Peace Corps Service
Hastings entered Marine Corps officer training through their Platoon Leader Class and spent the summer of 1981 in Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia. "I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds," said Hastings. "My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps. I petitioned the recruiting office and left the Marines."
Hastings joined the Peace Corps after dropping out of Marine OCS "out of a combination of service and adventure" says Hastings, and went to teach high school math in Swaziland from 1983 to 1985. Hastings credits part of his entrepreneurial spirit to his time in the Peace Corps. "It was an extremely satisfying experience." "Once you have hitchhiked across Africa with ten bucks in your pocket, starting a business doesn't seem too intimidating."
After returning from the Peace Corps, Hastings went on to attend Stanford University: "I didn’t get into my first choice, which was MIT, but I got accepted to Stanford," he says. He graduated in 1988 with a master's degree in computer science.
Read more about this topic: Reed Hastings
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