Bill Gates is a college drop out

One of interesting facts about Bill Gates is that he dropped out. In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates enrolled at Harvard as a pre-law student while also taking a lot of graduate-level computer science and mathematics classes. When he created an algorithm to solve a conundrum presented by Professor Harry Lewis in his combinatorics course, he swiftly won academic recognition at the esteemed university. Together with computer science theorist Christos Papadimitriou, Gates released the solution that, for more than 30 years, was the fastest.

After two years, Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with Allen to create Microsoft, originally known as Micro-Soft (a contraction of the words "microcomputer" and "software"). Having the option to go back to school had served as a safety net, according to Gates in a 1994 interview: "If things hadn't worked out, I could've always gone back to school." I had a leave of absence. "

As it turned out, Gates never went back to school. But more than 30 years later, Harvard conferred an honorary doctorate on him. In addition to accepting the honorary degree, Gates spoke at the university's commencement that year. He described his time at Harvard as "a great experience... Life in school was fascinating. I used to attend many classes that I hadn't even signed up for.