Alicia Keys. This nine-time Grammy Award winner is the talent responsible for chart-toppers such as “No One,” “Fallin’,” “If I Ain’t Got You” and “A Woman’s Worth.” Before her big break in the music industry though, Keys attended Columbia University when she was just 16.

Obviously, she dropped out to pursue her dreams in music. She has been wildly successful, but I think she should have stayed in school. First of all, it would give her scholarship more credibility. Keys created the Open Doors Scholars Program to help students fund their education and encourage them to continue their schooling. For someone who did not stay in school, she is not exactly a role model. If her fans face the same decision she did, she will most likely tell them to pursue their dreams. 

How can she motivate students to stay in school and apply for her scholarship if she gave up on her own education to pursue a career in music? 
She can’t.

Another reason why she should have stayed in school is to have something to fall back on. What happens if, one day, her career suddenly ends? Having an education could be her savior.  It goes without saying that her fame and fortune will not last forever. 

Eventually someone younger, prettier, curvier and more promising will take her place and be the next golden girl in music. When that happens, Alicia would be grateful to have stayed in school.  With the face of music changing so rapidly and dramatically, what is Alicia Keys could disappear in an instant. 

In fact, it seems her hits have already come to a stop. Whereas her first two albums earned her a total of 9 Grammy Awards, her latest one did not win any. Also, I don't know how many more times I can listen to "No One" before I rip my hair out. It's a good song but so overplayed.

If she had stayed in school, Miss Alicia Keys would probably still pursue a career in music. She has been playing the piano since she was 7 and wrote her first song when she was 14. She is considered a musical prodigy. And with her acceptance to Columbia, she is certainly intelligent as well. 

She would succeed in any one of Columbia's music performance groups including the Clefhangers, Columbia's own a Capella group where she would have the opportunity to showcase her vocal talents to fellow students. After her graduation, she would play in cafes and coffee houses in front of small audiences just like Phoebe from Friends. She would probably have one big hit like Phoebe had with “Smelly Cat.” 

Keys might have become famous anyway but if not, at least she would have had both an education and a budding music career.