Where Did Elon Musk Go to College? From Queen’s to Success

Elon Musk attended Queen’s University in 1989 and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania on scholarship in 1992. He earned two bachelor’s degrees from Penn and went for a Ph.D. at Stanford University, but he didn’t complete his degree.

Elon Musk, the CEO and Founder of The Boring Company, has many hats on his head. His success story started in academia, which shaped his entrepreneurial personality.

Today, I’ll share with you the entire educational journey of Elon Musk, like where he went to high school, college, and university. Further, I’ve compiled many facts and struggles from his tweets on X (formerly known as Twitter).

• Elon Musk attended Pretoria Boys High School in South Africa back in 1971.
• Musk completed two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
• He attended Stanford University for a Ph.D, but dropped out after 2 days.

Yes, Elon Musk attended college at Queen’s University after graduating from the Pretoria Boys High School, as confirmed by his Tweet.

This is a pretty awful lie. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. Worked on my Mom’s cousin’s farm in Saskatchewan & a lumber mill in Vancouver. Went to Queens Univ with scholarship & debt, then same to UPenn/Wharton & Stanford.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 28, 2019

He left South Africa by himself when he was just 17, and later, Elon Musk’s mother, Maye, moved to Canada along with Musk’s brother, Kimbal, and sister, Tosca Musk. As CNBC confirmed, Maye has Canadian citizenship, which she transferred to Musk and his siblings.

Elon Musk was transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, from where he completed two bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Economics. In addition, he was on scholarship at Penn, yet he had ended up with $100,000 in debt.

Elon Musk enrolled at Stanford for a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Materials Science but dropped out after two days to pursue startups, per Yahoo Finance.

After dropping out, Elon and his brother, Kimbal, decided to start an online city guide software, Zip2. This software was used to help businesses and newspapers show maps, listings, and directions to their readers.

Elon described how he started his first software-guided company in his tweet:

We started Zip2 with ~$2k from me plus my overclocked home-built PC, ~$5k from my bro & ~$8k from Greg Kouri (such a good guy — he is greatly missed).

My Dad provided 10% of a ~$200k angel funding round much later, but by then risk was reduced & round would’ve happened anyway.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 28, 2019

Later on, he sold the company to Compaq for a rough price of $300 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. He used this money to launch X.com, an online financial services platform that eventually became PayPal.

• Full Name: Elon Reeve Musk
• Birth Date: June 28, 1971
• Zodiac Sign: Cancer
• Birth Place: Pretoria, South Africa
• Age: 53 Years.
• Elon Musk Education: Dual Bachelor’s Degrees
• Elon Musk High School: Pretoria Boys High School
• Elon Musk High School Graduation Year: 1988.
• Height: 6’ 2’’ (1.88 m).
• Children: Nevada Alexander Musk, Griffin and Vivian Musk, Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk, X AE A-XII Musk, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, Strider and Azure Musk, Techno Mechanicus, Arcadia, Romulus, and Seldon Lycurgus
• Net Worth: $436.1 Billion

Here, I’ve compiled some of Elon Musk awards and achievements over time.

1. Royal Aeronautical Society’s Gold Medal: 2012
2. Fortune Businessperson: 2013
3. Edison Achievement Award: 2014
4. Explorers Club President’s Award: 2014
5. Honorary Doctorate in Engineering and Technology from Yale: 2015
6. IEEE Honorary Membership: 2015
7. Oslo Business for Peace Award: 2017
8. Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS): 2018
9. Order of the Direkgunabhorn (Thailand cave rescue): 2019
10. Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication (Starmus Festival): 2019
11. Forbes’ Most Innovative Leader (Joint 1st): 2019
12. Axel Springer Award: 2020
13. Time Person of the Year: 2021
14. Financial Times Person of the Year: 2021
15. National Academy of Engineering Member: 2022
16. Order of Defence Merit (Brazil): 2022
17. Guinness World Record for Largest Personal Wealth Loss: 2023

Well, you have now come to know about Elon Musk’s educational journey from his High School to Stanford and entrepreneurial success.

Do I miss any query? Or you have a different kind of question? Ask me in the comments, and I’ll try to give you a satisfactory answer.

Further, Edulize has started a series on where Successful Personalities go for education. And till now, I’ve covered:

• Donald Trump
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Taylor Swift
• Patrick Mahomes

If you want me to add your favorite person to the list, then do let me know in the comments!