The first person who comes to mind that dropped out of Harvard University was the founder of Microsoft and billionaire Bill Gates. I would say he faired quite well without that Harvard degree. There are many Harvard graduates who went on to be successful but I believe Mr. Gates has them all beat.
He has had a lot of company in the computer industry. Michael Dell dropped out of University of Texas to go on to form Dell computers and Steve Jobs dropped out of college but managed just fine as he and Steve Wozniak went on to form Apple Computers.
Media mogul, Ted Turner was a college dropout and it doesn’t seem to have affected his career. H. Wayne Huizenga founded Blockbuster video but he dropped out of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI after only a few semesters.
Rush Limbaugh the conservative radio personality dropped out of Southeastern Missouri State University but that didn’t stop him from drawing a huge audience and succeeding in his field. He may not be liked by liberals but he has quite a following of conservative republicans.
I would not encourage my own children to avoid a college education but for the above mentioned folks I don’t think that degree would have made much of a difference in their lives financially. I wonder though if they ever wished they had seen it through even after their success. Receiving a college degree isn’t just about getting that high paying job although according to statistics it seems to help considerably. It is also about accomplishing a difficult task, seeing something through to completion and learning about things that you would never have pursued unless forced to learn it because it was part of your degree program.
It is good to see that so many people are great successes even though they didn’t complete college because many great thinkers are not a good fit for college programs. There is a certain conformity to college. You have to follow procedures and listen to professors who it seems just like to hear themselves speak. I am sure we have many young people who are currently in school with creative ideas and brilliant inventions who are ready to throw in the towel because they know they will succeed with or without that degree. They will intelligence, confidence and be steadfast and they too will be added to the list of great minds.