The University Of Maryland’s Alleged Valedictorian Dropped Out Right Before Graduation And He’s Taking The Internet By Storm
You thought “Letter to CEO” Yelp girl was the pinnacle of misguided millennial angst? You thought wrong, bitch.
Giorgi “Gio” Managadze is a former University of Maryland Alpha Sig who claims to have been the school’s imminent valedictorian before he decided to drop out two weeks before graduation as a means of motivating himself to never stop following his dreams until they become reality. You can read his full public letter on LinkedIn here if you want (WARNING: it’s full of far too many paragraph breaks and 14 uses of the word “literally”); otherwise, here are some excerpts to give you the gist of what he was putting down.
Dear University of Maryland,
I was your Valedictorian until about a month ago and almost gave the Main Commencement Speech at graduation, but instead of giving the speech, I decided to follow my dreams, fail all my classes this semester, and drop out of school two weeks before graduation without getting a degree.
…
How did Cortes overtake the Aztec empire with only 600 men against hundreds of thousands of enemies?
After landing on the beaches of Mexico, instead of charging right into battle, he camped out on the beach, gave motivational speeches to his army for multiple days, and then burned every single one of his boats.
…
Why am I getting a degree if my dream is to not have a degree?
I don’t want a degree.
I don’t want any job that requires a degree, ever.
To me, a degree and any job that requires a degree, is an escape plan from my dreams.
I don’t need escape plans from my dreams.
I don’t need a back up plan in my life.
I don’t need a safety net.
I don’t ever want to work with anybody who thinks having a degree is more important than being fearless.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t waste any money, I fully completed my computer science major and technology entrepreneurship minor.
I got a computer science education and became a Valedictorian.
I only dropped out of school two weeks before graduation.
All I didn’t get was a piece of paper.
Gio’s reasoning, however absurd, is fairly sound. Yes, without a degree, you will now have to work harder for everything you have/want because you don’t have a fall-back. But do you know what’s better than motivation-by-fire? Not wasting tens of thousands of dollars on a degree that you never earned solely to prove a point when you could just as easily find another way to motivate yourself that won’t cause your parents to have to cross their fingers every time they say “I love you” from now on. Side note: from looking at Gio’s LinkedIn profile, you wouldn’t exactly get the impression that he didn’t earn that degree…
Looks like degrees are more important to Gio than he led us to believe.
As you’d expect, Gio got roasted in the comment section of his LinkedIn post. My favorite part about these disparaging remarks is that many of them were made by triggered middle-aged seasoned businessmen who felt as if they needed to come down from the rafters to teach this young’n a thing or two.
Gio seems like a fairly self-confident, calculating, and composed dude; I’m sure he had a great response to all these critics.
When Gio’s the new Zuck, you’re all gonna regret this..
[via LinkedIn]
Image via Shutterstock
This kid totally took some shrooms and just fucked up his life.
8 years ago at 4:09 pmUMD has no valedictorian…
8 years ago at 4:12 pmUMD administration says, “He was not the speaker at the main ceremony at the university or the college. We don’t have a valedictorian at the university, we have a medallist.”
8 years ago at 4:17 pmWhat makes it worse is that Maryland doesn’t have a valedictorian, they have a “Medalist” and this kid that dropped out was not the winner. https://www.commencement.umd.edu/university-medalist.html
8 years ago at 5:29 pmThis kid just watched the episide of the office where Andy quit his job to become a singer, literally giving a monolouge about Cortez, the aztecs, and no safety nets. Then he stopped watching the show, never seeing that Andy crashed, burned, and became a laughing stock on the internet.
8 years ago at 8:43 pmUpdate. His mom sent him to a shrink because she thinks he lost his fucking mind.
8 years ago at 11:31 pmThere’s something we’re not being told.
8 years ago at 10:43 amOne part of being successful is knowing when to seize on an opportunity. This fuck stain had an opportunity to gain a degree. All he had to do was simply wait for two weeks, receive his degree, and then he can still follow his dreams after that. TWO FUCKING WEEKS. And he’ll be in the exact same boat he is now, except with a fucking degree and not a waste of tens of thousands on tuition.
If, say, he had some golden opportunity that required him to act immediately, and as a result he had to sacrifice the last two weeks of school to make his move, then the dropout is understandable. But, if he dropped out just to say he did, to say he was “courageous,” or “bold,” or because “Bill Gates/Zuck did it,” then he is a fucking snowflake idiot who needs to get his ass kicked.
It’s true that to be successful and reach your dreams, you need to take a chance, you need to gamble. But from what I read from this fuck, what he did was not even a gamble. It’s just stupid, and he did it, not as a legitimate calculation to reach is dreams, but simply as a childish move that he can brag about to his friends and girls that will never sleep with him. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
Fuck this kid.
8 years ago at 1:36 pmStupid is as Stupid does
8 years ago at 1:58 pmKnowing Gio very closely and for many many years, I can say that he is a capable individual who needs a bit of a push to get on his track. Yes, Gio did drop out two weeks before the end of the school year. Yes, he believes he can do it. He also has a big book list, but really? Never been much of a reader, eh? 😉 Alright I know this post is old, but I am just coming to realize the proportion of this letter, and how much it affected people. I created an account with the sole purpose to type this. Bye!
8 years ago at 1:51 amNo one gives a fuck you pathetic loser.
8 years ago at 5:44 am