In 1995, Elon Musk made a decision that would forever alter the course of his life and the tech industry. After enrolling in a PhD program at Stanford University for applied physics and materials science, Musk made the bold choice to leave the prestigious institution after just two days. This seemingly rash move—especially by someone with Musk’s intellect and academic potential—would come to symbolize his early understanding of what truly motivated him: the opportunity to create, innovate, and disrupt industries.

The Stanford Decision: A Fork in the Road

Elon Musk’s decision to leave Stanford was hardly a spur-of-the-moment choice. It came during the height of the internet boom, and Musk recognized that the rapidly growing tech industry offered far greater opportunities than academia. Despite the allure of a promising academic career, Musk understood that the emerging world of online technology was where he could make his biggest impact.

“At Stanford, I quickly realized there was more potential in the internet boom than in academia. I didn’t want to be bogged down in theory—I wanted to build things,” Musk later admitted in interviews. This realization led him to step away from his PhD program, marking the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey.

Instead of diving deeper into academia, Musk co-founded Zip2, a company aimed at providing city guides for newspapers. This decision would eventually lead him to the development of multiple companies, including PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla. The rest, as they say, is history. Musk’s move from Stanford, though unconventional, turned out to be the right one, shaping him into one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time.

The Fascination with Musk’s College Days


Recently, pictures of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s college physics homework surfaced online, drawing the billionaire’s attention and a quick response. The images, shared by a fan on social media, feature detailed handwritten calculations that Musk himself recognized. In response, the SpaceX CEO explained that the homework involved the “derivation of moments of inertia from first principles,” a complex topic in physics that deals with the rotational properties of objects. Musk also noted that a few pages appeared to be missing from the shared document.

”Some of Elon Musk’s physics homework from his days at the University of Pennsylvania,” X user Dima Zeniuk wrote.

In a second tweet, the user shared the other two pages that Musk had previously posted on X.

The images have sparked fascination among fans, offering a rare glimpse into Musk’s early academic life and intellectual pursuits. One user wrote, ”One of the main reasons for your success is that you learned the language – math and physics – necessary to understand what you want to do.”

Another commented, ”This topic is quite fascinating, and I’m always eager to learn more about the fundamental principles behind these important concepts.”

”Nice handwriting lol,” a third user commented.

Notably, Elon Musk attended Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned dual degrees in economics from the Wharton School and physics from the College of Arts and Sciences.

At the University of Pennsylvania, Musk focused on energy physics, which sparked his early interest in sustainable energy. During college, he co-founded Zip2, a software company that provided city guides for newspapers, to help fund his ambitions. Musk was accepted into Stanford’s PhD program in applied physics but left after just two days to pursue opportunities in the tech industry, marking the start of his entrepreneurial path.