Here's How Far Bill Gates' Ex Melinda Made It In School

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Melinda French Gates continues to make a name for herself outside of her famous ex-husband, Bill Gates. Details about Melinda's life, even before marrying Bill, are numerous, and this includes information about her educational background. This begs the question, how far in school did the Microsoft-manager-turned-philanthropist go? Somewhat unsurprisingly, Melinda attended a famous university, Duke, where she finished off her formal studies with an MBA in 1987. Prior to that, she received a bachelor's in computer science and economics in 1986 from the same university. Melinda completed high school in her home state of Texas, where she graduated from an all-girl's Catholic school called Ursuline Academy.

Duke University is a big receiver of philanthropy on behalf of the Gates Foundation. Specifically, the college received an initial $20 million endowment gift in 1998, and periodic donations of additional millions throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Melinda also served on Duke's board of trustees for seven years, starting in 1996. Clearly, those formative years at Duke meant a lot to Melinda. 

However, because of her Catholic school roots in Texas, Melinda almost went to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. In her memoir "The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward," Melinda explained that Duke's impressive tech offerings, which she saw when she visited, changed her mind. "It was the gleam of the state-of-the-art computer lab," Melinda said (via Business Insider). Melinda has talked about various tragic details of her life, but her time in college appears to have been a good experience.

Although she is no longer pledging her wealth to the Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates continues to emphasize the importance of education in her philanthropic initiatives. She founded a new organization, Pivotal, in 2015 that is a partner of the Last Mile Education Fund. Given that the fund is focused on investing specifically in aiding students in STEM, it seems that French Gates still has a deep connection to her undergraduate years as a computer science college student herself. 

Speaking at an education forum in 2008, French Gates talked about the importance of not only helping students pay for college, but also helping them finish with a degree that would lead to a job. She asserted at the end of her speech that the future of society depends on making these opportunities for students happen. "In any society, there will always be some who perform well and others who don't," French Gates said (via Gates Foundation). "But in a strong society, those differences are determined by people's talent and energy and not by the income of their parents."