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Here's where the world's most influential tech CEOs went to college — and what they studied

mark zuckerberg commencement harvard
  • College is where many figure out what they're actually interested in and determine the career they want to pursue.
  • We researched the degrees and schools attended by well-known tech CEOs, many who launched their companies or landed on the idea for their first startup while studying at college.
  • Here's where 45 CEOs in the tech industry went to school, and what they studied.

For new college students, choosing a major can feel like a decision that shapes one's life trajectory. But a degree in computer science is no guarantee that you'll create the next billion-dollar startup, and a philosophy degree won't necessarily keep you from starting a business.

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The best and brightest CEOs in tech come from a wide-range of educational backgrounds.

Some of their chosen majors link up perfectly with what they ended up accomplishing, while others decided to drop out before reaching graduation.

But whether you major in international studies like Bumble's Whitney Wolfe, or metallurgical engineering like Google's Sundar Pichai, there are plenty of ways to make it big in tech.

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Here is where 45 tech CEOs went to college and what they majored in:

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Alma Maters: Bowdoin University (B.A.), Stanford University (M.S.)

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Majors: Mathematics (B.A.), computer science (M.S.)

Hastings deferred his college acceptance for one year to continue his summer job: selling vacuums door-to-door. While at Bowdoin, Hastings ran the Outing Club ,which organized climbing and canoeing trips.

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Alma Maters: Hangzhou Normal University (B.A.), Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (MBA.)

Majors: English (B.A.), MBA.

Ma didn't get into college on his first attempt. Or his second. Or even his third. In all, Jack Ma applied to college four separate times before he was accepted and got an English degree. Now, he is worth almost $40 billion .

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Alma Maters: Harvard University (B.A.), U.C. Santa Cruz (M.S.), University of California Los Angeles (MBA)

Majors: History (B.A.) and literature (B.A.), economics (M.S.), MBA

Wojcicki comes from a family of academics, and fully expected to become one herself. Her plan was originally to get a Ph.D. in economics, but she changed course after finding she was passionate about technology. She would eventually go on to become the 16th employee hired by Google, and has been on a steady rise ever since.

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Alma Mater: Harvard University (dropped out)

Major: Computer science

Park dropped out of Harvard to pursue a career as an entrepreneur. He started Fitbit in 2007.

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Alma Maters: University of Pennsylvania

Majors: Economics

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Weiner returned to his alma mater in 2018 to give the commencement speech at the graduation ceremony for the Wharton School.

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Alma Mater: Brown University

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Major: Electrical engineering

The Iranian-born Khosrowshahi was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. In an interview with Brown's alumni magazine , he said he "really hit his stride" while studying at university.

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Alma Maters: Manipal Institute of Technology (B.S.), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (M.S.), University of Chicago (MBA)

Majors: Electrical engineering (B.S.), computer science (M.S.), MBA

Though the India-born Nadella originally wanted to be a professional cricket player, he realized early on that he would be better off pursuing his passion for science and technology. He got a bachelor's in electrical engineering because he always knew he "wanted to build things," but travelled to the United States for graduate school because he wanted a university with a computer science program.

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Alma Mater: Northwestern University

Majors: Computer science and electrical engineering

While at Northwestern, Rometty was president of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She gave the commencement speech at Northwestern's graduation ceremony in 2015.

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AP

Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania (B.A.), Stanford University (dropped out)

Majors: Physics (B.A.) and economics (B.A.), applied physics and material science

Before he was envisioning putting a man on the surface of Mars, Musk was enjoying much more pedestrian pursuits. As an undergradat the University of Pennsylvania, Musk famously rented a 12-bedroom house and turned it into a nightclub , sometimes having as many as 500 guests a night. Musk went on to Stanford to pursue a PhD program, but he dropped out after just two days to become an entrepreneur during the dot-com boom .

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AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Alma Mater: Stanford University (dropped out)

Major: Product design

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Though Spiegel did walk at his graduation , he isn'ttechnically a graduate of Stanford. The Snapchat CEO was only three classes away from receiving his degree, but ultimately decided to focus his energies on Snapchat. Safe to say, the decision paid off for him.

