The Zuckerg Effect: Thiel Fellows and College Dropout Entrepreneurs

This effect is very real. I'm an engineering student at U of I, and there are a lot of engineers (especially Computer Scientists) here who are just itching to drop out the second one of their ideas catch on. What I think they fail to realize is that you need much more than an idea. You need to have resources and solid foundation, or at least some proof of concept, before you can make such a drastic life decision. In the majority of cases, finishing your time at college is the best way to prepare yourself to make your ideas successful.

In my opinion, this effect stems from a misunderstanding in this now popular hacker-startup culture. Students are getting the idea that forming a startup is the end goal, when in fact it's just the beginning of a long road to being successful.

The Zuck/Thiel effect is not a trend, it's an extraordinary exception. Stay in school, kids.

Clearly there are numerous successful entrepreneurs without college degrees, but would they have been even better served with 4 years of college under their belt?