He is trying to turn that disillusionment into an entrepreneurial advantage. His vision was on display last month as the program’s second class, of 68 fellows, sat around small tables at Venture for America boot camp at Brown University — Mr. Yang’s alma mater. At this particular session, employees from IDEO, a design consulting firm, were presenting a course on product design. The five-week boot camp also includes classes on topics like entrepreneurship, Web design and public speaking.

After the boot camp, the fellows take jobs at start-up companies in industries like e-commerce, biotechnology, finance, media and clean technology. Generally, the companies must be less than 10 years old and employ less than 100 people. Starting salaries are $33,000 to $38,000; pay increases and stock options are at the companies’ discretion.

The fellows are receiving invaluable experience, but “they are definitely making a sacrifice,” said Jeanne Markel, director of brand experience at Zappos, based in Las Vegas. She works with the Zappos founder, Tony Hsieh, on his for-profit Downtown Project to revitalize the city. Mr. Hsieh pledged $1 million to Venture for America last year, and as of August the Downtown Project will employ 14 fellows.

“The salaries are commensurate with what we would pay an entry-level employee,” Ms. Markel said, but the fellows “are the best and the brightest and could easily be making six-figures right out of college.” They are given more responsibilities and opportunities than in a typical entry-level position, she said.

In recent years, “students have become more interested in exploring the intersection of entrepreneurship and social enterprise,” said William Wright-Swadel, executive director of the career center at Duke University. “The consulting firms, the investment banks, medicine and law — those are the four dominant career paths at Ivy or Ivy-like institutions, but it’s my job to diversify the fields we are offering to students,” he said. In the last two years, six Duke students have joined the Venture for America program.

This year, applications to the program nearly doubled, to 550, with only 16 percent accepted. (Not all went on to join the program.) The average grade-point average of the fellows is 3.6. Next year the program plans to expand to St. Louis, Pittsburgh and New Haven.