

Skipping College makes one a better entrepreneur - jaltucher
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/living-life-is-better-than-dying-in-college/

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kevin_morrill
Ultimately you can probably be successful either way, and it has a lot more to
do with your level of focus/engagement in what you do choose to do. But there
are so many cheerleaders in the mainstream telling teenagers the only way to
succeed is college that it's refreshing to see alternatives being spoken for.

You definitely don't need to go to college to be successful. Just ask any of
these drop outs or no-shows:

Paul Allen, Richard Branson, James Cameron, John Carmack, Andrew Carnegie,
Michael Dell, Barry Diller, Walt Disney, George, Eastman, Thomas Edison, Larry
Ellison, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, David Geffen, J. Paul Getty, William Randolph
Hearst, Steve Jobs, Ingvar Kamprad, Kirk Kerkorian, Ray Kroc, Ralph Lauren,
Craig McCaw, Gabe Newell, John D. Rockefeller, Charles Simoni, Steven
Spielberg, Dave Thomas, Ted Turner, Ted Waitt, Steve Wozniak, Frank Lloyd
Wright, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Mark Zuckerberg.

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Mz
Nowhere in this article does it claim skipping college makes one a better
entrepreneur. I did a search and it doesn't even contain the word
"entrepreneur".

Short version: He's writing a book. He thinks that for the amount of debt
involved, you can go do much more gratifying things in life than college from
age 18 to 22. Oh, and he's writing a book.

My best understanding is that there is some correlation between successful
entrepreneurs (like Bill Gates) and dropping out of college. I do not know if
that correlation runs both ways. I would be very reluctant to suggest that
dropping out makes you a better entrepreneur. I think it probably goes in the
other direction: People who have what it takes to be good entrepreneurs
sometimes skip past the silly credentialing stage and get on with making
things and let the chips fall where they may. Folks who have an idea for a
business but feel the credential is important and are thus unwilling to forgo
college to focus on their business may never make the necessary commitment --
staying in school may turn out to be one of many excuses as to why they
ultimately just won't put it all on the line. But dropping out of college in
no way guarantees one will do anything worthwhile with their time/money in
place of it.

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jaltucher
I am an entrepreneur and have started and sold several successful businesses.
Based on this experience i wrote the article and concluded that having life
experience was much more valuable to my success than going to college. Hence
the title.

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beej71
I agree that life experience has much higher dollar value. But I think the bit
that in some cases you might be missing is that college can further boost the
value of the life experience.

Push to the extreme a little bit to see what I mean. What is more valuable:
grade school, or life experience? You (hopefully) wouldn't say, "What a waste
of time grade school is _! Life experience is much more valuable!" You should
be able to see how the two interrelate and feed one another. The suggestion
that life experience has more "value" than school is almost nonsensical.

_ Assuming ideal grade school.

I went to college from 1990 to 1997. Somehow I managed to get a BS/MS in
computer science and came out of school only $2000 in debt and full time job
waiting. (Thank you, HP, for the opportunity to work as an intern, and
telecommute during the school year, no less!! What a gift!) It was totally
worth it...for me!

All this being said, it is different today than it was then, and tuition is
huge. I've always been a big fan of paying for school for people who can't
afford it--they generally make us more in tax revenue later than those who
don't attend college. If you just look at the federal grants I got for
college, you're looking at about a 10,000% ROI for the feds in tax right now.
Sure, they'd have made money off me anyway, but the point is they got their
measly investment back with ease.

If I had my way, the college system (and grade school system for that matter)
would be hugely reworked, and in a way I'm guessing you'd approve of based on
your complaints. I still haven't figured out how to mesh it with the existing
accreditation infrastructure (which is a helluva thing in itself). The status
quo is pretty well entrenched.

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jaltucher
You did it the right way, to have HP help you and it sounds like you knew what
your passions are.

Right now student loan debt is the highest ever so most don't have that
opportunity. But I sincerely congratulate you on making the most of the
resources available to you. I wish I had done that.

