longest you've heard it took someone to graduate

College Search & Selection
21

<p>DH went on the 12 year plan. He started in 1972 and got his BSEE in 1985. He went to school, didn't do well, went to a community college, went back to university and didn't do well, went to work for a number of years (7), and then went back to college (different university...different program) and did very well, and graduated.</p>

22

<p>Sorry, forgot to mention that my teacher was actually at Ukansas for all 10 years. She never took more than 3 classes per semester! She also never changed her major, she was just a total burn out.</p>

23

<p>Actress Elisabeth Shue started in Wellesley, transferred to Harvard in 1985, but dropped out one semester short of graduating, to work in Hollywood for the next 15 years. She finally went back to Harvard and graduated in the year 2000.</p>

<p>Actor Matt Damon went to Harvard and was a member of the class of 92, dropped out just a few credits shy of graduation, to pursue a career in acting and filmwriting. If he ever goes back to Harvard to finish his degree, he might beat out Shue in terms of time taken off.</p>

<p>And then of course there is Mr. Gates. It's been more than 3 decades since he dropped out of Harvard. He could conceivably go back to graduate. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.</p>

24

<p>Willie Joe Namath enrolled at the University of Alabama (his SATs weren't good enough for his first choice, U of Del.) in 1961.</p>

<p>I read recently that he is working on his senior thesis this year with an eye towards completlng his B.A. degree from Alabama. 45 years to get a college degree might win the prize.</p>

25

<p>I thought Gates dropped out of MIT.</p>

<p>I went to UW Madison from 9/68 through 7/80, although I did get a BS and an MS ( and a ARCOM). I considered it a kind of reverse retirement. </p>

<p>My wife started in 69 and finished in '88 or '89, but with a PhD.</p>

26

<p>Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard. :rolleyes:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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[quote]
Said to have scored a 1590 on his SATs [4], Gates enrolled in Harvard University pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science major in 1973, where he met his future business partner, Steve Ballmer. During his second year at Harvard, Gates (along with Paul Allen and Monte Davidoff) co-wrote Altair BASIC for the Altair 8800. Gates dropped out of Harvard during his third year to pursue a career in software development.

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