Thiel's program is designed to generate startups. It should not be surprising that it generates more startups than other programs designed to reward endeavors other than generating startups.
It really does seem that plain of a truth to me, too. What % of Rhodes scholars enter with dreams of founding a “unicorn”? Probably a negligible fraction of that same % of Thiel fellows, which I’d imagine is ~100%. That the non-Thiel group then goes own to found a negligible fraction of those companies isn’t awkward for colleges; it’s a reflection of the different values held by members of our society.
Meanwhile, whose interests are served by future unicorn founders being plucked away from the liberal arts, or from the connections and experiences they would’ve had in college with people very unlike Peter Thiel?
Yeah. Another obvious point of comparison would be Ycombinator (or more specifically early Ycombinator when it took fewer startups with traction and more recent grads the YC partners really liked even if their ideas weren't fully formed)
In comparison to that, Thiel's success rate looks a bit more ordinary.
Rhodes scholarships etc on the other hand are a fair bit more successful at generating academics and researchers and mid level managers from backgrounds that don't usually become mid level managers, because that's what they're for
