Do you know anyone in the "20 under 20" program?

ucbalumnus
Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:29:01 +0000

While there is plenty of hype about “encouraging students to drop out of college”, it really is not that much of a risk in terms of education.

At many colleges, withdrawing in good academic standing leaves the door open to returning automatically, or with much less competitive admission hurdles than entering otherwise (though there may be time limits). So if the entrepreneurial venture fails, the student just goes back to school. If it is successful, then there may not be a need to return to college, at least not for a while.

If the student is still in high school, doing such a thing could be an interesting “gap year” activity that is fully funded. But if the entrepreneurial venture fails, then the student can just apply to colleges the usual way – and have a rather interesting extracurricular activity to add to his/her application. Of course, plenty of other students do not go immediately to college after high school; some do less flashy activities like more “ordinary” work or military service, but go to college afterward.