The Myth Of The Successful College Dropout
Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are, quite famously, college dropouts. But their cases are the exception – not the rule.
When Facebook founder was asked to give this year’s commencement address at Harvard, he from .
Zuckerberg said, “They know we didn’t actually graduate, right?”
To which Gates replied, “Oh, that is the best part! They actually give you a degree!”
This recent exchange between two famous Harvard dropouts might lead you to think college doesn’t matter. Numerous media stories and even famous billionaires are or encouraging kids to .
While it’s true there are successful college dropouts, statistically speaking, they are not the norm. As researchers in education and talent, we found that the of the country’s success stories are college graduates, such as (Harvard), (Princeton) and (Stanford).
Success By Degrees
In a , we investigated how many of the wealthiest and most influential people graduated college. We studied 11,745 U.S. leaders, including CEOs, federal judges, politicians, multi-millionaires and billionaires, business leaders and the most globally powerful men and women.
We also examined how many people graduated from an “elite school.” ( included the eight Ivy League schools, plus many of the top national universities and liberal arts colleges consistently high in the for both undergraduate and graduate education.)
We found about 94 percent of these U.S. leaders attended college, and about 50 percent attended an elite school. Though almost everyone went to college, elite school attendance varied widely. For instance, only 20.6 percent of House members and 33.8 percent of 30-millionaires attended an elite school, but over 80 percent of did. For whatever reason, about twice as many senators – 41 percent – as House members went to elite schools.
For comparison, based on census and college data, we estimate that only about 2 to 5 percent of all U.S. undergraduates went to one of the elite schools in our study. The people from our study attended elite schools at rates well above typical expectations.
Do Elite Schools Matter?
This year, elite schools saw an in applications and selectivity. suggests there is between students who attended highly selective schools and students with similar SAT scores who attended less selective schools. At least for long-term earnings, where you go may not be critical, as long as you attend and graduate.
Yet, our data show that for students with talent and motivation to make it to the top of U.S. society, an elite college might just help you get there – whether it’s the networks you acquire or the brand on your resume.
While looking at over 11,000 successful leaders, we rarely encountered people who came from extremely poor or disadvantaged backgrounds. Helping enter elite schools could promote among future leaders.
Admittedly, the educational path of the cream of the crop may not apply to most people. So, going to college for everyone. However, if you’re a student thinking about not going to college or considering dropping out, remember that even Gates and Zuckerberg got into college. Even if you’re not aiming for mega success, doing the work to get into and graduate from college today may .
Perhaps in the future, college may not be as important to employers. But for now, college dropouts who rule the world are rare exceptions – not the rule.
This article was originally published on . Read the .
