UPDATE: A spokesperson for the University of Maryland confirmed that Gio Managadze attended the school and withdrew earlier this month, but was not identified as a speaker or valedictorian for commencement activities.
University of Maryland student Gio Managadze was reportedly on pace to be the school's valedictorian before he failed his classes and dropped out of college -- on purpose.
According to his letter which he posted on his LinkedIn page, which went viral last weekend on social media, Managadze completed his computer science major and technology entrepreneurship minor in three years.
However, in his last semester of college, Managadze says he decided to go a different route.
Here is how he starts his letter:
"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."
Managadze continued on, and even included the email he sent to his parents, informing them of the news that he had dropped out.
"Education needs to be free for everybody immediately. Anybody can become a computer scientist for almost free online without paying tens of thousands of bucks in an 'education.'
"I almost never went to any class ever after freshman year. I literally became the Valedictorian by learning everything by myself at home and then only showing up to the exams.
"Nobody needs to pay tens of thousands of bucks to sit in class either bored or asleep for 4 years... Every single second that you are bored in class is a second of your life wasted."
Managadze concluded by saying:
"I look at life as a really cool 4D 5-sense video game. Completely open-world. You can do whatever you want. You create your own missions."
On Managadze's LinkedIn page, he calls himself an entrepreneur. He also lists the University of Maryland as his education.