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Alma Maters: Auburn University (B.S.), Duke University (MBA)

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Major: Industrial engineering (B.S.), MBA

Cook established the Tim Cook Annual Leadership Scholarship for undergraduate engineering students at Auburn. At Duke, he was named a Fuqua Scholar , meaning he graduated in the top 10 percent of the MBA graduating class.

Robert Galbraith/Reuters

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Alma Mater: Harvard University (dropped out)

Majors: Psychology and computer science

Zuckerberg never did complete either of his two majors he dropped out during his sophomore year to move to Palo Alto and work on Facebook full time.

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Alma Mater: Southern Methodist University

Major: International studies

As a sophomore, Wolfe started a business selling tote bags to benefit wildlife harmed by the 2010 BP oil spill.

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Alma Maters: University of Michigan (B.S.), Stanford University (M.S.)

Majors: Computer engineering (B.S.), computer science (M.S.)

During his time at Michigan, Page took on a lofty senior project that involved hacking a PalmPilot to "do something that it wasn't supposed to do." His professor was unsure Page would be able to complete the project, but he pulled it off and he got an A+.

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Alma Mater: Princeton University

Majors: Electrical engineering and computer science

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While at Princeton, Bezos served as the chapter leader of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

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Alma Mater: Rhode Island School of Design

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Major: Industrial design

Chesky met his Airbnb co-founder, Joe Gebbia, while studying at RISD . Both Airbnb founders accepted honorary degrees at the 2017 commencement ceremony at RISD, where Chesky delivered the keynote speech.

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Alma Mater: UC Santa Barbara

Major: Business economics

As a student, Green would leave his car at home and "experiment" with other modes of transportation to try to find creative solution and better alternatives. This fascination with transportation led him to create a ride-sharing program on his own campus.

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Alma Maters: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (B.S.), Stanford University (M.S.), University of Pennsylvania (MBA)

Major: Metallurgical engineering (B.S.), material sciences and engineering (M.S.), MBA

Pichai was honored as a global Siebel Scholar while at Stanford, and a Palmer Scholar during his MBA program at the Wharton School.

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Alma Mater: University of Southern California

Major: Business administration

Benioff was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

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Alma Maters: University of Victoria (B.A.), University of Cambridge (M.A.)

Majors: Philosophy (B.A. & M.A.)

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"Studying philosophy taught me two things," Butterfield told Forbes ."I learned how to write really clearly. I learned how to follow an argument all the way down, which is invaluable in running meetings."

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Alma Mater: Baylor University

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Major: Business administration

Hurd attended Baylor on a tennis scholarship, and also served as president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

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Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D.)

Major: Business and economics (B.S.), law (J.D.)

Though Catz received a law degree from UPenn, she completed her final year of law school at Harvard before pursuing a stint in banking.

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Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania

Major: Engineering

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AP

Alma Mater: University of California at Berkeley

Major: Economics and computer science

Son spent much of his time at UC Berkeley selling early versions of Pac-Man and Space Invaders arcade games to local bars and restaurants. The lucrative business reportedly earned him his first million dollars.

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Alma Mater: Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden

Major: Engineering

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Ek left college after just eight weeks , reportedly because he realized his entire first year would be focused on theoretical mathematics.

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Alma Mater: Monash University in Australia

Major: Computing

Weisler spoke at Monash University's graduation ceremony in 2018, where he received an honorary doctorate of laws from his alma mater.

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Alma Mater: New York University

Major: Studio art

"NYU's very competitive and I was not a good student in high school," Weiss told Fashionista in 2015. "So the only way I thought I had a shot in hell of getting in was applying to the studio art program, because I heard that was easier." While at NYU, Weiss scored a coveted internship at Teen Vogue, where she ended up working for three years.

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Alma Mater: Shenzhen University in China

Major: Computer science

Ma founded Tencent with a fellow Shenzhen University classmate, Zhang Zhidong, in November 1998.

