> Thus, as a social experiment Peter Thiel's dropout scholarships are worthless. They do not show anything unless Mr. Thiel creates a control group by investing in kids that do stay in school or investing in kids that just graduated college.
There already exists a control group: the class of students starting elite schools in 2011. The question Thiel is asking is: What would happen to an exceptional kid who, instead of attending a top-tier college, entered a entrepreneurship program instead?
If it turns out that Thiel's kids are more successful than the average Harvard grad, then Thiel will have demonstrated that, at least for exceptional kids, going to an elite college may not be the best option.
Well, you still have a self-selecting group. Unless he randomly accepts some of the applicants and compares them to the other applicants, it would still be a flawed experiment (assuming he wants it to be a proper experiment, which I don't think is the point).
It's probably reasonable to assume that many of the kids attending Harvard do have access to "crazy amounts of excellent connections", $100,000, and personal mentors. Many of the kids at Harvard come from the richest, most "privileged" class in society. They go to Harvard presumably because they consider that Harvard is their best option. Harvard is not a 2nd choice. Thiel is out to demonstrate that, for this class of people, Harvard may not be the best option.
The only problem is that the kids who are excluded from Mr. Thiel's group aren't being treated the same. No one is showering them with a hundred grand of startup capital and advice from the best in the business. They're out there on their own. Maybe they get help from their parents, but that's hardly the same level of assistance as a $100k grant and advice from industry leaders.
There already exists a control group: the class of students starting elite schools in 2011. The question Thiel is asking is: What would happen to an exceptional kid who, instead of attending a top-tier college, entered a entrepreneurship program instead?
If it turns out that Thiel's kids are more successful than the average Harvard grad, then Thiel will have demonstrated that, at least for exceptional kids, going to an elite college may not be the best option.