[Narrator] 20 Thiel winners

all under age 20

win 100,000 dollars to drop out of school

and pursue our big ideas.

It's time to move to San Francisco and get to work.

Who will make their dreams come true?

This is Teen Technorati.

I'm working on software to help developers monetize

their applications.

I'm working on improving the decoders and hardware in

neuro prosthetics.

Creating new computer interfaces that use your

sense of touch.

Educational games.

Revolutionize the satellite development industry.

To make healthcare more transparent and efficient.

I'm working to cure cancer.

(upbeat music)

I moved basically my entire life from East coast to

West coast here for this.

The biggest change is gonna be waking up every morning

without any to-do list but my own, and that's totally

different from you know, the past 20 years where it's

been like wake up at this time, go to school at this point,

it's just a totally free experience.

Taking the fellowship was a very difficult decision

for me because I only had one more year of school left,

and my parents were not happy about me dropping out.

They told me I was an idiot.

In their generation, if you didn't go to college then

you weren't going to find a job.

They're definitely freaking out.

They're hoping that I quit the fellowship early,

they're like hoping that by the end of summer I decide

to go back to school.

I got an infinity sign and birds and underneath is strength

I'm hoping that it will remind me to stay strong

and follow my dreams as cheesy as that sounds.

Yeah I'm basically like cancelling my housing for

next year, because I don't think I'm gonna

go back to school.

It was like one of the symbolic steps, like I left

my previous life behind and decided for the future.

Right now my project involves working in healthcare and

making actionable change in it.

My longterm dream would be to be doing something

that I love and find meaning in life,

that is why I chose to take the fellowship.

This is a wonderful thing for kids who are incredibly

self-driven, but between 90 and 95% of startups fail.

What, actually are these kids being prepared for

down the line?

There are many reasons one goes to college that have

nothing to do with the content of what's being taught.

The idea of dropping out of school is controversial

but I know I'm making the right decision.

My friends kept on joking with me that I was going from

one frat to another and I was like these kids are

very, very scientifically-minded,

they're all absolutely brilliant,

three months of living in a house with 12 of us?

Imagine how much thinking is going to get done,

imagine how much tangible progress.

I think I see you, I think I see you are you on the phones?

Yes, wait I'm gonna yell your name.

Jaime. I see you.

(upbeat music)

I made it.

(laughs)

Hey what's going on?

Hey.

Hey, wanna show me around?

I have no idea where I'm-

Yeah, sure.

Dining room table, there's some bedrooms.

Wow.

Second kitchen.

Not a bad place to be.

Wow, very different.

I was actually really confused where it was,

uh, this looks kinda run down, (laughs)

maybe I shouldn't have moved here, and then we went in

and it was amazing.

This place is actually really-

I'm liking this place.

I like this place.

(laughing happily) This is nice.

My name is Tom Currier, I'm a 2011 Thiel Fellow

and I run a company called Campus, which is a network

of community houses.

So this house is a little bit different than our other ones

because it's just Thiel Fellows, but I think the interesting

thing that we're doing in Campus is recreating that same

atmosphere of like an intellectual vibe.

You can have these like interesting conversations

that you do as in college, but in your home.

And because of its locations on 18th and Mission,

we wanted to make it have sort of an edgy vibe.

These are two bedrooms I believe they are both

available right now.

If you guys want to choose your rooms, go for it.

You gonna go first?

Uh yeah I mean this one's awesome.

(laughs)

That one seems actually pretty nice.

Yeah, it seems this is my room I guess

for the next three months.

I got this, this is my sort of lucky charm.

I'm gonna make it feel more like home.

(Sighs) We're gonna go eat now.

(laughs)

It's a lot of change.

Super fun.

Excited and scared at the same time.

Woooo.

Yeah, you know.

[Narrator] Tune into the next episode of Teen Technorati

when our orientation hits us with a big reality check.

And be sure to subscribe to the Wired Channel.