The 'Dropout Graduation' event, organized by Thiel Fellow Ali Debow and Z Fellows founder Cory Levy, offers a unique ceremony for college dropouts. Scheduled for May 10 at the Marina Theatre in San Francisco, this unconventional graduation will feature diplomas and traditional regalia but no actual college graduates. The event aims to unite founders who have left academia to pursue entrepreneurial ventures, highlighting changing perceptions of success among the growing community of startups and dropouts fueled by initiatives like the Thiel Fellowship.
For Debow and her co-organizer Cory Levy, 'Dropout Graduation' is personal. Debow left NYU in 2024 after being accepted to the prestigious Thiel Fellowship...
Levy - who interned at Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures, and TechStars in high school - dropped out of the University of Illinois after one year to build social app startups.
The community of dropouts is at an all-time high right now,' Levy said. 'At a big group dinner of 15 or 20 people, we'll look around the table, and no one has a college degree.'
'Dropout Graduation' has everything a traditional commencement would - diplomas, caps and gowns, hundreds of registered attendees, and a class photo in front of the Palace of Fine Art - except for one key component: anyone who actually graduated from a university.
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