As the founder of Microsoft and one of the richest people in the world, Bill Gates is one of the most significant figures in the history of computer technology. Does he have a college degree?
Bill Gates does not have a college degree. He enrolled at Harvard College in 1973 to study pre-law but also studied mathematics and took a graduate-level computer science course. Gates left Harvard after two years, opting instead to start his own computer software company. He would have been allowed to return to Harvard, had his company failed, but this was not the case as Microsoft became hugely successful.
For more on Bill Gates’ education and his choice to leave Harvard, read on.
Early Education
Bill Gates, the son of attorney Bill Gates Sr, felt that he was being encouraged to choose law as his career from an early age. His parents fostered a competitive environment in the home, both recreationally and academically, rewarding their children for winning and penalizing them for losing.
At 13, his parents enrolled him at Lakeside School, a private preparatory school in Seattle, where he first discovered his affinity for computers.
A rummage sale, held by the school’s Mothers’ Club, enabled them to purchase a Teletype Model 33 ASR computer for the school. Gates was in the eighth grade and was excused from math in order to spend more time on the computer, practicing programming.
His first computer program allowed the user to play tic-tac-toe against the computer, where it had previously required two players.
Gates and his friends, who would later work together at Microsoft, were banned from using computers for a summer after apparently exploiting the computer’s programming to get free time. When the ban ended, the teenagers offered to work as programmers for the owners instead.
He graduated from Lakeside as a National Merit Scholar in 1973, scoring 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs.
Harvard College
Gates enrolled at Harvard College in late 1973, choosing to honor his parents’ wishes by choosing a pre-law major. He also studied mathematics and participated in graduate-level computer science courses, ensuring he could continue his own development in computing while earning his degree.
During his time at Harvard, Gates created an algorithm for sorting pancakes, part of a longstanding problem-solving class at the college. Gates’ solution to the problem was the fastest at the time and held this record for more than three decades.
Gates had met Paul Allen during his high school years and the two remained friends, with Gates joining Allen in working at Honeywell in 1974. When Gates and Allen witnessed the rapid development of new computer hardware in the mid-70s, they saw the potential in one day starting their own company.
In 1975, Gates left Harvard with the blessing of his parents in order to pursue his goal of starting a company. Officially, he was only on leave from the college and could have returned if things hadn’t worked out, so his leaving was not as reckless as it might appear at first glance.
Gates Today
The Harvard Crimson, the college’s student newspaper, has called Gates “Harvard’s most successful dropout”. Considering his decision to leave led to his founding Microsoft and becoming the richest person in the world for many years, this seems a fair statement.
Despite never returning to Harvard to finish his degree, the college did honor him with an honorary doctorate in 2007. At the ceremony, Gates joked that he had been invited to speak at graduation instead of orientation because he was a bad influence, being a dropout himself.
Though he took a chance by leaving college, Gates has urged people not to follow his example by dropping out of education before receiving a degree. Though college isn’t an absolute requirement for achieving success, it can be highly beneficial to a person’s future prospects.