Peter Thiel’s Fellowship Program Taps Into Broad Disenchantment With Academia, Experts Say

As frustration with wokeness both in universities and corporate America surges, some young innovators will actively pursue a nontraditional route.

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 21, 2016. Alex Wong/Getty Images

As billionaire venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel gets down to the wire in his evaluation of applications for participation in his Thiel Fellowship, the controversial program—which has had 271 participants since its inception in 2011—has come in for renewed scrutiny. It continues to have passionate backers and vociferous critics, and the concept behind it has been the subject of vigorous debate and discussion in the national media.

Those chosen as fellows will drop out of or skip attending a college or university and will instead each receive a grant of $100,000 to start a venture in an evolving field such as financial technology (“fintech”), cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence (AI), driverless vehicles, neuroscience, or the science of longevity; they also receive input from advisers with decades of experience in the relevant field.