[stackcollision]

If college really isn't for you then so be it, it's your decision. But dropping out because these famous people did it is really stupid. For every one dropout who turns into Gates, there are thousands who go hungry every night (anecdotal, yes, but I know at least two).

Dropping out != a path to success in its own right. The reason these famous dropouts are successful is because they were either intelligent and worked hard, or they got lucky (iirc, Zuckerberg only dropped out after he had a viable product, so that should hardly count).

It seems to me that the media is pitching dropping out of college as a magic pill. If you're ready to put your head down and work your butt off then more power to you, but getting out of school isn't even half of step one.

[_random_]

Zuckerberg and Gates would not be hungry, not with their family background.

[maratd]

> there are thousands who go hungry every night.

Hyperbole much? I don't think a single person ever went hungry because they didn't get a piece of paper that says they're super duper smart.

[stackcollision]

As I said in my post, it's anecdotal yes, but I know at least two people who are in this situation.

Take one of them for example: She can't afford to eat every night. She can't get a good job in this economy, and she's got debts from the portion of college she did attend that are weighing her down. The loan providers aren't going to forgive those debts just because she didn't finish.

But yes, I knew someone was going to call me out on hyperbole as soon as I posted that. Perhaps a better way to say it is that the vast majority certainly don't become humongously successful like we are being led to believe they will.

[jamielee]

She probably should not have gone to college in the first place if she had to take out a large amount of debt.

She doesn't sound like a Gates or a Zuckerberg. They voluntarily dropped out of college because they knew there was something better they could pursue. Did she drop out because she had a business idea or did she burn out? There is a difference.

[alaskamiller]

A degree won't necessarily help her situation.

[mikeash]

I love the irony of calling someone out for hyperbole and then saying there isn't "a single person ever" who went hungry because they don't have a degree. Really, there's not a single person in the history of the world who ended up starving but would have succeeded with a degree?