Success Without Schooling

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As I approach the last leg of my high school career, conversations regarding college happen at the dinner table frequently. The endless questions and mail make it hard to decide which path to choose. My family believes college is the key to success and an education will guarantee a quality profession. Subsequently, I look at all the people who have gained more prosperity than most of the world without a college education and think, “Why do I need one too?” Universities give people opportunities to be successful, but imaginative individuals can also make their own success.
Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft and richest man in the world according to Forbes 2013 list. His wealth is self-made (Biography, Gates). Gates began to show interest in computer software at a young age (Biography, Gates). His father, an attorney, and his mother had a law career in mind for him (Biography, Gates). He attended Harvard University, but with no specific field of study (Biography, Gates). Most of his time at Harvard was spent using computers (Biography, Gates). With his parents consent, he dropped out in 1975 to fulfill his dreams of creating computer software (Biography, Gates). In 1983 Gates and his childhood friend/partner Paul Allen officially announced Microsoft Windows (Biography, Gates). Gates is now worth $76 billion (Forbes, Gates).
Steve Jobs, a rival of Gates’, is a Reed College dropout (Biography, Jobs). Jobs is the creator of Apple Inc., Pixar Animation Studios, and the Macintosh software (Biography, Jobs). Six months after dropping out of college, Jobs began to sit in on creative classes at Reed (Biography, Jobs). Jobs said without those classes the Mac would not have been the same (Stanford). After Jobs’ many adventures an...

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...w.biography.com/people/coco-chanel-9244165.

The World's Most Valuable Brands." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .

"About Steve Madden." About Us: Steve Madden. Steve Madden, Ltd., 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .

Toren, Matthew. "Top 100 Entrepreneurs Who Made Millions Without A College Degree." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 19 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .

"Steve Madden." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Madden

Warner, Brian. "Steve Madden Net Worth." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .

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