Editing Michael Dell (section)

==Early life and education==
Dell was born in 1965 in [[Houston]] to a [[Jews|Jewish]] family. His parents were Lorraine Charlotte (née Langfan), a [[stockbroker]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100213162103/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070131_658871.htm?campaign_id=msnbc_dell Biography of Michael Dell.] businessweek.com (From The Associated Press; 2007-01-31).</ref> and Alexander Dell, an [[orthodontist]]. Michael attended [[Gary L. Herod|Herod Elementary School]] in Houston.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tweedie |first1=Steven |title=The yearbook photos of 13 famous titans of tech |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/famous-tech-ceo-yearbook-photos-2015-5 |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=Business Insider |date=9 May 2015}}</ref> In a bid to enter business early, he applied to take a [[General Educational Development|high school equivalency exam]] at age eight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Michael S. Dell |url=https://achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/ |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=Academy of Achievement |language=en-US}}</ref> In his early teens, he invested his earnings from part-time jobs in [[stock]]s and [[precious metal]]s.<ref name=Achievement>{{cite web|title=Michael S. Dell Biography and Interview|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/#interview|access-date=April 2, 2019|archive-date=February 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224075737/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/#interview|url-status=live}}</ref>

Dell attended [[Memorial High School (Hedwig Village, Texas)|Memorial High School]] in Houston, selling subscriptions to the ''[[Houston Post]]'' in the summer.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Carey, Jr. |first=Charles |title=American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries, Revised Edition |publisher=Infobase Holdings, Inc |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4381-8214-8 |location=New York, NY |pages=134 |language=en}}</ref> Dell's parents wanted him to be a doctor and in order to please them, he took up [[Pre-medical|pre-med]] at the [[University of Texas]] in 1983.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-10-09|title=Michael Dell|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197566|access-date=2020-06-09|website=Entrepreneur|language=en|archive-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629222650/https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197566|url-status=live}}</ref> Dell continued learning to target specific populations for newspaper subscriptions rather than just making cold calls.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dell |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/directfromdellst00dell |title=Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry |author2=Catherine Fredman |publisher=HarperBusiness |year=1999 |isbn=0-88730-914-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/directfromdellst00dell/page/4 4–5] |url-access=registration}}</ref> He discovered that people who were most likely to get a subscription were newlyweds and people moving to a new home. After collecting the contact information of this population from public records, he sent direct mail appeals and earned $18,000 in one year.<ref name=":3" /> He hired several employees, and after earning a gross profit of nearly $200,000 in his first year of business, Dell dropped out of the University of Texas at age 19.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/MichaelDell/status/975186931138080768?tfw_site=timesofindia|title=First financial statement for @Dell. The one I used to convince my parents that it was OK for me to not go back to collegepic.twitter.com/kKuGDsyvYZ|last=Dell|first=Michael|date=<!--6:47 PM - -->17 March 2018|website=@MichaelDell|access-date=2018-03-20|archive-date=2022-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214224845/https://twitter.com/MichaelDell/status/975186931138080768?tfw_site=timesofindia|url-status=live}}</ref>