[abelaer]

I definitely agree on small German villages having more of a tall poppy syndrome, but I wonder if it's fair to leave out Berlin (and I guess München, Hamburg and perhaps Köln) in the comparison. To make that comparison fair, you'd also have to leave out Boston, NYC, and Bay Area, which will also leave you with a quite different academic/entrepreneurial culture in the US.

[MandieD]

It is obvious that this guy hasn’t spent any time in the non-urban South or Midwest, but to be fair, a rich German teenager would have no reason to, and would find the logistics a bit challenging even if he was really motivated to learn about life in the non-glitzy parts of the US. Life sucks for boys like him in rural East Texas if they can’t get out quickly. Life would have been kind of crappy for me as a bright, ambitious girl in the rural school district I was in through 5th grade, but I was able to transfer in to the neighboring city school district for middle and high school. High school was a waste of time academically for math and science, but spending a few more years with people who were not all bright, ambitious and/or from stable, middle class families was good for me in the long run.

“… Germany feels poorer than the US.”

Rural Franconia feels richer than East Texas outside the Houston metro area.

Mr. Aschenbrenner's education is incomplete until he works for a year outside of NY/Boston/Bay Area, supporting himself only on that income.