Peter Thiel Fellowship
/ˈpiːtər ˈθiːl ˈfelərʃɪp/
UncommonA program that pays young people $100,000 to drop out of college and build a company.
In tech circles, being a Thiel Fellow is a serious credential that carries more weight than a college degree. The program is also a lightning rod for debates about whether elite founders are being given a fast track that is not accessible to most people.
Real-world examples3 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | She's a Thiel Fellow. Left Harvard sophomore year to build this thing. | The person left an elite university to participate in the fellowship and start a company. | x, 2023 |
| 02 | The Thiel Fellowship is honestly a better signal than a Harvard degree at this point. | Being accepted into the program indicates talent more reliably than attending an elite school. | x, 2024 |
| 03 | Got rejected from the Thiel Fellowship twice. Third time applying. | The person has tried multiple times to get into the program. | reddit, 2022 |
Use it when
- Referring to the actual fellowship program or one of its recipients.
- Discussing the idea of incentivizing talented people to skip college.
- Describing someone's background in startup culture conversations.
Do not use it when
- You mean someone just dropped out of college without any program or support.Use “college dropout” instead.
Variations and related forms
Origin and context
Founded by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, in 2011. Created to fund young people who Thiel believed would be held back by staying in college.
- First seen
- 2011
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/peter-thiel-fellowshipUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0