Tech companies launching their own programs to train grads because they ‘can’t rely’ on Ivy Leagues | Latest Tech News
As the college system more and more turns into a wildly costly bastion of anti-Western sentiment, key figures in Silicon Valley are betting on options to larger training. They argue that even the Ivy League is no longer producing the best candidates — nor are they even accepting some of the most certified college students.
“It used to be the case that you could rely on somebody who went to an Ivy or Ivy-equivalent to be top notch,” said Jordan Hirsch, who runs Palantir’s semester-long intensive Meritocracy Fellowship, which accepts high faculty graduates.“But that’s not the case anymore… we suspected that there was a lot of talent being missed.”
“What we’re trying to build is what we think the college environment should be — and do it in five weeks,” Jordan Hirsch said. Courtest of Jordan Hirsch
Palantir has develop into a pioneer of the trouble to offer options to the standard four-year undergraduate degree — and now it’s planning to double the dimensions of its third semester-long intensive.
The company’s four-month fellowship begins with a five-week crash course in Western civilization — learning philosophers like Aristotle and heroes like Churchill — with courses taught by visiting professors, journalists, and researchers alongside executives such as CEO Alex Karp and CTO Shyam Sankar.
In addition to spending the 5 weeks learning the classics and historical past, college students also construct software program and later embed with a Palantir staff for their assignments.
“What we’re trying to build is what we think the college environment should be — and do it in five weeks,” Hirsch said. “The mission is to support, sustain, and resuscitate the most important institutions, both commercial and government, in the West, in the United States in particular.”
He desires college students to go away with an appreciation for “individual dignity, individual liberty, human agency, and… a real love for America, for all of its imperfections.”
Hirsch estimated that practically 700 people utilized last yr for 26 slots. Applications for the next class open Oct. 15, and Palantir hopes to take as many as 50 fellows.
Some college students are selecting this program in lieu of attending faculty, while others plan to attend after. Unlike faculty, which may now value upwards of $100,000 a yr, Palantir truly pays those in its class a month-to-month stipend of $5,400 meant to cowl the fee of housing. Several fellows said it’s a refreshing different to four-year universities and scholar loans.
Palantir, helmed by Alex Karp, has develop into a pioneer of the trouble to offer options to the standard four-year undergraduate degree — and now it’s planning to double the dimensions of its semester-long intensive. Zuma / SplashNews.com
“I believe the fellowship and the values it represents should spur reform in higher education, and encourage young people to evaluate their options rather than choose college by default,” said Gabe Botton, 19, who was in the first fellowship class and is now employed full-time at Palantir.
“In my view, the fellowship is actually a very old model of education. The United States used to prioritize meritocracy over credentialism to an extreme, a tradition that goes all the way back to the founding of our country. George Washington had no formal degree, nor did many other greats throughout our history,” added Nick Hutfliz, 20, who was also in the first cohort and works at the company.
“Palantir is offering another path into that self-taught, self-driven thesis of how to learn that I think will be appealing to many students going forward, especially as more industries become more willing to let self-starters succeed regardless of age or background,” he added.
Others see spending 4 years in faculty — at a time when the world is reworking so quickly — as an alternative value they can’t justify.
Some fellows see spending 4 years in faculty — at a time when the world is reworking so quickly — as an alternative value they can’t justify. Courtest of Jordan Hirsch
“College will be there in a year; this moment and inflection point in technology won’t,” said Sahana Crawford, 18, who is a component of the current cohort.
“I could spend four years studying hard and paying for college, hoping to work at Palantir afterward. Or I could take the chance to work there before my first semester even started,” Botton said of his motivation for doing this system. “Quite frankly, I’d much rather wake up at 22 with four years at Palantir than a degree from any college.”
Palantir, of course, has been the subject of scrutiny given its cooperation with the Department of War on varied tasks, including work tied to Iran and ICE deportations. But, satirically, that backlash has truly helped with recruiting. “Several applicants this year found Palantir because of anti-Palantir content — they saw that and thought there must be more to the story, there must be something cool happening,” Hirsch said.
The effort is a component of a broader push by tech corporations and buyers to change how universities operate — or construct options of their own.
While the Thiel Fellowship, based back in 2011, helped pioneer the thought of an different, offering younger people grants and access to buyers, it wasn’t inherently instructional.
“The University of Austin was founded to form graduates who can build the technologies of the future and know why they must build it in America, and for America,” Carlos Carvalho said. Google Maps
The newly announced Horowitz Andreessen Academy, incubated by a16z, plans to deliver aspiring founders and tech operators contemporary out of high faculty to San Francisco for a tuition-free one-year fellowship starting in fall 2027.
Students will construct their own startup concepts and tasks while learning topics ranging from AI systems design to gross sales and fundraising, taught by founders and operators.
The University of Austin — not to be confused with UT Austin — launched in 2024 and was co-founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, alongside other conservative backers, is another different. The non-profit is a four-year faculty that pairs the Great Books of the Western custom with training in arithmetic, science and AI.
“Unlike most other universities, we are not neutral about America,” the college’s president, Carlos Carvalho, told The Post. “The University of Austin was founded to form graduates who can build the technologies of the future and know why they must build it in America, and for America.”
Its college students examine Homer, the Bible and the Federalist Papers alongside AI and laptop science. The thought isn’t just to educate college students how to construct highly effective instruments, but what those instruments ought to serve.
“America is going into the most consequential technological era, and yet our country’s universities are failing to teach students what principles these powerful tools should serve,” Carvalho said.
Palantir hopes its fellowship conjures up other different fashions.
“We want this to be copied… we see this as a way to encourage universities to reform themselves,” Hirsch said. Institutions, he added, “do better with competition.”
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