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Alma Mater: Middlebury College (B.A.), New York University (MBA)

Major: Economics (B.A.), MBA

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Schulman worked as a truck driver before getting accepted to Middlebury College for the spring semester.

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Alma Mater: New York University (dropped out)

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Major: Unknown

Dorsey first enrolled at the University of Missouri-Rolla, but he transferred to NYU after two years. He reportedly thought of the idea for Twitter while at NYU, where he dropped out a semester short of graduating and moved to the West Coast.

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Alma Mater: University of Texas (dropped out)

Major: Pre-med

Dell only completed his freshman year of college before he decided to drop out. The summer before sophomore year, Dell sold $180,000 worth of reworked PC computers, and he never returned to UT.

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Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania (B.S.), Stanford University (MBA)

Major: Economics (B.S.), MBA

Brown-Philpot was a member of Delta Sigma Theta, a predominately black sorority. At Stanford, she was president of the Venture Capital Club.

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Alma Mater: University of Maryland

Major: Mechanical engineering

Sweeney founded Epic Games while a student at Maryland , but it was called Potomac Computer Systems at its launch.

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Alma Mater: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Major: Computer science

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At MIT, Houston was a member of the Entrepreneurs Club and Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

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Alma Mater: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.S), Harvard Business School (MBA)

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Major: Computer engineering (B.S.), MBA

Stoppelman met his cofounder, Russ Simmons, while studying at U of I .

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Alma Mater: Baruch College

Major: Business

Neumann dropped out of school in 2002 to give his full attention to his struggling business venture. However, he decided to finally finish his degree in 2017, and pursued a four-month independent study to graduate.

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Alma Mater: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (dropped out)

Major: Mathematics

While attending MIT, Collison and his brother sold their first company , Auctomatic, for $5 million, and became teenage millionaires.

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Alma Mater: University of California at Berkeley (B.A.), University of Pennsylvania (MBA)

Major: English literature (B.A.), MBA

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Ginsberg played varsity soccer while at UC Berkeley. She went to Wharton School as a single mother , but says she was able to make it through because of the "deep, lasting relationships" she made while there.

Reuters/Beck Diefenbach

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Alma Mater: University of Waterloo

Major: Electrical engineering

Mehta entered college not knowing what he wanted to do with his career. He knew he had an "avid curiosity in how technology worked," which led him to choose electrical engineering.

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Alma Mater: University of Miami (B.S. & M.S.)

Major: Mechanical engineering (B.S.), biomedical engineering (M.S.)

While at the University of Miami, Abovitz threw javelin for the varsity track team and was a weekly cartoonist for the school's newspaper.

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Alma Mater: Stanford University (B.S.), University of California at Los Angeles (dropped out)

Major: Mathematics

Tenev dropped out of his math PhD program at UCLA to work on Robinhood with his cofounder and co-CEO, Baiju Bhatt.

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Robinhood

Alma Mater: Stanford University (B.S. & M.S.)

Major: Physics (B.S.), mathematics (M.S.)

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Baiju met his Robinhood cofounder and co-CEO, Vlad Tenev, while studying at Stanford.

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Alma Mater: University of Alabama (B.S. & M.A.)

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Major: Business administration (B.S.), economics (M.A.)

Hewson met her husband while at school. The couple donated $15 million to University of Alabama's business school in July 2018, and the funding is being used to build a new academic building named after them.

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Alma Mater: University of Texas at Austin (B.A.), University of California at Berkeley (MBA)

Major: Plan II liberal arts honor program (B.A.), MBA

On the day Hanke graduated from business school, he and a classmate sold the gaming company they had created. The startup, called Archetype Interactive, produced a 3D multiplayer role-playing video game called "Meridian 59."

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Alma Mater: University of California at Berkeley (B.S.), Stanford University (MBA)

Major: Industrial engineering and operations research (B.S.), MBA

Xu met his DoorDash cofounders Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Evan Moore while he was working on his MBA at Stanford. The four students first tested out their food-delivery idea by doing orders for students and campus groups.

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