Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

WATCH: Mark Zuckerberg Gets Into Harvard, Dad Kvells

In 2002, Mark Zuckerberg (clad in tasteful plaid pajamas) checked his email to find out whether he’d been accepted to Harvard. His dad, Edward Zuckerberg, filmed the occasion. And plotzed. The more sanguine Zuckerberg, his son, sat fairly calmly on the bed, processing what that acceptance meant.

What neither of them knew then was that Mark Zuckerberg would never earn that degree.

Mark posted the video because he’s about to go back to Harvard to give the commencement address and accept an honorary degree.

As Dan Sachs, a colleague of Zuckerberg, posted to Facebook’s CEO page, that’s a “[v]ery roundabout way to avoid Harvard’s core curriculum requirements.”

To which Zuckerberg replied, “That was definitely not my plan. Although before I went to college, my mom bet me I’d drop out and my younger sister bet me she’d finish college before me. I bet them I’d get a degree. Now I suppose the cycle is complete.”

To the extent that an honorary degree is actually a degree, I suppose he’s right, but his younger sister earned hers, whereas Zuckerberg has, basically, bought his. Mind you, it’s definitely worth giving up a Harvard degree to become the richest and most influential (not most powerful) person in the world. (Though it wouldn’t be worth giving up a Yale degree for that.)

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.