Elon Musk has long called bullshit on the idea that a four-year college degree is the golden ticket to success in America, bluntly declaring college "overrated" and its value "somewhat overweighted." The billionaire—who snagged degrees from Penn but ditched Stanford's PhD after two days—argues that too many kids rack up massive debt for four years of partying and pointless lectures, only to graduate without jack-shit in practical skills that actually pay bills. Knowledge is free online now, he says, so skip the credential chase unless you're just there for the social scene, networking, or because you love the vibe (he even lets his own kids go for that reason). At Tesla and SpaceX, he hires based on proven badassery—ship code, build rockets, solve real problems—not diplomas, and he praises trades like electricians, plumbers, and carpenters as way more essential than another poli-sci major. With student debt crushing souls, underemployment hitting recent grads hard, and AI set to obsolete a ton of white-collar bullshit in the coming years, Musk's take is savage but spot-on: the old "go to college or fail" promise is a relic, and real winners obsess over hard problems, learn voraciously anywhere, and prove their worth through output—not some framed receipt from the ivory tower.
