What college did Ralph Lauren briefly attend?

What college did Ralph Lauren briefly attend? The answer is Baruch College.

Lauren attended Baruch College, part of the City University of New York, where he studied business. He left after two years without completing a degree, making the school an early stop rather than a formal graduation point in his career.

Born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx in 1939, he later built one of America’s most recognizable lifestyle brands. Before founding his own company, he worked in sales and began designing wide, distinctive neckties—an unusual direction at a time when narrower ties were fashionable. That early experiment led to the Polo brand and eventually a much broader world of clothing, accessories and home products.

Baruch is sometimes confused with Columbia University because Lauren’s career became closely associated with New York’s elite cultural and business circles. His education, however, was at Baruch, and his fashion empire was largely shaped by commercial instinct, self-teaching and a strong personal vision rather than a completed design-school education.