Why Warren Buffett Doesn’t Think You Need a Fancy Degree to Be Successful | Global News Avenue

Warren Buffett is widely regarded as one of the greatest investment ideas of all time. “Oracle of Omaha” received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University, where he studied under the leadership of legendary investors Benjamin Graham.

But despite his own education, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.brk.aThe CEO said he doesn’t care where anyone goes or whether they go to college. “I never look at where candidates go to school. Never!” he wrote in a letter to shareholders in February 2025.

Instead, Buffett believes that successful business leadership is derived from innate talent and real-world experience, rather than a prestigious diploma.

Buffett’s view on finding good business talents

In his 2025 letter Buffett Although great managers can come from prestigious schools, there are many successful business leaders who have not participated in elite institutions and have not even completed formal education.

“I’m lucky to have an education in three great universities,” Buffett wrote. “And I’m fanatically believing in lifelong learning. But, I’ve observed that a large portion of business talent is born and naturally overwhelmed with raising.”

Buffett mentioned three examples of successful business ideas that did not graduate from elite schools:

• Pete Liegl Founded Forest River, a recreational vehicle manufacturer, when Berkshire Hathaway acquired annual sales of $1.6 billion in 2005. Liegl received his bachelor’s degree from Northern Michigan University and MBA From Western Michigan University. In his 2025 letter, Buffett praised Liegl as “a person that most Berkshire shareholders don’t know, but one person contributes billions of dollars in wealth.”
• Bill Gates Withdrawal from Harvard University, Microsoft began (MSFT) and became one of the richest people in the world, although he did not encourage other students to do the same. “Even though I dropped out of school and went into a software career, getting a degree is a safer path to success,” he wrote in 2015.
• I’m Rosner The related retail store founded, a retail chain, owned 75 women’s clothing stores when it was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 1978. Buffett described Rosner as a “retail genius,” although only in the sixth grade education.

Is a diploma still important?

When Buffett attended three colleges, he said he thought the $100 public course that said “the most important degree I have.”

“It’s certainly the biggest impact in terms of my subsequent success,” he said in an interview. Arrive there: A mentor. He said he did not show diplomas from the University of Nebraska or Columbia in his office, but he continued to showcase certificates from the public.

“Some people will get a lot of money from advanced education, some will get very little,” Buffett said in an interview with Yahoo Finance in 2019. “It depends on this person, far exceeding the school.”

Research shows that college education does have important value for students, because people with higher education tend to make more money. In 2022, the median income of those with a bachelor’s degree is 59% higher than that of those who just completed high school. Only those with high school education also face higher unemployment rate Compared to those with an associate degree or bachelor’s degree.

It is worth noting that higher education results may vary widely depending on the type of school students attend. According to an analysis by the HEA team, most college graduates earn more than typical high school graduates than typical high school graduates. However, in most for-profit schools, most former students earn less than high school graduates 10 years after admission.

Meanwhile, public perceptions may be shifting to align with Buffett’s view on the value of higher education. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that about half (49%) of those surveyed said a four-year college degree is no more important than getting a well-paid job than it was 20 years ago.

Bottom line

Buffett’s comments pass the certificateism of many of today’s hiring practices. Although education can provide valuable knowledge, Buffett stresses that natural talent, practical experience and the results of proof are ultimately more important to him than someone or someone going to college.