TIL Valve founder, Gabe Newell, attended Harvard in 1980 but dropped out to work at Microsoft in 1983. He spent 13 years working at Microsoft. Later, he stated he learned more in 3 months at Microsoft than he ever did at Harvard.

[u/MarineKingPrime_]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabe_Newell

[u/9throwawayDERP]

Many. I knew a bunch that took leaves of absences to pursue things from sports to companies. Nearly all come from well-off backgrounds. Most came back in a couple years, having either failed or given up.

I think most of them are now lawyers or upper management in big business.