For years, I have heard and seen where people associate the lack of a college degree with a lack of intelligence. Ironically, this is usually used by small minded individuals who apparently can't win an argument using facts, so they try to discredit others with childish attacks and accusations. In any event, while education is important, intelligence has little to do with paper framed on the wall. This is a list of people who have been successful in a variety of fields without the benefit of graduating college.
Harry S Truman
The 33rd President of the United States. Worked on the family farm and served in the Missouri National Guard after high school. Never attended college. He was the only president after 1870 not to earn a college degree, although he studied for two years toward a law degree at the Kansas City Law School (now the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law) in the early 1920s.
Walt Disney
He didn't even finish High School. He was later given an honorary degree, but by then had already earned tremendous success. According to the Kansas City Public School District records, Disney began attending the Benton Grammar School in 1910, and graduated on June 8, 1911, being held back a year so that Ruth could go with him. Disney later enrolled in classes at the Chicago Art Institute, where he struggled academically. Because of his early-morning paper runs, he had trouble concentrating and fell asleep in class often. He was also prone to daydreaming and doodling during class.
Michael Dell
Dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin after founding PC's Limited, later changing the company name to Dell Computer Corporation. Dell is the son of an orthodontist and grew up in a well-to-do Jewish family. He had his first encounter with a computer at the age of 15 when he broke down a brand new Apple II computer and rebuilt it, just to see if he could. Dell attended Memorial High School in Houston, Texas, where he did not excel scholastically. Reportedly one of his teachers, still currently teaching there, commented to him that he "would probably never go anywhere in life."
Thomas Edison
An inventor and businessman. Education started late due to childhood illnesses. Formal education lasted only three months, and was schooled by his mother thereafter. His mind often wandered and his teacher Reverend Engle was overheard calling him "addled". He recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint."
Abraham Lincoln
The 16th President of the United States. Essentially self educated. Self-taught, he became a leading lawyer in Illinois. His formal education consisted of perhaps 18 months of schooling from unofficial teachers. Studying every book he could borrow, he mastered the Bible, William Shakespeare's works, English history and American history, and developed a plain style that puzzled audiences more used to grandiloquent oratory.
Peter Jennings
Long time ABC News anchorman. Dropped out of high school in 10th grade. He attended Trinity College School in Port Hope Ontario. Although a member of the class of 1957, Peter left in 1955 to pursue broadcasting. Jennings also attended Carleton University, University of Ottawa, and Rider College in New Jersey. He never graduated from high school or college.
Steve Jobs
The founder of Apple Computers and CEO of Pixar animation. In 1972, Jobs graduated from high school and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but he dropped out after only one semester. When speaking at a Stanford University graduation ceremony in 2005, Jobs ironically said to the new college graduates that, after dropping out, he remained at Reed auditing classes, including one in calligraphy. "If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts," he said.
Larry Ellison
Co-founder of Oracle Corporation. He lasted until the end of his sophomore year at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but dropped out. After a summer in Northern California, he returned home to study at the University of Chicago but left after one quarter. Ending his attempts to finish college, he set out for California.
Paul Allen
Co-founder of Microsoft and one of the top three richest people in the world. Allen attended Washington State University, though he dropped out after two years to go and work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston, which placed him near his old friend again. He later convinced Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard College to found Microsoft.
Ty Warner
Toy manufacturer, owner and founder of Ty, Inc. He attended Kalamazoo College in Michigan but dropped out after a year and moved to Hollywood to commence a career in acting. He enjoyed little success as an actor and returned to Chicago. In Chicago, he started working for a plush toy maker Dakin where he became an accomplished salesman, employing clever tactics to influence the decisions of "buyers" in large stores. After nearly two decades at Dakin and a long sabbatical in Italy, Warner returned again to Chicago. He mortgaged his home and invested his life savings into founding Ty Inc. in 1986.
William Faulkner
Short story writer and novelist. Dropped out of high school shortly before graduating. Worked in his grandfather's bank and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Essay
In order for the admissions staff of our college to get to know you, the applicant, better, we ask that you answer the following question: Are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat . 400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.
But I have not yet gone to college.
This is an actual essay written by a college applicant, when applying to NYU where he now attends.
This fall, skip the epic parties and learn to make bank without getting a degree.
Blacksmith
Investment: From custom furniture design to railing repair to antique replications, blacksmithing offers big-time and small-town opportunities alike ... provided you can light a fire and forge hot metal without melting your face. Turley Forge Blacksmithing School, one of the oldest and most comprehensive programs in the U.S., charges $2,400 for three weeks training (and a certificate!). You'll learn the basics there, but you'll still need a good deal of on-the-job training and business expertise if you intend to fly solo. Jock Dempsey, a consultant who runs metalworking resource site, says it takes at least two years to bang out true blacksmith street cred. Return: Blacksmith salaries vary wildly - think $10,000-$100,000, depending on talent and whether you treat it as a hobby or a career. Either way, there's something to be said for having the lifelong ability to craft wrought-iron beds for every desperate housewife across the land.
Casino Dealer
Investment: Spend six weeks at one of the Casino College's eight U.S. locations and leave with not only the ability to deal three games but also an estimated 95 percent chance of getting a spot on the floor. Woo-hoo! Return: Starting pay is $25K-$45K, counting tips, benefits, and all the second hand stogie smoke you can hack.
Brewmaster
Investment: It's about $8,000 for the American Brewers Guild's 27-week course, which includes one week of in-person brewery training in Vermont and a five-week unpaid internship. Return: Brew pubs will start you in the mid- to high 20s and move you up quickly if you don't go all Homer Simpson. But the ceiling is $60,000 ... unless your last name be Coors or Busch.
Forest Firefighter
Investment: Agree to stay in federal service for three times the length of your two- to four-year training, and room and board for the initial portion of the Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship Program are on uncle Sam. Return: For risking your life protecting bunnies and McMansions, the government ponies up a mere $11,000 $12,500 a year. But at least Dad will finally accept you!
Air Traffic Controller
Investment: Pass the publicly available Air Traffic Selection and Training (AT-SAT) test and the FAA will pay you to attend its three- to six-year Air Traffic Control Academy. Return: Salaries start near $40,000 and can climb to $80,000 after three to five years. Plus, the industrywide average is above $100,000, which leaves you plenty to spend on Jack and Valium.
Craig Better. College Dropouts. Maxim. August 2006.
