True University was a great success.  In two jam-packed days, I experienced an entrepreneurship bootcamp where I learned about topics including design, the early stages of a startup, engineering, and networking.   World class speakers came to “drop some knowledge” on the True family.  Vivek Wadwha was one of those speakers.  He presented new and exciting research on venture capital from the point of view of the entrepreneur.  If you know anything about Wadwha, you know that he is intelligent and very strong in his opinions.  One specific opinion that he expressed at the conference and has expressed in the past is his stance on Peter Thiel’s 20 under 20 fellowship.  Wadwha is vehemently opposed to the idea of the Thiel Fellowship and even wrote a post on TechCrunch titled “Friends Don’t Let Friends Take Education Advice From Peter Thiel.”

Both Thiel and Wadwha seem to take a pretty extreme position on the topic of education.  I wanted to talk a little about this because I have opinions that lie somewhere between Thiel and Wadwha.

Thiel’s group of 20 young individuals is a rather self-selecting group.  One winner left Stanford’s Neuroscience Ph.D. program, another matriculated at MIT when she was 14, another has worked for Microsoft, Stanford, and Mozilla… you get the point.  These are all highly successful individuals who probably will end up doing amazing things.  If you apply Thiel’s vision to the average college student, does it still work?  Can you give just any motivated student who wants try out their idea a large sum of money to just go for it?  I don’t think this is what Thiel is saying but I think this might be how Wadwha is interpreting Thiel’s vision.

In Wadwha’s research, his team found that a student from an elite university isn’t anymore likely to build a successful companies than a student from a “non-elite” university.  Thiel argues that we are amidst a higher education bubble where students and employees are overvaluing degrees.

I find it particularly amusing that two of the most vocal advocates of dropping out of college are Peter Thiel and Mike Arrington—both of whom completed Stanford Law degrees. College dropouts Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are strong proponents of finishing your degrees. Even Steve Jobs talks about the importance of liberal arts education.  -Wadwha

So is Thiel saying that everyone should drop out of school and try to work on an impacting venture?  No, I certainly don’t think so.  However, he is saying that if you are a bright, accomplished, young individual like the 20 former-students that he selected then why would you postpone your venture?  Go for it and go for it with a full head of steam.  School doesn’t go away.  Maybe the venture fails.  Maybe there is another venture that follows.  Maybe not.  Regardless, the option of returning to complete your education is usually there.

 “Everyone thinks kids in inner-city Detroit should do something else,” Thiel says. “We’re saying maybe people at Harvard need to be doing something else. We have to reset what the bar is at the top.”

A commenter on a TechCrunch post, Peter Thiel: We’re in a Bubble and It’s Not the Internet. It’s Higher Education presented an interesting point:

And here’s what I think will change the game: alternative signaling and credentialing mechanisms. When universities no longer have a monopoly (or near-monopoly) on signaling/credentialing we’ll witness a sea change. I’d offer that this is already starting to happen in certain parts of industry. Would you rather hire an engineer with a lot of GitHub followers, a great reputation on Stack Overflow and/or someone who is a Y Combinator alum or would you rather higher a Stanford or MIT grad?

Are  we slowly approaching a crossroads where employers, on a wide scale, will hire based on true merit like Stack Overflow / Quora reputation or the quality of personal projects?  I think those types of qualifications will certainly become more and more commonplace. Does this mean that people shouldn’t go to school at all? Of course not. Often times, being surrounded by intelligent students in a university setting spawns ideas and builds networks for starting a venture.  But if you feel that you are ready to jump in and build something, why not take some time off?   That being said,  I think both Thiel and Wadwha need to take a less extremist view of education.  It’s a highly situational thing.  Some say Thiel is doing it as a PR stunt for himself, which may be true.  Regardless, I think you should go with your gut.  If you feel that you have a solid plan, go for it and go for it in a big way.  Don’t think of formal education as some omnipotent force that will grant you all of your wishes but at the same time, don’t underestimate its value.

Note: This was originally written by Summer TEC Intern Theodore Worcester on theTrue Ventures TEC Program Blog.  It was reprinted here with his permission.