Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs are 3 of the top billionaires in the world famous for their stories of getting rich, even though they haven’t graduated from college. But there’s one important thing you need to keep in mind: College dropouts are the exception, not the rule.
While tech unicorns write world-changing algorithms in their dorm rooms before they drop out, there are thousands of highly successful people who hone their talents while they were students. They also assert that such success would not have been possible without the knowledge and networks built into the university.
However, not everyone has a genius mind that can change the world like the above billionaires.
Billionaire Bill Gates always encourages people to read books. Photo: CNBC.
In early May, Ramsey Solutions published a research report based on the largest survey of millionaires ever, with 10,000 Americans participating. The results show that 88% of respondents have a bachelor’s degree, 52% have a master’s degree or doctorate.
Or the October 2017 Forbes report found that 84% of America’s 400 wealthiest individuals graduated from college. Of those 400, 23% (more than a quarter) have a bachelor’s degree from an Ivy League school like Harvard or Yale.
Learning may not be the only way to success, but it is the most sustainable and effective way. Formal education teaches us how to use our brains to innovate and solve problems. This is part of the reason most successful billionaires are so well educated. The value of education lies not only in what one learns but also in training the mind on how to function more effectively.
The benefits of lifelong learning are enormous. You can study anywhere and anytime, through reading books, listening to podcasts or learning from friends and colleagues…
American businessman Steven Ballmer is a prime example of how learning is the foundation for success. He graduated valedictorian at a private college prep school, scoring a perfect 800 on the math SAT. Ballmer later studied applied mathematics at Harvard University. During his studies, he entered the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition but did not win.
That winner’s name was Bill Gates and hired Ballmer shortly after founding Microsoft. Here, Ballmer became president and chief executive officer. Currently, he is the 11th richest billionaire in the world with a fortune of 80.4 billion USD.
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Photo: The Economic Times
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani attended Stanford University’s illustrious MBA program, but he did not complete the program to help his father grow the family business – Reliance Industries Limited. Even so, Mukesh Ambani believes his time at Stanford still had a significant impact on his career.
The billionaire often highlights the influence of American economist and Stanford professor William Forsyth Sharpe, saying he is “the kind of teacher who makes you think out of the box”.
Besides the lessons of getting rich, billionaire Bill Gates also shared many times about his favorite books. In the villa called “Xanadu 2.0” located in Medina city (Washington, USA), billionaire Bill Gates has a remarkable library room, measuring more than 195 square meters with two filled bookcases. Billionaire Bill Gates also regularly shares his favorite titles on his website.
Or Apple co-founder Steve Jobs attended Reed College in Portland but dropped out after six months. However, Steve Jobs continued to check out the courses he was interested in after dropping out.
The moment you think there’s nothing left to learn is when you kill yourself with your own potential to become a billionaire. Especially if you are interested in building wealth through invention or innovation, you need to be open-minded, curious and always learning. Those qualities allow you to see old things in a new light, to spot the potential for change and profit, while others see only what has already been done.
If you have the opportunity to talk to billionaires, you will notice that they always claim to be students, not teachers. In fact, most successful people will pay a lot to hone themselves in areas where they fall short. They will join organizations, associations and groups to practice a skill or learn something new. That is the basic difference between successful people and unsuccessful people.
By Entrepreneur
Source: Vietnam Insider