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From the end of TFA: Bill Gates could never have been the Dean of Admissions at Stanford, but the Computer Science building at Stanford carries his name. sigh,

From the end of TFA: Bill Gates could never have been the Dean of Admissions at Stanford, but the Computer Science building at Stanford carries his name. sigh, i wish people would stop using Gates, Zuckerberg, and other drop-outs from elite colleges to rally up salt-of-the-earth populist propaganda like "oh you can come from humble down-to-earth roots and be a college drop-out and still be a billionaire!" many of these guys came from highly-educated, upper-middle-class families and went to elite private high schools and colleges. the true populist heroes are lurking here amongst the HN readership ... people who have successful autonomous small businesses that are making a good living.

dabent 16y ago
I think that's a really good point. - Gates, Allen: Harvard - Bezos: Princeton - Page, Brin, Yang, Filo: Stanford - Zuckerberg: Harvard All these had the brains, drive and position to at least get accepted by a top-notch school. But that got me thinking, what exceptions are there? I thought of Jobs/Wozniack, but what other big hitters out there went somewhere besides and A-list school? I know they are out there, especially the multi-million dollar hits, but naturally, the press doesn't mention someone's school, unless it's a big name.
- mwerty 16y ago
  Paul Allen went to Washington State University. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen
- TimothyFitz 16y ago
  Perhaps not so well known (which is to say, I didn't know this): Woz was a UC Berkeley dropout, but after Apple went public he went back and got a B.S. in EECS.
- daniel-cussen 16y ago
  Jobs dropped out of Reed.
- mkrieg 16y ago
  The only one that comes to mind is Michael Dell (UT Austin)
- elblanco 16y ago
  Not sure if this is what you are thinking exactly but: Sam Walton - University of Missouri Mike Duke - Georgia Tech Rex Tillerson - UTx - Austin Alan Mulally - U Kansas Warren Buffet - UPenn, U Nebraska-Lincoln, Columbia James Sinegal - AA from San Diego City College Bernard Marcus - Rutgers Arthur Blank - Babson Ron Brill - Fairleigh Dickinson George Dayton - nothing after HS Charles Rudolph Walgreen - nothing after HS Michael Dell - U Tx Austin Marcus Goldman - Nothing after HS Richard M. Schulze - Nothing after HS I think I'll stop. I'm just going down the Fortune 500 list, and if the company has an identifiable founder that didn't go to an A-list school for their education I'm listing them (I tossed in a couple CEOs as well). Schulze (Best Buy) is at #45 so I think that paints the picture. Maybe a better question is, if the A-list schools are supposed to be so much better than other schools, why aren't the better represented in this list. Hell U Texas-Austin has about as many as Harvard and it's a state school.
MaysonL 16y ago
And then there's Edward Fredkin, who dropped out of Caltech after a year, and later (without a degree) became a full professor at MIT, as well as founding a number of companies.

dabent 16y ago

I think that's a really good point. - Gates, Allen: Harvard - Bezos: Princeton - Page, Brin, Yang, Filo: Stanford - Zuckerberg: Harvard All these had the brains, drive and position to at least get accepted by a top-notch school. But that got me thinking, what exceptions are there? I thought of Jobs/Wozniack, but what other big hitters out there went somewhere besides and A-list school? I know they are out there, especially the multi-million dollar hits, but naturally, the press doesn't mention someone's school, unless it's a big name.

mwerty 16y ago
Paul Allen went to Washington State University. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen
TimothyFitz 16y ago
Perhaps not so well known (which is to say, I didn't know this): Woz was a UC Berkeley dropout, but after Apple went public he went back and got a B.S. in EECS.
daniel-cussen 16y ago
Jobs dropped out of Reed.
mkrieg 16y ago
The only one that comes to mind is Michael Dell (UT Austin)
elblanco 16y ago
Not sure if this is what you are thinking exactly but: Sam Walton - University of Missouri Mike Duke - Georgia Tech Rex Tillerson - UTx - Austin Alan Mulally - U Kansas Warren Buffet - UPenn, U Nebraska-Lincoln, Columbia James Sinegal - AA from San Diego City College Bernard Marcus - Rutgers Arthur Blank - Babson Ron Brill - Fairleigh Dickinson George Dayton - nothing after HS Charles Rudolph Walgreen - nothing after HS Michael Dell - U Tx Austin Marcus Goldman - Nothing after HS Richard M. Schulze - Nothing after HS I think I'll stop. I'm just going down the Fortune 500 list, and if the company has an identifiable founder that didn't go to an A-list school for their education I'm listing them (I tossed in a couple CEOs as well). Schulze (Best Buy) is at #45 so I think that paints the picture. Maybe a better question is, if the A-list schools are supposed to be so much better than other schools, why aren't the better represented in this list. Hell U Texas-Austin has about as many as Harvard and it's a state school.

MaysonL 16y ago

And then there's Edward Fredkin, who dropped out of Caltech after a year, and later (without a degree) became a full professor at MIT, as well as founding a number of companies.