneurship
Regarding the first two, I could probably think of 10 more positive reasons the numbers might be what they are. What's perceived as a positive for Olin may actually be due to an inarguably positive thing for Stanford
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#7Perhaps the larger percentage of founders has more to do with the substantially smaller student body and shorter track record of the university. Daniel Kahneman touches on this phenomenon in "Thinking Fast and Slow".
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#8Before jumping to conclusions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_small_numbers
Edit: Actual Wikipedia entry = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insensitivity_to_sample_size
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#9Sometimes I think that startup is for those who have nothing to lose. Kids in Stanford probably have weighted their feasible career more than a free throw.
It is also strange to me this Olin School is trying to beat Stanford with a single statistics. What are they trying to do here? To prove they are better than Stanford? Or to let kids dropping out of Stanford and apply to them? Or to make a fame by taking on a particularly prestigious school?
This is what I know. In the tech startup world, nobody cares where you graduated. Whether it is Olin or Stan, it doesn't matter.
Re: Olin College Produces Founders at Five Times the Rate of Stanford
#10Well, perhaps ... 1. There is more opportunity for Stanford students to pursue graduate degrees, leading many to forgo the entrepreneurial route 2. Stanford students receive better job offers upon graduation, leading many to forgo the entrepreneurial route 3. Stanford attracts more international students who come from countries less encouraging of entrepreneurship Regarding the first two, I could probably think of 10…
1. Surprisingly, students from small private colleges like Olin are more likely to pursue graduate degrees. IDK if this holds for Olin specifically.
2. Olin is a great school. I doubt undergraduates from Olin are paid substantially differently from those at Stanford. There is probably data on this.
3. Seems the most likely explanation. Or just random chance.