I am not a student at Deep Springs, but I can speak generally to different motivations of students and myself (staff).

One of the more interesting things about Deep Springs is that the students are definitely counter cultural but also very competitive and generally academically (or at least intellectually) straight-laced/standouts. That's the zone of genius they were in before they came here, so afterwards, they go to schools you'd expect them to go. Until the 1960s, many (most?) students went to Cornell to the Telluride house (also founded by Nunn) to finish their undergrad.

What they do next is usually more interesting. When accepting the scholarship to attend deep springs, students agree to commit themselves to a life of service to humanity. At the founding, becoming a titan of industry (emulating the founder) was definitely seen as such, but, as you can imagine, ideas have shifted with generations. Pursuing advanced degrees is pretty popular, and many alums have gone on to work in higher education.

When I was getting driven in by a student for my interview as a staff member, they asked me why I wanted to work there. After I gave some answer, I asked her why she decided to study at deep springs. She told me that of her options (including top US schools), deep springs seemed to be the hardest and the only place where she would get real feedback. After listening to her answer and talking to her about it, I decided I wanted to work at deep springs because I prefer to work with that quality of student, and, if I can work with 24 or so, even better.

These guys all come in very talented academically and in some cases professionally, and, for my money, the education that they get -- especially in politics and common sense -- helps round them in a way which is very rare in other colleges or learning communities. That high-minded conversations flow from the seminar to the ditch digging crew is why I would suggest a place like deep springs (or something like the Thiel Fellowship) versus reading lots of books in your spare time and working on a farm if you are a bright but disenchanted student.

Cons are a lifestyle which is very much out of sync with the rest of the world and expectations. Any resident is committing to live in a small village (mostly 18-24 y/os, usually <10 staff and faculty) on the northern boundary of death valley.

And if you're a student, you are committing to participate in a democratic game in which your peers (and yourself) will regulate your actions, e.g. no wifi on personal devices, only shared desktop computers. But as you can imagine, it's hard to get such regulations passed.

Depending on how you cope, the entire project might be a con, ha! That is, the program demands nearly all of the time of a student for 2 years. For some, that is too much of a burden. But for many it's their first introduction to working that hard that continuously. After their time, most deep springers would be great high-potential, low-experience start up employees, for example.

An easy way of thinking about deep springs today is that it's a modern seminary or monastery.

I like working on projects like deep springs because the marriage of mind and body. It has been rare for me to find good concentrations of folks who want to physically work until they're exhausted and who are also incredibly curious (and rigorous in their curiosity) about the world.