Recently, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said that he believed in the value of college, but mostly for math-based majors like engineering, rather than "softer stuff," like English.
"I'm sure it's fun, but the average college graduate with a degree in something like English is going to end up working in a shoe store,"he said.
There are many exceptions to that idea. People who have majored in English, sociology, history, and everything in between have been hugely successful in business, government, and technology.
Some went on to earn higher degrees, while others started out at the bottom rungs of their companies, as copywriters and sales representatives, before rising all the way to the top.
Here are 30 people who prove that success is about the person, not the major.
Mitt Romney, Bain Capital CEO and English major at Brigham Young University
Mitt Romney acquired a multimillion dollar fortune running private equity firm Bain Capital. His success in business was a popular selling point during his 2012 presidential campaign.
But he didn't get that background from an undergraduate degree. He actually graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in English before going on to Harvard to get his MBA and J.D.
Peter Thiel, 20th century philosophy major at Stanford University
Thiel was the co-founder and CEO of PayPal. He currently serves as president of Clarium Capital, and as a managing partner at venture capital firm, the Founder's Fund. He was the first outside investor in Facebook.
Despite his well-publicized criticism of higher education, Thiel got his undergraduate degree in 20th Century Philosophy at Stanford in 1989, and a law degree in 1992. His pronounced libertarian streak came out at the school, and he co-founded the conservative/libertarian Stanford Review newspaper in 1987.
Carly Fiorina, Ex-HP CEO and medieval history and philosophy major at Stanford University
Carly Fiorina was president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company from 1999 to 2005 and served as chairman of the board from 2000 to 2005.
In addition to her undergraduate history and philosophy degree, which she earned in 1976, she holds an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and an M.S. in Business from MIT's Sloan School.
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