Bill Gates: Billionaire College Dropout
“The college dropout”. Unless you’re Kanye West or Bill Gates, having this label attributed to you garners only negative attention. To be a college dropout is to be a wasted resource. “It’s a shame to see all that potential go to waste” is what most people say (behind the backs of the people to which they are referring). We hear you, though. You don’t have to say it to our faces because it shows in your eyes. Your body language expresses your contempt for us. It’s a good thing some of us don’t pay attention to your misguided attempts at encouragement, or else we may never get past the pain and onto success.
What follows is an interview conducted with Sue Anne Reed. Ms. Reed currently works for a non-profit agency in California as a Communications Manager, with a focus on online marketing. She has been working in marketing communications for the past 15 years for a wide range of industries – biotechnology, high technology and financial services. She can be found online at twitter.com….
- Did you feel expectations from family, friends or society to succeed in college? If so, what impact did this pressure have on you?
My family didn’t pressure me to attend college. My mom, step-dad and father all attended less than a year of college and none had degrees. My mom’s brother has a college degree, but that was really the only family member I knew growing up that had successfully completed a degree.
I was always known as one of the “smart kids” even though I didn’t get the best grades (can’t take a test to save my life), so it was always my plan to go to college. I didn’t feel any pressure to attend a certain college or pursue a specific degree.
- How do friends and family treat you because you don’t have a college degree?
My friends and family don’t treat me any differently because I don’t have a degree. My grandfather felt it was really important to complete my degree, but he never treated me any differently because I left school early. For my friends, it’s mostly that they know that it could really help me with my career and would like to see me succeed.
- How do you feel about yourself?
I do often feel that I’m a step below other people that do have degrees – especially advanced degrees. It’s not that I feel inferior to them and more that I feel like “that could be me.” I look at people with less work experience and see how they’ve moved up the management ladder, when I’m being told that the only thing holding me back is lack of a degree. It is definitely more pronounced amongst male managers. The female managers I’ve had in the past are more willing to look at my work experience/skill set and overlook the lack of a degree. I try not to beat myself up too much about it. I know that I’m good at my job, and that I’m a valuable asset to any company who hires me.
- Why did you leave school without a degree?
Prior to my junior year in college, I was in a bike accident and hurt my knee. During my junior year, my medical bills piled up along with money I owed to the school. Additionally, my plan was to go to graduate school after I received a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. However, all my friends in my major that were a year ahead of me were having a very hard time getting in to graduate schools due to the lack of professors with Ph.Ds teaching the English Literature courses and the quality of our coursework. Other things that happened during my junior year included me almost falling through a plate glass window.
By the end of my junior year, I was completely burnt out – financially, physically, emotionally. I couldn’t fathom paying the school for a degree that wasn’t going to get me on to my next goal. I also needed to come up with a payment to stay at the school, and it was money I didn’t have. The school I attended was also in northern Wisconsin, and my knee problems were probably going to cause me to be in and out of a wheelchair. It all just piled on.
- Do you plan to return to get a degree? If so, what is preventing you from returning in the immediate future?
I have planned to get a degree since I left school. There are three things preventing me from completing my degree: a) working a full-time job; b) health issues; c) finances and some combination of all three. I still owe significant student loan debt to the college I attended for three years. In addition, since I’ve left school I’ve had repeated battles with my health that have also cost a lot of money to take care of. I can’t afford to leave work to go to school full-time, and I don’t have the energy to take care of both a full-time job and go to school full-time.
- What is the biggest myth equated with dropouts that you would like to dispel?
Those that drop out of college are not less intelligent than other people. Also, that because we didn’t finish our degree/we don’t have that piece of paper, that it says something about our “character”. It is a myth that we can’t start what we finish.
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Many people have had to leave school for reasons other than the stereotypical “college just isn’t for me” attitude; and, many would like to return to get their degree, but existing roadblocks make it difficult. Support education reform to enable the passionate people to more efficiently achieve their dreams.
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