Most "rules" in life are suggestions of varying strengths. Screening for "college graduate" is just a way of asking for a baseline level of education and polish

Most "rules" in life are suggestions of varying strengths. Screening for "college graduate" is just a way of asking for a baseline level of education and polish. If you can demonstrate that in another way, you'll be totally fine -- it may take more effort to prove this without a diploma, but it's totally possible. The CTO of EMC is an IBM Fellow... and has a B.S. in Finance from Marist College.