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The myth of college dropouts

Success of Indian CEOs shows it’s better to complete college

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With so many success stories about college dropouts in the US, Indian chief executive officers (CEOs) are making their own mark in the trend. They struggle early on, try to push through and eventually drop out of their universities.

Sometimes they do it out of frustration, and other times because of revenue growth. Sometimes they do it hoping that things will work out, just like it did for many before them.

However, the myth around the dropout-success start-up might be overvalued in the media. There are studies to prove that an elite college education or even obtaining a graduation increases your chances of success in your professional life.

In a study done by Professors Heiner Rindermann and Johnathon Wai of Duke University, they tested this “dropout” hypothesis and came up with some interesting numbers. They studied almost 12,000 CEOs, judges, politicians, multi-millionaires and billionaires in business. Essentially, they studied some of the most powerful people in the world and realised that almost all of them (94%) had attended college at some level with almost 50% of them attending elite ones.

It may be a wiser decision to remain in college, especially if you’re studying in one of the elite ones. In fact, most of the unicorns in India have founders that are from some of the most prestigious universities in India (IIT, IIM, etc.). Founders such as Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (Flipkart), Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl (Snapdeal), Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati (Ola cabs) have graduated from some of the top universities with deep pedigrees.

One of the hottest start-up unicorn stories to come out of India a few years ago was that of Ambarish Mitra who started the widely successful company Blippar. He’s been famously called one of the most innovative founders in the tech space, and his life hasn’t been without its challenges. At age 17, he ran away from home and lived in a slum in Delhi. He won a contest in the year 1997 and won £10,000 as prize money because of his hard work and dedication.

Mitra worked his way through higher education and eventually moved to the UK for higher education. Over there, he created Blippar (valued at $1 billion at its peak) and started working with global brands including Unilever, P&G, Coca-Cola and L'Oreal. What many people don’t know about his journey is that he dropped out of the University of London in the early days.

Sandeep Maheshwari, CEO ImagesBazaar, has a different take on the drop-out experience. He dropped out of Kirorimal College, Delhi in the third year of B.Com, and went on to pursue many passions in life. From picking up a camera to creating a world record of taking more than 10,000 shots of 122 models in 10 hours, Maheshwari has experienced the ups and downs of being a drop-out first hand.

At age 26, he started a successful firm called Images Bazaar and it went on to do multi-crore turnovers shortly after. He has also become a motivational speaker now and has built a second career based on his millions of fans and followers. In his opinion, education isn’t about what you learn, it is more about how you learn. The system wasn’t working in his favour and he decided to drop out at an early age, which is something truly remarkable in a country like India.

College dropout at 17, and a millionaire at 22. Ritesh Agarwal, CEO Oyorooms, has a unique story about his drop-out experience.

“Going to college opens doors for learning in a structured fashion.”

He attended the University of London’s International Programmed provided by the Indian School of Business and Finance, Delhi, but he only did that “to keep his parents happy”.

“In my case, I was sure of my career path since I was young – I only wanted to become an entrepreneur.”

He then applied for the Thiel fellowship for the U-20 entrepreneurs and got selected. It was the best thing that could have happened to him and his experiences finally started to click together.

“I received a support grant of $100,000 and access to some of the brightest folks in Silicon Valley.”

It wasn’t always rosy for Agarwal and he’s had to go through a lot of ups and downs. From being periodically broke to making one of India’s fastest growing start-ups, he has become the poster-child for “drop-out”, whereas most people should read more about him and understand that he really is the poster-child for “working hard”.

CLASS STRUGGLE

  • The myth around the dropout-success start-up might be overvalued in the media
     
  • Sometimes they do it out of frustration, other times hoping that things will work out
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